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Current Status: Withdrawn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-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-30612

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were living with secondary breast cancer on the last date for which figures are available.

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-30592

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that the data provided in its annual and bi-annual homelessness statistics is accurate, in light of reported concerns regarding any undercounting of breaches of legal duties on the unsuitable accommodation order and duty to provide temporary accommodation.

Information presented in the annual and bi-annual Homelessness in Scotland publications is based on quarterly homelessness applications and temporary accommodation data provided to the Scottish Government by local authorities.

There are rigorous quality assurance processes in place for the data provided by local authorities. Validation checks are in place with summary reports prepared for checking by local authorities. Scottish Government statisticians undertake further in-depth quality assurance on the data and follows up with local authorities to confirm or correct data as necessary prior to publication. This has included enhanced quality assurance on the reporting of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO), following on from reporting inconsistencies and inaccuracies that were uncovered due to COVID-19 exceptions that were put in place, and the extension of the UAO (to all households) over the same period.

Where specific data issues are brought to the attention of Scottish Government, these are investigated and followed up on with local authorities as necessary. Scottish Government will continue to work with local authorities to ensure the data provided is as accurate as possible for future publications.

Further information on the quality assurance of homelessness data collections is available on the homelessness statistics webpages.

Question reference: S6W-30753

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 many buildings in the Lothian region have been identified as requiring cladding remediation.

Question reference: S6W-30863

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided in each of the last five years for research projects aimed at developing a more reliable prostate cancer screening test.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office supports open competitive grant and fellowship schemes for applied health research in Scotland across a wide remit that is inclusive of consideration of applications for research relating to prostate cancer. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees. While projects on prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment have been awarded funding in the course of these schemes, in the period from 2019 to date, no funding awards have been made for research specifically relating to prostate cancer screening test development.