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: S6F-03477

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has undertaken of the impact of the UK Government Budget on Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03488

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the reported rise in sex crimes.

Question reference: S6W-30484

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the current (a) COVID-19 and (b) flu vaccination programme, including in relation to (i) uptake, (ii) age group and (iii) how it is taking care of any transport issues for those wishing to attend an appointment.

Openness and transparency of vaccination programmes is essential to building trust with the public and easy access to uptake data is an important aspect of this.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) will release the first COVID-19 and Seasonal Flu Vaccination public uptake data on 24 October 2024 via PHS Vaccination Surveillance (shinyapps.io). It will provide uptake for Covid-19, adult flu and child flu, as well as total uptake by Health Board for each of the eligible cohorts (in line with eligibility recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)).

Uptake data will be updated every Thursday, until December, at which point reporting will move to monthly. The shift to monthly data is because the vast majority of vaccinations will be completed before the festive break and historically the numbers vaccinated in January, February and March are negligible and therefore do not require weekly updates. At a later point in the winter, uptake data broken down by ethnicity, SIMD and urban/rural will also become available.

The Scottish Government understands that some members of the public may require support in order to attend a vaccine appointment. The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) for mobile vaccination units to reach remote and rural communities, recognising the challenge some may experience in traveling to clinics. Health Boards have been asked to plan their vaccine clinics with their local communities in mind, making them as accessible as possible. It is for Boards to decide where they deploy the SAS offer within their own area, utilising their own local knowledge and data. Information on local travel support available can be found here.

Question reference: S6W-30548

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether allowing the trucking of clinical waste to disposal plants in England and Wales, reportedly amounting to an estimated 25,000 tonnes of waste travelling in 2,500 lorry journeys and over a distance of one million miles, aligns with its (a) sustainability strategy and (b) net zero targets.

Management of the NHS clinical waste contract is a matter for Health Boards, and management of the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement and Logistics Service. According to information published by NHS National Services Scotland, around 3000 to 4000 tonnes of clinical waste were shipped to England / Wales annually between 2018-19 and 2021-22. This publication is available at: https://www.nss.nhs.scot/publications/foi-000270-clinical-medical-waste-shipped-to-england-and-europe/foi-000270-clinical-medical-waste-shipped-to-england-and-europe-html/

In 2023/24, Health Boards reported 7,833 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) of greenhouse gas emissions from waste disposal (both general and clinical waste). This made up 1.4% of total NHS reported emissions. This information is published through the Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Report - Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency & Sustainability Report 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to help reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in NHS Scotland. This publication is available at: NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy: 2022-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Specifically, the strategy sets out that each Health Board should set appropriate targets for reducing the volume of clinical waste it produces through measures including; greater use of reusable items, improvements to waste segregation and increased recycling of recyclable materials. The Scottish Government will review the need for a national target for clinical waste reduction.

In addition, the strategy requires that Health Board waste management officers ensure that arrangements are in place for the safe treatment and disposal of all waste streams. The Scottish Government supports Health Boards with their net zero commitments and monitors progress towards these targets.

Question reference: S6W-30613

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve secondary breast cancer data collection as part of its Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023-2026.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to review options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland. This includes consideration of the NHS England audit, data available in Scotland, clinical time required, other cancer data priorities and how it can be used to improve services. We are aiming to agree the best method of data collection by the end of the current Cancer Action Plan in March 2026.

Question reference: S6W-30554

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Hassockrigg Ecopark in Shotts is lying dormant with no licence to operate.

Question reference: S6W-30556

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been provided to Tradebe for clinical waste removal in each year since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-30551

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that none of Scotland’s "yellow bag" clinical waste is currently being processed in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30395

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to fund directly the cost of achieving net zero in social homes.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund (SHNZHF) launched in August 2020 and provides capital funding to social landlords to retrofit their existing housing stock by installing clean heat and improving their energy efficiency. Projects are eligible for up to 60% of the capital costs of clean heating systems and 50% of energy efficiency measures.

This year the SHNZHF is investing approximately £16.8m in 19 projects. To date, the fund has awarded approximately £75.3 million to 80 projects across Scotland for the installation of net zero measures to existing social rented homes.

The date set for the next funding checkpoint of the SHNZHF has not yet been set. When set it will be communicated to stakeholders through the fund website and stakeholder channels.

Social Landlords interested in developing heat networks can also access Scotland’s Heat Network Fund which makes capital funding available for the construction of new heat networks in addition to the decarbonisation and expansion of existing heat networks.

Our Area Based Schemes target areas with high levels of fuel poverty and enable improvements projects to go ahead in mixed tenure blocks benefiting some social tenants. Since 2013 we have invested over £600 million in area based schemes. This has helped around 40,000 social tenants and their neighbours to benefit from net zero measures and warmer homes that are less expensive to heat.

Question reference: S6W-30391

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether minimum unit pricing has reduced the consumption of alcohol among hazardous and harmful drinkers.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) independent evaluation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol estimated that our world-leading policy reduced wholly alcohol-attributable deaths by 13.4% and was likely to have reduced hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol by 4.1%.

There was strong and consistent evidence of a reduction in alcohol consumption following MUP implementation, and that the reduction in consumption was driven by the heaviest purchasing households, leading to the conclusion that MUP was well targeted. As MUP was estimated to have resulted in a decrease in alcohol-attributable deaths and hospital admissions related to chronic conditions, the evaluation took this as further evidence to suggest that MUP has reduced consumption in those that drink at hazardous and harmful levels.

Overall, the evidence supports that MUP has had a positive impact on health outcomes, including alcohol-related health inequalities.