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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: S6O-01427

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to universal free prescriptions on the NHS.

Question reference: S6O-01417

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the rural economy in areas impacted by long-term population decline.

Question reference: S6O-01432

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the needs of mobile home residents will be incorporated in the final version of the strategy, A New Deal for Tenants.

Question reference: S6W-10984

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it will give to farmers and crofters facing substantial increases in the price of feeding stuff.

As set out in our Programme for Government we are facing the most severe cost crisis in our lifetime and it is focused on the policy and legislative commitments that will make the biggest difference to households and businesses. The Scottish Government is already committed to measures, worth almost £3 billion this year, that will help with rising costs. Farmers and crofters will benefit from some of the general measures that we have set out, both as individuals and as a sector. The powers needed to tackle the cost crisis lie with the UK Government and we are pressing them to take urgent action.

We recognise that there are specific issues for the farming and crofting sector so we have, through a change to legislation, brought forward annual farm payment dates so that payments will begin at their earliest ever point.

Question reference: S6W-10530

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 1,500 new clinical and non-clinical staff for National Treatment Centres, as committed to in the NHS recovery plan, have been recruited to date.

The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) and is supporting a range of activity to achieve this.

The recruitment data we are currently collating is management information and not suitable for publication. However, we are committed to exploring how this data can be published at a future date following with the opening of Centres in Fife and Forth Valley in early 2023.

Question reference: S6W-10947

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what powers Scottish Ministers have to require Circularity Scotland to publish the methodology used to set retailer handling fees for the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-10581

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on providing (a) staff bank cover and (b) agency staff cover in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-10674

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported warnings and advice from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in relation to the risk of people using candles and naked flames in their homes because of unaffordable energy bills and the cost of living crisis.

The Cost of Living Crisis represents an unprecedented challenge and is undoubtedly having an impact on communities across Scotland. Effective fire safety, to prevent fires and reduce their impact, remains a priority for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and this was reflected in the latest Fire and Rescue Framework published earlier this year: Fire and rescue framework 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our Programme for Government set out to use our Emergency Budget Review to double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million, which has helped households at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing their energy use, since late 2020. Support is provided to people either as fuel vouchers, or via direct payments to their energy suppliers, and is available to people on any tariff type and using any kind of fuel.

The Scottish Government has produced Home Fire Safety advice which can be found here: Home fire safety - Fire and rescue - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . SFRS also have fire safety advice relating to candle use on their website: Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk) .

Question reference: S6W-10680

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on private waste firms being used during periods of industrial action to collect and process waste normally managed by local authority workers.

Waste collection is the responsibility of individual local authorities and they are best placed to make decisions regarding the provision of waste and recycling services in their area.

The Scottish Government supports strong trade unions in Scotland and recognises the importance of collective bargaining in improving terms and conditions, and respects the right to strike. However, we would always encourage unions and employers to work collaboratively to resolve disputes.

Question reference: S6W-10671

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to Age Scotland's reported letter to the First Minister requesting urgent action to provide more financial support for older people and those on the lowest incomes to warm their homes, whether (a) direct, targeted home assessments of those on the lowest incomes will be carried out and (b) a significant national benefit uptake campaign will be launched to ensure that people are not missing out on social security entitlements.

The Scottish Government has allocated £336 million this year (2022-23) to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures including £119 million targeted at fuel poor households. Our resources are delivered through long-standing programmes that have successfully assisted over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty to access energy efficiency adaptations.

We have recently expanded the capacity of Home Energy Scotland to enable them to help an extra 12,000 households a year with free, impartial advice.

Our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, is focussed on supporting households living in fuel poverty – or at risk of fuel poverty – by installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties. WHS has a record annual budget for 2022-23 of £55 million. Additionally, recently agreed changes to the eligibility criteria for WHS have made around 110,000 more households eligible for this assistance across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has significantly expanded funding for welfare advice to reduce benefit take-up gaps in Scotland. In the current year (2022-23) we have allocated over £12.5 million to support the provision of free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice. This vital funding ensures that people who are struggling the most can access the support they need in a way that works for them including face to face, online or over the phone.

The Scottish Government ran a national financial support campaign between January and March this year, beginning with a focus on maximising benefit take-up, and including signposting for debt advice and affordable credit.

The Scottish Government has launched a 'cost of living' portal to help people find out what support and benefits may be available depending on their own personal circumstances, for example for families with children or older people. This will streamline advice and support links from multiple sources of support into one page, including reserved support which is often under claimed by older households. We will ensure the promotion of this resource through all relevant existing campaigns.

The Scottish Government is also launching a Scotland-wide public information campaign to highlight help and support available to individuals as well as energy efficiency measures for households to minimise cost.