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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-15508

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS staff local to their area in primary care, and what guidance it provides to NHS boards on (i) attracting and (ii) retaining (A) medical and (B) non-medical staff from local candidate pools.

Responsibility for service delivery, including recruitment and retention of medical and non-medical staff in primary care, sits locally with Health Boards and health and social care partnerships and their GP practices.

The Scottish Government recognises that in order to attract health and social care staff locally, it is important that locally accessible training opportunities are provided at an early stage. The NHS Scotland Youth Academy host regional huddle groups that are focused on raising awareness and attracting young people/parents into health and social care careers.

Question reference: S6W-15537

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services, have been delivered in full.

The Scottish Government is aware that, following the publication of the independent external review, 4 of the recommendations have been delivered in full. These include resolving local provision of urgent care in Glenelg & Arnisdale and Raasay, in-patient hospital provision, workforce capacity and capability for the Scottish Ambulance Service and a Centre of Excellence for learning, education and training has been established.

Question reference: S6W-15098

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details, including copies of any correspondence, regarding any concerns and objections received in connection with the potential impact on competition in the collection services market arising from the Deposit Return Scheme.

In 2018, the Scottish Government undertook a public consultation to explore options for establishing a deposit return scheme in Scotland, to which 16 recycling and waste management organisations submitted representations. An analysis of these consultation responses is available on the Scottish Government website here . The Scottish Government receives and responds to ongoing correspondence from stakeholders regarding DRS and is happy to consider any request for further information, in line with its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Question reference: S6W-15882

Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reflect the urgency of climate (a) mitigation and (b) adaptation in the final version of its Future Catching Policy.

The Future Catching Policy (FCP) is being developed to deliver increased selectivity and sustainability across Scotland’s diverse and varied fishing fleet. Once implemented, the FCP will support increased confidence in, and an increased accountability of, Scotland’s fishing fleets. The consultation on the FCP closed last year and analysis of responses is now complete with a full report, and government response, to be published this year.

Question reference: S6W-15517

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the Office of the Public Guardian, in light of the reported delays for processing power of attorney submission requests, and whether it anticipates an improvement in processing times in the near future.

This question relates to functions that are the responsibility of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) which the Office of the Public Guardian for Scotland (OPG) is a part of. The SCTS is an independent body corporate and as such it is not directly answerable to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with SCTS where a range of issues are discussed. The SCTS capital budget allocation will increase from £8 million in 2022-23 to £12.7m in 2023-24. This will include funding to replace the OPG IT system, which will help improve processing times for PoA applications.

Question reference: S6W-15518

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average response time has been for the Office of the Public Guardian to process (a) Electronic Power of Attorney Registration (EPOAR) submissions and (b) postal power of attorney requests in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

The information below has been provided by the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (OPG). Full-year information is not yet available for 2022-23. The average response time for the OPG to process powers of attorney, online via Electronic Power of Attorney Registrations (EPOAR) and by post, in business days (excluding those expedited where special urgency was indicated) is as follows:


Year	Business Days
Year	EPOAR	Postal
2018-19	30	39
2019-20	36	43
2020-21	150	154
2021-22	123	135

Question reference: S6W-15519

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) Electronic Power of Attorney Registration (EPOAR) and (b) postal power of attorney submissions were received by the Office of the Public Guardian in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

The following information has been provided by the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (OPG). The number of power of attorney submissions received by the OPG via electronic power of attorney registrations (EPOAR) and by post from 2018-19 to 2020-22. Full-year information is not yet available for 2022-23.

	No of PoA submissions
	EPOAR	Postal	Total
2018-19	46,260	32,748	79,008
2019-20	50,503	31,026	81,529
2020-21	33,334	17,397	50,731
2021-22	49,095	23,888	72,983

Question reference: S6W-15626

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Royal Mail Group and what was discussed.

The Scottish Government last met with the Royal Mail Group on 13 March 2023.

The purpose of that meeting was to seek assurance that the on-going industrial action, and Royal Mail’s plans for reform, would not have an unfair impact on those living in Scotland’s communities, especially the more remote and rural ones.

We are broadly supportive of the workforce action because of the threat of reform to the Universal Service Obligation.

Question reference: S6W-15466

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is undertaking preparations for legal challenges to any potential action by the UK Government that may prevent the implementation of Scottish Government legislation or policy, in light of reports that the UK Government is considering refusing to grant exemptions under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 to allow the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme and a potential ban on single-use vapes.

The Scottish Parliament approved the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations in 2020. The Regulations are wholly within devolved competence. There is an agreed and published process between UK Government and devolved governments for excluding certain areas from the UK Internal Market Act.

We have been following that process for excluding the deposit return scheme regulations from the Internal Market Act and this has been the subject of discussion with the UK Government for many months. I will keep Parliament updated on the exclusion process.

On single-use vapes, we expect Zero Waste Scotland to submit its report on the review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes in May, and we will consider its findings. Should our preferred course of action require an exclusion we will follow the agreed process.

Question reference: S6W-15093

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any subsidy control matters have been considered in respect of the appointment of Circularity Scotland and its supply chain.

As set out in Section 14 and Section 15 of The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020, submitted applications with regards to the appointment of scheme administrators are reviewed and decisions made by Scottish Ministers. The Regulations do not provide for public funding or financial support for appointed scheme administrators. This is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart. As such, subsidy control matters are not relevant in the appointment of a scheme administrator.