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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-16155

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government's Spring Budget announcement regarding the provision of funding support for swimming pools in England, whether it plans to provide similar financial assistance for swimming pools in Scotland, and, if so, what specific support can be directed at pools such as Bucksburn swimming pool in Aberdeen, which is reportedly due to close.

Question reference: S6W-16147

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an estimate of any time-related increases in the overhead costs in 2024 due to the extension of the timescale for delivery of Hull 802 by Ferguson Marine to later in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-16124

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14445 by Neil Gray on 7 February 2023, what discussions it has had with officials at Aberdeen City Council to try and maintain the six libraries scheduled for closure at the end of March 2023, and what its position is on how any such closures would impact Aberdeen City Council's ability to fulfil its statutory duty to secure the provision of adequate library facilities for all persons resident in its area.

Library policy is devolved to local authorities, who have a statutory duty to ensure there is adequate provision of library services for their residents.

Scottish Government officials work closely with the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), which provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector. SLIC is in ongoing conversations with Aberdeen Council on this issue.

Any decision around public libraries must be considered extremely carefully and we would encourage local authorities to work in partnership with communities to explore ways of delivering services, based on need.

Question reference: S6W-16065

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of cuckooing have been (a) reported to and (b) identified by Police Scotland in each year since 2017 and what steps it is taking to tackle this activity.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to tackling serious and organised crime and strongly condemns the illegal practice of ‘cuckooing’ and the subsequent misery it causes victims.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the operational intelligence on incidents involving cuckooing. This information should be requested from Police Scotland directly.

The Scottish Government is working with partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to disrupt cuckooing and County Lines networks.

Question reference: S6W-16116

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15621 by Maree Todd on 21 March 2023, for what reasons the percentage of children participating in the General Dental Service fell from 97% in September 2007 to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of 84.2% in September 2019.

The total number of children who have participated in NHS GDS has increased by 17.6%, from 693,307 in 2007 to 815,317 in 2019.

However, the participation rate is the proportion of the registered population who have seen a dentist in the last two years. The participation rate is therefore also influenced by the number of people who are registered for NHS dental services. The number of children that were registered for NHS dental services between 2007 and 2019 has increased by 35.4%

Question reference: S6W-16090

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that CalMac’s new Ar Turas ticketing system no longer offers the option of a season ticket for residents of the Isle of Cumbrae, what plans are in place to offer suitable and appropriate discounts in line with historic benefits.

CalMac are focussing their efforts on the Ar Turas Go-Live event. However, TS officials have had an initial meeting with CalMac to investigate potential options for eBooking of multi-journey tickets. This is at an early stage. It is important to note the wider benefits that the Ar Turas System will bring for both customers and staff.

Wider fares policy will be considered as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan and future fares options will be considered through that process.

Question reference: S6W-16117

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15622 by Maree Todd on 21 March 2023, for what reasons the percentage of adults participating in the General Dental Service fell from 98.6% in September 2007 to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of 66.2% in September 2019.

The total number of adults who have participated in NHS GDS has increased by 45.6%, from 1,902,885 in 2007 to 2,788,692 in 2019.

However, the participation rate is the proportion of the registered population who have seen a dentist in the last two years. The participation rate is therefore also influenced by the number of people who are registered for NHS dental services. The number of adults that were registered for NHS dental services between 2007 and 2019 has increased by 118.4%

Question reference: S6W-16114

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce compulsory microchipping of pet cats in Scotland, in light of the UK Government regulations proposing compulsory microchipping of cats in England, which were laid in the UK Parliament on 13 March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-16088

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of ScotRail staff have received (a) first aid, (b) CPR and (c) defibrillator training.

a) At ScotRail, First Aid requirements are assessed on a First Aid Needs Assessment that aligns with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance. This has highlighted the importance of engineering locations due to the level of risk of employee injury and likely severity of possible injury at these locations should an accident happen.

ScotRail has provided the following data which shows the figures at each depot:-

Location	Fully Trained First Aiders	As a %age of Staff on Site Training Matrix	Defibrillators on site
Ayr Townhead Depot (Train Presentation only)	2	14.3%	1
Cadder Depot	1	12.5%	2
Corkerhill Depot	8	10.5%	1
Eastfield Depot	3	15.8%	1
Haymarket Depot	19	13.2%	2
Inverness Depot	19	20.2%	2 (one at Inverness station)
Millerhill Depot	4	30.1%	2
Shields Depot	15	10.1%	2

For all areas identified as lower risk-level, ScotRail has identified that all staff receive basic life preservation training as a minimum. ScotRail’s induction pack for new staff members contains basic life preservation training and this is carried out regularly within the briefing cycle for front line colleagues.

All of ScotRail’s frontline staff receive refresher briefings three times per year and CPR and preservation of life training are included as a core topic on a two year cycle. This covers approximately 2000 staff and is due to be included in the Sept to Dec Session this year.

Therefore, 2000 of 5000 staff = 40% of the workforce.

b) CPR is also part of the First Aid training received by either Face to face training or online training. Total ScotRail staff for 2023 that completed CPR training would be 43%.

c) Straight forward step-by-step instructions are included on every defibrillator machine. As a result of this ScotRail advise that defibrillators are designed to be easy to use and therefore no specific training is required for them.

Question reference: S6W-16091

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent public protests over the closure of the Edinburgh Filmhouse, what action it can take to ensure that the Filmhouse remains a cultural resource for the city of Edinburgh.

Following the closure of the Edinburgh Filmhouse last year, the Scottish Government continues to engage with Creative Scotland and other stakeholders to explore options for cultural cinema programme activity in Edinburgh, as well as ways to support the recently announced 2023 edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, with the associated opportunities for employment and audiences those will bring.

The administration process for the Edinburgh Filmhouse is still ongoing, so it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on these proceedings.