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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-17827

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, whether a range of peer support models to improve perinatal mental healthcare are available, and, if so, what it has done to ensure that they are available across geographical areas throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government is funding a range of peer support models to improve perinatal mental healthcare across Scotland. These include paid peer support workers, volunteer peer support workers, peer support in specialised mental health services, peer support in marginalised groups and informal peer support including online services.

The Scottish Government established an annual peer support event to bring together practitioners across Scotland to showcase good practice and highlight the work being undertaken across localities. This shares knowledge and creates an opportunity for learning and understanding on how to effectively implement peer support tools to reach everyone in Scotland who needs support.

Question reference: S6W-17835

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to support specific perinatal mental health peer support services for men.

Through the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund And Small Grants Fund, we provide funding for both father specific and whole family work. From 2021 to March 2023, we have provided over £1 million to groups including Home-Start Glasgow North and North Lanarkshire, Quarriers, CrossReach, Sure Start Midlothian, Dads Rock and Fathers Network Scotland. This includes funding for peer support groups for new fathers, which can provide a valuable source of support.

We have also committed to working with Fathers Network Scotland to better understand the evidence around mental health within the perinatal period for fathers and partners.

Question reference: S6W-17090

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what amount the average council tax bill in Scotland would have risen by, by 2021, had the council tax freeze not been introduced in 2007 and, instead, the tax increased in line with (a) inflation and (b) the average annual increases in England, and, in each scenario, what the average council tax bill would be for a household in band (i) G and (ii) H.

Councils agreed to freeze Council Tax from 2008-9 when the average Band D charge in Scotland was £1,149. In 2021-22, we estimate this figure would have increased by £399 had the CPI inflation measure applied and by £502 had the average Council Tax increases in England applied.

Using the CPI measure, we estimate that by 2021-22 the average Band G and Band H charges would have been £3,033 and £3,794 respectively and £3,234 and £4,046 if the average Council Tax increases in England had applied.

Question reference: S6W-17831

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to ensure that evidence-based, and quality-assured resources are utilised when creating peer support services for perinatal mental health to ensure high-quality practice from the start.

The Scottish Government has worked alongside Inspiring Scotland, Evaluation Support Scotland and third sector partners to co-produce an Evaluation Toolkit for perinatal peer support, which was published on 1 March 2023.

The Scottish Government also worked with Scottish Recovery Network to develop a Perinatal Peer Support Resource, which launched on 20 April 2023 and can be found at the following link - Let's do Peer Support: Bump, Birth & Beyond - Scottish Recovery Network . The resource includes guidance plus links to good practice and specialised training from more established organisations, should peer support workers or volunteers feel they need further information and guidance.

Question reference: S6W-17825

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to identify and support good practice in perinatal mental health.

Since publishing the Peer Support Action Plan in March 2021, the Scottish Government has established annual peer support in perinatal mental health events which bring together hundreds of practitioners from across Scotland to showcase good practice. These events highlight the role of peer support in supporting and complementing clinical work.

We have also worked with the Scottish Recovery Network to develop a Perinatal Peer Support Resource, called Let’s do Peer Support: Bump, Birth and Beyond. This is a practical guide/toolkit to support people who are planning and delivering perinatal peer support activities. The resource was launched on 20 April 2023 and can be found at the following link - Let's do Peer Support: Bump, Birth & Beyond - Scottish Recovery Network.

We also recognise the importance of peer support within statutory services. Scottish Government has provided funding to support the inclusion of peer support workers in both Mother and Baby Units within Scotland. A core part of statutory service peer support roles is close working with, and learning from, third sector organisations which have been successfully supporting communities through peer support for many years.

Question reference: S6W-17829

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to ensure that specialised approaches to recruitment, robust and ongoing training, appropriate and timely clinical supervision and support for ongoing good practice in perinatal mental health exist.

Since 2019, the Scottish Government has invested over £26 million in improvements to perinatal services and support for parents, infants and families across Scotland. This investment has facilitated a substantial increase in services and workforce across Scotland.

The Scottish Government also supports the Perinatal Mental Health Scotland Network which provides support to health boards on all aspects of service development, training, supervision and good practice.

Our investment also supports NHS Education Scotland to undertake workforce development and training, including a suite of training accessible to all professionals across Scotland.

The Scottish Government will continue to invest in perinatal and infant mental health to enable boards to recruit the required staff; to further establish specialist community perinatal and infant mental health services and to deliver on Scottish Government commitments towards perinatal and infant mental health in the long term.

Question reference: S6W-17830

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to ensure that peer supporters of perinatal mental health have access to robust support systems and additional flexibility in their roles to enable them to maintain their own recovery and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has worked with the Scottish Recovery Network to develop a Perinatal Peer Support Resource, which launched on 20 April 2023 and can be found at the following link - Let's do Peer Support: Bump, Birth & Beyond - Scottish Recovery Network . The toolkit includes advice, hints and tips for peer support workers, including how to deal with difficult topics which they may find triggering. The toolkit also helps to ensure that peer supporters are also maintaining their own recovery and wellbeing. Peer support workers also have access to the National Wellbeing Hub, which supports everyone working in health and social care services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-17826

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in its Peer Support in Perinatal Mental Health action plan, what it has done to ensure that examples of good practice within perinatal mental health are supported and built upon.

Question reference: S6W-17102

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much in real terms, based on current prices, its policy on (a) free prescriptions, (b) concessionary travel and (c) free personal and nursing care has cost in each year since its introduction, also broken down by the average annual real terms spending for a recipient of each scheme.

a) Prescription charges were removed in Scotland in financial year 2011-12, with £57m being baselined into territorial board budgets. The prescription charge for a single item in 2007-08 was £6.85. In England, where prescription charges were not abolished, the single item charge increased to £9.65 in April 2023.

b) In 2022-23 the nominal price payments for the Older & Disabled Persons’ scheme was £158.4m, and the Young Persons’ Scheme was £109.1m. These figures may be subject to future revision as operators have up to 12 months to make a claim for reimbursement in line with scheme legislation. Statistics on concessionary travel can be found in Chapter 2 via the following link: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/scottish-transport-statistics-2022/

c) Information on expenditure related to Free Personal and Nursing Care is published annually, and is publicly available via the following link: Health and social care analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-17761

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation NatureScot is undertaking, or plans to undertake, with relevant stakeholders before it extends its conservation management advice for freshwater pearl mussels to include lochs.