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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: S6W-13755

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2022 would require parole boards to reject the release of convicted murderers who have failed to disclose information about the location of their victims' remains.

Question reference: S6W-13542

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done with NHS Education for Scotland to improve mandatory equality, diversity and inclusion training for health and social care staff and ensure that this is up to date and relevant.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, produced an e-learning module for Non-Executive Board members on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and is a resource that all staff can access.

Equality is a theme running through the new Leading to Change programme aimed at developing future and current leaders in health and social care. NES is also working with a range of stakeholders to scope out current training and learning needs for staff on equality and diversity. This will inform work by NES to continue to develop up to date and relevant learning resources on equality and diversity for health and social care staff.

This will include a review and update of the NES essential learning module 'equality and human rights' which is available to the health and social care workforce.’

Question reference: S6W-13922

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in Scotland have been included on Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-13900

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to Scotland hosting the Invictus Games.

The Scottish Government commends and congratulates the athletes competing at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf later this year. The Invictus Games has been hosted in a range of locations worldwide, and has been successful in using sport to inspire recovery and support rehabilitation of injured and sick servicemen and women.

In terms of what consideration the Scottish Government has given to Scotland hosting the Invictus Games, the Scottish Government works with a range of organisations and partners, particularly VisitScotland's Events Directorate, to assess hosting opportunities to secure a strong and diverse pipeline of major events.

Question reference: S6W-13624

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether relevant stakeholders, including PLACE and community councils, were consulted before it took the decision to delay the implementation of commercial short-term let licensing by six months.

We are not delaying the implementation of commercial short-term let licensing. Licensing schemes opened in October 2022, and new hosts must now apply for, and obtain, a licence before accepting bookings or receiving guests. Local authorities continue to receive applications from new and existing hosts

In recognition of the wider cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses, we have announced that we will introduce legislation in January 2023 to extend the deadline for existing hosts to apply for a licence from 1 April 2023 to 1 October 2023.

This is not a pause and we encourage hosts to keep applying throughout.

Question reference: S6W-13587

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported rise in burst water pipes as a result of cold weather, what support it is providing to local authorities to enable them to keep local authority owned housing in a good state of repair, and what discussions it has had with local government representatives on this matter.

Local authorities are required, under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, to keep houses they let fit for human habitation and ensure that any repairs are carried out when they are needed.

Whilst it is for local authorities to determine how they use funds available to them, including to maintain housing stock, the Scottish Government has increased local government funding by more than £1 billion in 2022-23 and the 2023-24 Local Government settlement of over £13.2 billion represents an increase of £570.8 million or 4.5% since the Budget Act, which is a real terms increase of £160.6 million or 1.3%.

We work closely with social landlords in our shared ambition to provide quality, affordable social homes and continue to have constructive engagement with them on a range of matters.

Question reference: S6W-13919

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the recent study by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and its finding of significant overall excess cancer mortality for Scottish firefighters compared with the general population.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

We will continue to support SFRS as they continue to work in partnership with the FBU and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.

Question reference: S6W-13921

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made to promote Scotland’s Fair Trade Nation status.

The achievement of Fair Trade Nation status for Scotland, first in February 2013 and once more in March 2017, signals to the world that Scotland takes an active leadership role in challenging global poverty and recognising the dignity and rights of producers, through a commitment to fairness in international trading.

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which has received core funding from the Scottish Government since 2007 to take forward our work on Fair Trade, continues to engage across all sections of Scottish society from schools, colleges and universities to faith groups, businesses and charities, to raise awareness of the plight of farmers and producers in the developing world and build support for our status as a Fair Trade Nation.

This year sees the 10th Anniversary since Scotland first achieved the accolade of Fair Trade Nation status, and events are planned up and down the country during this year's Fairtrade Fortnight to mark the occasion.

Question reference: S6W-13740

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available to local authorities to support Gaelic-medium education.

The Scottish Government has two streams of funding available to local authorities to help support Gaelic medium and Gaelic learner education across Scotland. These are the Scheme of Gaelic Specific Grant, £4.482m, and the Gaelic Schools Capital Fund, £4m. In 2022-23, 26 local authorities applied and were supported from the Scheme of Gaelic Specific Grant and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Highland received support for projects that expanded Gaelic Medium Education educational settings.

Question reference: S6W-13837

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13629 by Neil Gray on 12 January 2023, when it expects to provide the update mentioned in the response, and whether this will be by the end of January 2023.