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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6F-01908

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-14947

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether pharmacy provision is keeping up with demand.

Question reference: S6W-14719

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to promote interoperable prescribing systems between the NHS providers and homecare medicines services providers.

Question reference: S6W-14812

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many transgender women are currently held within the female estate of the Scottish Prison Service; what crime, or crimes, each individual was convicted of and, in the case of any prisoners being held on remand, what crime they are accused of.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

On 10 March 2023, there were 7 transgender women located within the female estate in the care of the SPS. Out of those 7; 4 individuals were sentenced, and 3 were held on remand.

The 4 sentenced individuals all had an index offence in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group. The remanded individuals are alleged to have committed index offences in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group and the Crimes against society group.

Question reference: S6W-14748

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements have been made to health services for prisoners in relation to the recommendations of the Health and Sport Committee's 5th Report, 2017 (Session 5), Healthcare in Prisons (SP Paper 135).

In response to the report, the Scottish Government established a Health and Social Care in Prisons Programme to address structural barriers to better health and social care in prisons across a number of areas. The Programme was unavoidably disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic but nevertheless managed to make a range of improvements including refreshing the National Prison Care Network. This Network has established strong links with healthcare staff in prisons and is delivering improvements around a number of priority areas such as mental health, substance use, and workforce. Other key achievements from the Programme include:

publishing a suite of externally commissioned prison population health and social care needs assessments;
developing a prisons health information dashboard through Public Health Scotland;
completing a review of clinical IT in prisons; and
carrying out six tests of change which modelled ways of delivering integrated health and social care in prisons.

Much of this work continues to inform ongoing improvements to health and social care in prisons.

Question reference: S6W-14874

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the Food Train Glasgow branch is facing possible closure, whether any alternative support services will be made available to ensure that those currently relying on this service have access to food.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14332 on 7 February 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

An additional £2.5 million has been re-allocated to the Scottish Welfare Fund from the proposed £5 million addition to the Discretionary Housing Payment budget during 2022-23. This additional funding is an exceptional measure in response to the cost of living crisis, and will enable local authorities to provide more flexible local support through Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants. This can include payments to individuals and households who are experiencing financial challenges, including the effects of the cost of living crisis and food or fuel insecurity.

Question reference: S6W-14875

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13739 by Maree Todd on 24 January 2023, whether it will address the issue raised in the question regarding what action it will take to improve diagnosis times for lipoedema; and whether it will improve the availability of medical treatment, such as liposuction, in light of reports of there being only one surgeon in Scotland with experience of providing this treatment.

We are aware of the serious negative impact this condition can have on people’s lives and therefore it is important that access to treatment and support is timely. We want to ensure that people have informed conversations with their GP in order to support the diagnosis of lipoedema.

We have now finalised the new NHS Inform webpage on Lipoedema . The new resource aims to provide people with consistent, reliable and accessible information empowering them to make informed decisions about their health and includes information on the symptoms, causes, self-management and treatment options.

We will continue to work with organisations such as Talk Lipoedema to find ways to raise awareness of the condition and its symptoms.

In March 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee did a rapid review on the available evidence on the safety and efficacy of liposuction as treatment for lipoedema and found it to be inadequate. The recommendation was for the procedure to only be carried out in the context of research.

Previously, NHS Tayside was the only Health Board to provide liposuction as a treatment for lipoedema. Due to the updated guidance, NHS Tayside have stopped liposuction as a treatment option until NICE reviews its guidelines in 2025 after further evidence and research has been undertaken.

There are currently non-surgical treatment options for lipoedema and those with the condition will be treated by healthcare professionals at primary care level and, where appropriate, referred to specialist services in secondary care. Any particular treatment is at the discretion of the lead clinician. It is NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally who have responsibility for service delivery and patient treatment.

Question reference: S6W-15241

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the view expressed in a number of the responses to the Violence Against Women and Girls Funding Review that there is a need for single-sex services with female-only staff to be widely available to women.

Question reference: S6W-15379

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the process used to set up and install Circularity Scotland as scheme administrator for the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Scottish Government released information regarding Circularity Scotland’s application to Scottish Ministers to become a scheme administrator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, in response to an information request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. The information released in response to that request was published on the Scottish Government website on 22 January 2022 under reference FOI/202200276068.

Question reference: S6W-15407

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) volume and (b) percentage of Scottish waste was exported to other parts of the UK in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

That information is not available for the years requested.

Due to the cyber attack suffered by SEPA in 2020, data for that year is unavailable. The 2021 data is expected to be available from 28 March 2023, following publication of official statistics on Waste from All Sources. SEPA does not yet have a complete dataset for 2022, as returns are still being processed.

SEPA’s Waste from All Sources Discover Tool is available here: Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk)