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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-20768

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the named women's health leads in every NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-20775

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to engage with local authorities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in primary and secondary schools during the school year 2023-24.

The Scottish Government COVID-19 guidance for schools remains in place and we know that schools continue to find the health protection principles in that guidance to be helpful in protecting the health of staff and pupils.

We have however been working with Public Health Scotland, local authorities and other stakeholders to develop updated guidance that better reflects current circumstances and will help schools continue to prevent the spread of COVID, other respiratory infections and infectious diseases in general.

This will provide a practical guide for staff on managing cases of infectious diseases across educational settings without placing additional significant burden or demands on staff. As has always been the case, Health Protection Teams and local NHS Boards will continue to work closely with schools to provide any advice and support needed to deal with specific situations that arise.

Question reference: S6W-20771

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the network of menopause specialists and any progress that this group has made, including any minutes of previous meetings.

The Menopause Specialist Network, chaired by Dr Heather Currie, has been meeting on a quarterly basis since 2021. A peer support group, the Network includes representatives from all the mainland Health Boards, providing consistent advice and peer support to healthcare professionals. The Network supports primary care teams by providing access to a menopause specialist for consistent advice, support, onward referral, leadership and training.

We have also recently established a Menopause Clinical Reference Group. Issues raised by the Network are fed into the Group which then considers potential Scotland wide approaches.

Information on the activity of the Network can be found in the Women's health plan: progress report published in January 2023 and the Womens-health-plan-interim-progress-update published in August 2023.

Question reference: S6W-20777

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it (a) currently provides and (b) plans to provide to local authorities to enhance student engagement in the classroom.

The Scottish Government is committed to listening to the voices of children and young people across the education landscape. Learner engagement and participation are vital elements within Scotland’s curriculum, and these are further enhanced with the incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots Law.

Education Scotland has recently updated the Successful Young Leaders of Learning programme, which supports learners from P4 upwards to engage in school improvement activity, working in collaboration with other schools. Schools also have access to the ‘Learner Participation in Education Settings’ and the ‘How Good is OUR school?’ online resources, which support the engagement of learners in school improvement and decision making within the classroom, school and community. Education Scotland also provides professional learning to take schools through the materials, providing an opportunity for further dialogue and support.

Question reference: S6W-20776

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any local authorities have frozen recruitment of teachers and/or school staff, and, if so, for how long each local authority has advised that it intends the freeze to last, and for what reason each freeze has been implemented.

Question reference: S6W-20769

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how often it has met the named women's health leads in each NHS board in the last 12 months, and how often it plans to meet them in the next 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-20761

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of the 371 bursaries awarded to teachers in the last three years, and how many have been awarded in 2023 to date.

The breakdown for STEM bursaries awarded by local authority is available in the STEM Teacher bursary evaluation reports on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website: Search Results | Skills Development Scotland .

The previous STEM bursary scheme has been expanded this year to include Gaelic and renamed to the Teaching Bursary in Scotland bursary scheme. As of 31 August, 61 Teaching bursaries have been awarded.

Question reference: S6T-01551

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of a planned strike by school support staff, including janitors, cleaners, caterers and school support assistants, over pay and conditions.

Question reference: S6T-01548

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a ban on American XL bully dogs, in light of a series of reported attacks involving such dogs.

Question reference: S6F-02396

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2023

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the potential impact of the roll-out of the Carer Support Payment on the national mission to tackle poverty and reduce inequality.