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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.

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Question reference: S6W-19639

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified the causes of the 19% increase in the estimated number of referrals for adults at risk of harm since 2019-20, as identified in its publication, Adult Support and Protection Scotland: April 2019 to March 2022.

It is not possible to definitively identify the reasons for this estimated 19% increase in referrals as a number of factors may affect this. However, the increase does not necessarily mean that more people are at risk of harm because individuals can be referred multiple times by different agencies. A number of other factors may also impact on this increase, including, for example, increased awareness of how to make an ASP referral (including self-referral) following National ASP awareness day campaigns and local ASP training and awareness raising.

As highlighted in the Adult Support and Protection Scotland publication , there is limited consistency between local authorities on their definition of referrals. For example, between the dates in question, some local authorities were known to apply a strict filtering process before recording a referral, while others included a far greater percentage of notifications received in their referral figures.

The existing ASP annual data is currently under review and the development of an ASP minimum dataset is being taken forward by The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS). The aim is to have a shared understanding of information to generate more robust, meaningful and comparable data.

Question reference: S6W-19719

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with National Galleries Scotland since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

The Scottish Government Ministerial team has met with National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) on several occasions since May 2021. The meetings were as follows:

31 Aug 2021 Jenny Gilruth, in her role as Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, had an introductory visit to NGS and met with the NGS Chair and Director General.

3 Feb 2022 Neil Gray, in his role as Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and Minister with special responsibility for refugees from Ukraine had a meeting with the NGS Chair and Director General to discuss the NGS budget.

29 March 2022 Neil Gray visited the Scottish National Gallery site to view progress of the capital project.

24 Aug 2022 Angus Robertson in his role as Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture met with the NGS Chair and Director General.

30 November 2022 Angus Robertson met the NGS Chair to discuss philanthropy.

8 June 2023 I, as newly appointed Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, had an introductory meeting with NGS Chair and Director General.

As a public body in receipt of grant-in-aid officials have met regularly with the National Galleries of Scotland since May 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19522

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to prevent the closure of Ayr Ice Rink.

Local sport and leisure facilities are vital in supporting the physical and mental health of the nation. We recognise the importance of facilities, such as Ayr Ice Rink for the overall wellbeing of those who use them regularly.

In recognising the important role that ice rinks play in many communities the Scottish Government supported thirteen privately operated ice rinks with over two million pounds (£2m) during the pandemic, through our Covid sport fund. Ayr Ice Rink received £181,000 through this fund.

sportscotland, our national agency for sport, will be meeting with representatives of Ayr Ice Rink to understand the current situation at the local level. It is vital that partners at a local level work together to explore all avenues and approaches to support local sport and leisure facilities.

We will continue to keep a dialogue with sportscotland and the sector on these issues, and consider how we can further support the sector.

Question reference: S6W-19422

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18387 by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2023, whether it will provide an update on its work with ATCO and COSLA in developing the Community Bus Fund, and when it plans to launch the Community Bus Fund.

Question reference: S6W-19859

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider how data collated and held by NHS boards on mental health conditions can be improved and held consistently across all boards, in order to improve understanding of the prevalence of specific conditions.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to improve the data landscape across the NHS Health Boards in Scotland. Comprehensive data is vital to enable Boards to plan services and create appropriate care pathways. Many individuals accessing services do not initially have a diagnosis, but instead have general presentations.

In April 2019, to better understand the prevalence of specific conditions, referral outcomes, and patient demographics, the Scottish Government commissioned national patient-level data for people seeking and receiving treatment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies (PT) services. This is known as the CAMHS and PT National Dataset (CAPTND). IT systems in some Boards will require significant overhaul to enable the recording and extraction of the full dataset. Directors of eHealth are liaising with system suppliers and embedded PHS analysts to prioritise this work as part of the £0.5m digital infrastructure, applications and data package announced in September 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19543

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils were suspended from schools in each of the last four years, broken down by local authority area.

Information on the number of pupils and cases of exclusions is collected and published every two years. Statistics on the number of pupils excluded by local authority from 2007-08 to 2020-21 are available in Table 2.3 here:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2018/06/school-exclusions-statistics/documents/school-exclusions-2020-21/school-exclusions-2020-21/govscot%3Adocument/Exclusion%2Bstatistics%2B202021.xlsx

Cases of exclusion have fallen from a high of 44,794 in 2006-07 to 8,323 in 2020-21. There was a particularly notable decrease in exclusion between 2018-19 and 2020-21, with cases of exclusion falling 44%. This decrease is partly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 99% of all exclusions were for a fixed period of time (referred to as temporary exclusions), with pupils expected to return to their original school when the exclusion period is completed.

Question reference: S6W-19883

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19718 by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023, whether the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has held any discussions with Historic Environment Scotland regarding any permanent closures of sites that it manages, and, if so, which sites were earmarked for closure.

Question reference: S6W-19756

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its paper, A Culture Strategy for Scotland, whether it is actively promoting Historic Environment Scotland’s work on climate change, and, if so, whether it can provide examples of this.

Question reference: S6W-19763

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of each organisation that has received funding from its Creative Communities programme in each year since it was established.

Question reference: S6W-19760

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 17 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its paper, A Culture Strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide an update on how it is working with culture conveners from local government and culture trusts; whether it has established a joint meeting of arts and culture convenors, and, if so, when any such meeting took place.

The Scottish Government meets with the Culture Conveners from local government to discuss ways of working together, in line with shared priorities for the Culture sector.

There have been four meetings of the Culture Conveners since the publication of our Culture Strategy. These took place in November 2020, March 2021, December 2021, and January 2023.

The next Culture Conveners meeting is scheduled to take place with myself in early autumn.