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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: S6F-02792

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02793

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-24821

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, for what reason it decided to include provisions that reportedly allow for murder to be prosecuted in the proposed specialist Sexual Offences Court if the crime had a sexual element involved.

The Sexual Offences Court will be of equivalent status to the High Court when sitting as a court of first instance. Its processes and procedures will be the same as the High Court unless specifically provided for otherwise by the Bill, or subsequent secondary legislation or court rules. Importantly, judges sitting in the Court will have the same sentencing powers.

The proposed jurisdiction of the Sexual Offences Court includes murder only where it is libeled alongside a sexual offence listed in Schedule 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill . The Crown may prosecute cases involving serious sexual offending where the accused is alleged to have killed one of their victims. Given the experiences of the surviving complainers, the nature of their evidence, and the benefits the Sexual Offences Court will bring, the objective is to ensure there is the opportunity for those cases to be heard in the Sexual Offences Court.

It should also be noted, these cases can still be prosecuted in the High Court, the Bill gives prosecutors this additional option to indict these cases to the Sexual Offences Court should they consider it appropriate to do so.

Question reference: S6W-24800

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for any funding that it has provided to the Friends of the Edington Hospital, North Berwick, since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-24799

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for any funding that it has provided to Alcohol & Drugs Action since 2019.

Alcohol & Drugs Action received funding from the Scottish Government’s National Development Project Fund (NDPF) from 2019 to 2021. High-level NDPF objectives are set out in Grant Offer Letters, and are as follows:

Recruiting staff to mentoring and supervision roles
Staff Mentoring roles / training and Recovery Group Peer-led Activity (range, location)
Advocacy role (training)
Develop further Peer Volunteer roles (Hospital, Housing, Justice settings)
Deliver activities in identified key settings
Evaluate effectiveness of mentor / supervisory aspects
Evaluate effectiveness of at-risk engagement with services/support
Adjust and further develop activities as required

Whilst Scottish Government did not directly set the objectives, the Corra Foundation administer funds on our behalf. The Challenge Fund, in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and the National Drugs Mission Funds, from 2021-22, to third sector and grassroots organisations. Alcohol & Drugs Action is a recipient of these funds and details of the projects are available at: Grant holder data - Corra Foundation

Question reference: S6W-24798

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for any funding that it has provided to the Shetland Folk Festival Society since 2019.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society has not received any direct funding from Scottish Government since 2019.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society has received two awards through the Creative Scotland (CS) National Lottery Open Fund since 2019, totalling £24,000.

The CS Open Fund has had three iterations since Shetland Folk Festival Society’s award in 2019 and the criteria for the fund has evolved in-line with CS’ strategic and funding priorities. Full details on these funding programmes are available on Creative Scotland's website.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society also received £21,000 from EventScotland’s National Events Funding Programme in 2022. The KPIs agreed in the funding contract were as follows:

1. Attract at least 8 bands to Shetland to perform at the event

2. Attract an audience of around 6,000 visitors to the event

3. Attract 32% of visitors from outwith the event region

4. Carry out a scaled back community / rural programme in line with local opinion

5. Demonstrate how the event has helped boost community confidence to attend events

Question reference: S6W-24835

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any changes in the availability of publicly-run leisure facilities over the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We have asked sportscotland to undertake a review of the facilities estate which will provide vital information in understanding the sport and leisure facilities provision in the long term. In addition, sportscotland and Scottish Swimming have recently published a detailed research study into the condition of Scotland’s swimming pools.

We are fully aware that local authorities are facing challenging financial circumstances, particularly in the maintenance and operating of facilities, largely due to energy costs and other cost of living pressures. sportscotland will continue to work with its local partners to help them assess the impact of any potential facility closures across the country. In addition, the Minister for Social Care, Mental Health and Sport and officials engage regularly with Community Leisure UK to discuss the local public facilities landscape.

In recognition of the importance of access to sports and leisure facilities, our Programme for Government sets out our intention to convene a working group, including representatives of sports organisations, community organisations and CoSLA, to explore how community access to community facilities, such as the school estate, can be enhanced.

Question reference: S6W-24804

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to free earwax removal services provided through NHS Scotland, how many people have accessed these services in each of the last five years; whether there are any plans to withdraw these services, and whether there are any NHS boards that do not currently offer these services.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many people have accessed earwax removal services. Health Boards are responsible for the delivery of primary medical services in their areas.

Formerly most ear wax management procedures were carried out in GP practices. The new GP contract, introduced in 2018, committed Health Boards to set up Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services to shift workload away from GP practices to NHS Board employed staff so that GP practices could focus on what only they can do. The Scottish Government has confirmed to Health Boards that CTAC services should cover ear wax management generally.

We are supporting the development of CTAC services through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (£190 million in 2023-24).

We are now also introducing an additional ‘phased investment programme’ working with a small number of areas to demonstrate what model CTAC and other related services can look like in practice. The findings from this programme will build understanding of the national context for further implementation and inform future long-term Scottish Government investment.

Question reference: S6W-24832

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23773 by Michael Matheson on 8 January 2024, when the Flow Navigation Specialty Delivery Group was established; how often the group has met in the last 12 months, and who its key stakeholder members are.

The first official meeting of the Flow Navigation Special Delivery Group was held on 4 October 2023. The group meet monthly with 4 meetings having taken place since its formation.

The group is led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and consists of clinical and operational leads, for Flow Navigation Centre’s, from each mainland Health Board. It also includes representatives from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, the Royal Collage of General Practitioners, Primary Care, NHS 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-24574

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what review it has undertaken of the publication of return patient data for people accessing chronic pain services.

As outlined in the Pain management service delivery framework: implementation plan update , we are working with Public Health Scotland to improve how we capture and report national data on patients with chronic pain. The current focus is to review and improve waiting times data for first appointments.

Similar to other specialities, Chronic Pain services in Scotland are currently unable to gather electronic data on return appointments in a consistent manner. On completion of the current work around improving data collection for first appointments, we will begin to consider the feasibility: the costs, accuracy and utility of collecting and reporting national data on waits for return appointments.