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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-08412

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much was distributed through the Recycling Improvement Fund in the financial year 2021-22.

To date, over £20.3 million has been awarded to 13 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling in Scotland, marking the beginning of one of the biggest investments in recycling in Scotland in a generation.

Of these awards, £5,267,640 million was allocated in the 2021-22 financial year, with the remainder being phased over subsequent years of the fund, based on the local projects’ spend profiles.

This investment is funding a range of improvements, including more frequent recycling collections, the extension of food and garden waste collections, and boosting Scotland’s capacity to recycle problematic materials, such as plastic films.

This initial investment has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 21,400 tonnes each year - the equivalent of taking 11,400 cars off the road. Further updates regarding new awards will be made in due course.

Question reference: S6W-08083

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS and social care staff have died during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland in the period from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2022; how many of these deaths involved COVID-19; how many of these people’s families have made a claim for the £60,000 death in service payment, and how many have received the payment to date.

National Records of Scotland publishes data on the number of people who have died in Scotland. Data for the period March 2020 to March 2022 on population deaths by occupation group, including data on deaths with Covid-19 mentioned on death certificates, is available here (table M7): https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-22-monthly-data-week-14.xlsx

Occupation	Deaths from all causes	Deaths where Covid-19 mentioned
Health care worker	594	52
Social care worker	931	84

Please note, this categorisation of occupation does not specify the individual’s employer.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has received 18 applications to the NHS Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme and 16 of those have received payment.

There have been 29 claims made to the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Social Care Worker Death in Service Scheme, 28 of those have received payment with 1 claim currently under consideration.

Question reference: S6W-08428

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its most recent estimates are for how many children in the East Kilbride constituency are receiving support from (a) the Scottish Child Payment and (b) Best Start Grants.

In the South Lanarkshire Local Authority (a) 5,525 clients received one or more payments for Scottish Child Payment between April 2021 and December 2021, and (b) 3,955 clients received one or more payments for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods between April 2021 and February 2022.

These figures are based on secondary analysis of the most recently published statistics on Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, published by Social Security Scotland. Whilst these include information by local authority area, we do not currently produce information by Scottish Parliament constituency.

Question reference: S6W-08427

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of council tax increases, whether the level of council tax debt is being monitored, and what support can be given to people who have arrears.

Statistics on uncollected council tax are published in the annual "Council Tax Collection" National Statistics publication. The most recent edition is available at Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) with the next update scheduled to be published on 21 June 2022.

The Council Tax Reduction Scheme means that nobody in Scotland has to meet a Council Tax Bill they cannot be expected to afford.

Council Tax is a local tax with responsibility for all elements of administration and collection resting with individual local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-08455

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken in the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill to prevent the third-party sale of fireworks to non-licence-holders.

The potential for unintended consequences, including a possible increase in illicit firework sales, has been carefully considered throughout development of the Bill.

In terms of how measures within the Bill have been developed to mitigate against illicit sales, the licensing system does not only cover the purchase of fireworks but also their possession and use; and the Bill introduces a new offence to be in possession of a firework or use a firework in Scotland without a valid licence.

In addition, it will be an offence for a firework licence holder to supply fireworks to an unlicensed person.

A person who commits this offence is liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or both).

Question reference: S6W-08459

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of land that is owned by each local authority is currently lying unused (a) with and (b) without planning applications pending.

Question reference: S6W-08505

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) grants and (b) loans it has provided to Ineos during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what the value of any such grants and loans was.

Question reference: S6W-08513

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will undertake research into the impacts of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compound (NMVOC) emissions from Scotch whisky maturation, as indicated by the Environment and Forestry Directorate.

Question reference: S6W-08404

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many training places it will provide for (a) psychiatrists and (b) mental health nurses in the next five years, and how this compares with the number in the last five years.

(a) Psychiatry

Table 1 sets out the number of established training places in each of the various psychiatric specialties. This data reflects trainee establishment levels from August 2016 – August 2022.

Table 1	Trainee Establishment
Training Programme	Trainee Establishment
Training Programme	Aug-16	Aug-17	Aug-18	Aug-19	Aug-20	Aug-21	Feb-22	Aug-22

Child and adolescent psychiatry	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
Core Psychiatry	163	163	161	161	161	166	171	176
Forensic psychiatry	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
General psychiatry	59	59	59	59	59	59	59	59
Intellectual Disability Psychiatry	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Medical psychotherapy	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Old age psychiatry	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25
Grand Total	311	311	309*	309	309	314	319	324

* Two fewer posts were advertised in 2018 than in 2017 due to the allocation of Core Psychiatry posts to the Broad Based Training programme, which includes psychiatry as one of the four rotations.

Table 2 shows the number of psychiatric training posts advertised in each year from 2016 – 2021. The number of posts which are advertised varies year-on-year depending on how many trainees completed their training and achieved their Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in the year prior. Please note that comparative figures for 2022 are not yet available.

Table 2	Post Type*	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Specialty	Post Type*	Posts	Posts	Posts	Posts	Posts	Posts
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	ST4	9	10	14	8	9	13
Core Psychiatry Training	CT1	59	58	65	63	68	59
Forensic Psychiatry	ST4	7	4	6	5	4	6
Forensic Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	ST4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Forensic Psychiatry and Medical Psychotherapy	ST4	1	0	0	0	0	0
General Psychiatry	ST4	32	20	19	18	14	27
General Psychiatry and Medical Psychotherapy	ST4	1	0	0	0	1	3
General Psychiatry and Old Age Psychiatry	ST4	0	1	1	1	1	1
Medical Psychotherapy	ST4	0	3	3	1	2	2
Old Age Psychiatry	ST4	13	15	10	10	9	12
Psychiatry of Learning Disability	ST	1	3	7	8	6	4
Psychiatry of Learning Disability and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry	ST	0	0	0	0	1	1
		123	114	125	114	115	128

* CT = Core Training

*ST = Specialty Training

The number of psychiatry training places to be advertised beyond 2022 has not yet been determined. The number of training places is determined annually by Scottish Ministers, following the recommendations of the Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG). The SSoTTG make its recommendations based on a number of factors, including: retiral rate of consultants, attrition rates, current and future service demand, assumed demographic changes, and training capacity within NHS Scotland amongst others. The Group receives input from Specialty Training Boards, Medical Royal Colleges, NHS Education Scotland, the British Medical Association, Medical Directors, Regional Medical Workforce Planners and other relevant parties.

The Scottish Government (SG) has been increasing the number of Core Psychiatry training places, following the recommendations of the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG). Since 2014, the Scottish Ministers have created 474 additional places in a wide range of medical specialties, following the recommendations of the group. 139 of those were agreed in 2021 – the largest annual expansion to date – and are being recruited to in 2022. This includes 10 additional Core Psychiatry places. The SSoTTG continues to review the number of established training places in line with patient and service needs. All additional training places are funded by the Scottish Government.

SG officials are also currently working with NHS Education for Scotland and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Scotland to better understand and address the challenges associated with recruitment and retention in Psychiatry; an issue that is common across all four UK nations.

(b) Mental Health Nurses

In terms of training places for Mental Health nurses, student nurses entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 20% in 2022-23, to a total recommended intake of 888 students. The mental health nursing intake has nearly doubled in the past 5 years, from 465 places in 2017.

Every year, the Scottish Government undertakes a robust nursing student intake planning process to determine the target number of pre-registration students to which Scottish universities should recruit to in the following academic year to meet estimated future nursing workforce demands.

Question reference: S6W-08424

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) trade unions representing drivers and (b) ScotRail regarding drivers’ pay, and what action is being taken to avoid any further disputes.