Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6O-03881

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-03899

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to end homelessness.

Question reference: S6O-03894

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work regarding the Social Isolation and Loneliness Strategy, particularly in relation to rural areas ahead of the winter months.

Question reference: S6W-30793

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether any crimes of drug possession will be recorded, for the purposes of recorded crime statistics, for those who enter the safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow in possession of substances deemed illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1972.

As a harm reduction service, there is no intention that staff would record or report suspected crimes in relation to the possession of drugs. The service will collate information on the substances being reported by service users but this will be anonymous and for the purposes of the city’s drug harms agenda in relation to gathering intelligence to support wider service responses. Staff working in the service are not expected to determine whether a crime in relation to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is being committed.

Police Scotland will record any crime in the usual manner, there is no change to either Police Scotland or crime reporting where they find people to be committing a crime, including those under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Question reference: S6W-30177

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who died (a) by suicide, (b) prematurely from non-natural causes and (c) from alcohol-related causes in each year since 2016 were care-experienced.

Regulation 6 of The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 states that Scottish Ministers should be informed of the death of a child who is looked after. In addition, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 inserted a statutory duty in the Children (Scotland) 1995 Act requiring local authorities to notify Scottish Ministers and the Care Inspectorate of the death of a care leaver in receipt of a Continuing Care or Aftercare service.

Data from the Care Inspectorate states the confirmed causes of death from 2016 to 15 October 2024 of any young person who was looked after or a care leaver receiving an Aftercare or Continuing Care service.

Year	Cause of death -Suicide	Cause of death – non natural causes	Cause of death - Alcohol related
2016	3	3	0
2017	3	1	0
2018	4	3	0
2019	5	10	0
2020	7	10	0
2021	3	10	0
2022	6	4	0
2023	5	7	0
2024 (up to 15 October 24)	6	1	0

There were no deaths that were solely reported as alcohol related. While some records indicated alcohol as a contributing factor, it was associated with a range of complex issues faced by the individual rather than being identified as the direct cause of death.

Question reference: S6W-30436

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will address migraine as part of the consultation for the next Women’s Health Plan.

Scottish Government's ambition is that women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives and this will continue to be our guiding principle as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Any future topics or priorities for the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan are yet to be decided. Priorities will be agreed in collaboration with women and girls, clinical experts, other relevant stakeholders and our Women’s Health Champion, using the most up-to-date evidence base.

Question reference: S6W-30751

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on cladding remediation, broken down by local authority.

Information on the level of spend by the Cladding Remediation Programme is proactively published and broken down by local authority.

Latest published data shows the aggregated spend by local authorities on single building assessments, fire risk measures and remediation is just over £9m to the end of quarter one 2024-25; spend is updated quarterly, the next update will be proactively published in quarter three 2024-25. Single Building Assessment programme: spending information (gov.scot).

Question reference: S6W-30755

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28801 by Jenni Minto on 26 August 2024, whether it considered including the (a) University of West of Scotland and (b) Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland as members of the Environmental Health Policy Co-ordination Group,

The Environmental Health Policy Co-ordination Group consists of representatives from across Scottish Government, Food Standards Scotland, COSLA, the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland and SOLACE.

Should matters arise concerning educational and wider regulatory interests, then members representing these organisations are advised and invited to attend the group for awareness or to provide relevant updates.

Therefore, the University of West of Scotland and the Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland are invited to attend meetings, when there is an update which is of interest to group members.

Question reference: S6W-30354

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29171 by Kaukab Stewart on 3 September 2024, and in light of the commitment in its Programme for Government 2021-22 to act on inclusive communication, its consultation on new regulations between 2021 and 2022, its proposed new regulations in 2023, and its substantially revised proposals in July 2024 without consultation, when it (a) will start and (b) plans to finish the work detailed in its answer.

Question reference: S6W-30297

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the funding of £15 million to the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports will be distributed to recipients, and what account is made of how those funds are spent.

The £15 million per annum funding for Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services is provided by grants from the Scottish Government to all 32 local authorities. The funding allocations are calculated and distributed based on the number of children and young people in each local authority area, with appropriate adjustments made to take account of the deprivation level and rurality of each area.

Local authorities administer the funding at a local level and determine which supports and services to implement on the basis of locally-identified need and in line with the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework.

Local authorities are required to provide the Scottish Government with annual profiles of expenditure and statements of compliance at the end of the financial year, and must keep the Scottish Government informed of any changes to estimated expenditure each year.

Local authorities also report annually on data including numbers of people accessing support, age and gender of service users, reasons for presenting at the services, and numbers of people reporting an improved outcome. Summaries of this information are published retrospectively by the Scottish Government at https://www.gov.scot/publications/access-to-counsellors-in-secondary-schools-and-children-and-young-peoples-community-mental-health-services-summary-reports/.