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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: S6F-00854

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what urgent steps will be taken to address lung disease in Scotland, in light of the reported comments of Asthma + Lung UK Scotland that “the state of lung health in Scotland is shameful, with over 7,000 people dying a year".

Question reference: S6F-00849

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Information Commissioner’s Office recently issuing a reprimand to it and NHS National Services Scotland in relation to the COVID-19 status app.

Question reference: S6F-00843

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00844

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-06448

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03941 by Keith Brown on 11 November 2021, which organisations were represented at the roundtable on 4 November 2021, and how concerns about the reported rise in incidents of drink spiking and spiking by injection are being addressed across the sector.

On 4 November 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans chaired a roundtable on spiking to discuss how we can achieve the right balance of targeted and universal intervention to ensure the safety of the public. Twenty-six partners attended including representatives from Police Scotland, SPA Forensic Services, Health services, Night Time Economy, Further and Higher Education, Local Authority, and Third Sector organisations.

A further roundtable was convened on 8 December 2021 at which time Police Scotland reported a downward trend in recorded spiking incidents. Key outcomes focussed on consistent messaging, training and prevention, with the Violence Reduction Unit supporting partners to continue roll out of the bystander training for night time industry staff to raise awareness and help keep people safe.

In January 2022, Police Scotland subsequently noted that there has been no corroborated evidence to support claims of needle spiking in Scotland, and forensic analysis has found no traces of drugs used for spiking in any alleged victims. ‎

We continue to work with partners to strengthen our response to spiking, and ensure that women feel safe and are supported to report. This includes continuing to implement our Equally Safe Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-06419

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the amount of (a) waste incinerated and (b) electricity exported at each municipal waste incinerator in Scotland in each of the last three years.

Please see a breakdown of the available data for a) and b)

Waste Incinerated and electricity produced at MWIs 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021

1. Waste incinerated by site (Tonnes)

The following data is from Waste Data Returns. Please refer to attached table which notes that the data below is higher for some sites than incinerated tonnages in Annual Reports made under the Permit.

Site	Permit Number	2018	2019	2020	2021*
Lerwick Energy Recovery Plant	PPC/A/1003141	23,054	20,890	22,850	19,037
MVV Environment Baldovie	PPC/A/1003157	94,625	102,819	104,519	160,632
Viridor Dunbar ERF	PPC/A/1032878	41,284	262,138	324,762	320,373
Viridor GRREC	PPC/A/111002		93,340	123,831	98,975
FCC Millerhill	PPC/A/1136072	16,460	142,490	156,654	159,481

Levenseat Renewable Energy Limited is still in commissioning - Site is reporting waste inputs and outputs but no incineration tonnages.

1. Electricity exported to grid (MWh)

Site	Permit Number	2018	2019	2020	2021
Lerwick Energy Recovery Plant	PPC/A/1003141	Nil - Note 1	Nil - Note 1	Nil - Note 1	Nil - Note 1
MVV Environment Baldovie	PPC/A/1003157	Note 2	Note 2	33,800 Note 3	Data is not yet available
Viridor Dunbar ERF	PPC/A/1032878	Note 2	Note 2	224,848	237,524
Viridor GRREC	PPC/A/111002	Note 2	Note 2	46,668	Data is not yet available
FCC Millerhill	PPC/A/1136072	Note 2	Note 2	100,765	103,760

1. Heat recovery plant only.

2. No data held post cyber-attack.

3. Lower figures than 2019 due to operation without steam turbine from October 2021.

4. Levenseat Renewable Energy Limited is still in commissioning and are therefore not required to report this data.

Question reference: S6W-06422

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05517 by Lorna Slater on 24 January 2022, regarding the estimated 27% lower impact of incineration over landfill, whether it will confirm that this involves an underlying assumption that (a) it is an estimate of historical (circa 2018) impacts rather than current or anticipated climate impacts of incineration, (b) it is based on sending waste directly to landfill with no biostabilisation component, (c) the impact of displaced energy is modelled using the UK grid rather than the relatively more decarbonised Scotland grid and (d) the technical report that contains the 27% estimate acknowledges data gaps in the composition of municipal waste and the energy outputs of energy from waste (EfW) plants.

All the underlying assumptions used in the analysis, including the information requested by the member, are available in the Zero Waste Scotland report The Climate Change Impacts of Burning Municipal Waste in Scotland and the accompanying technical report. Both are available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: The climate change impact of burning municipal waste in Scotland | Zero Waste Scotland .

Question reference: S6W-06426

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and (b) Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport last met the (i) Chair and (ii) Lead Clinician of the National Advisory Committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has not met with the Chair or Lead Clinician of the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee.

Respiratory policy falls under the portfolio remit of Ms Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Public Health, Women's Health & Sport. The Minister has not met with the Chair or Lead Clinician of the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee.

However, officials meet regularly with the Lead Clinician of the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee to discuss the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-06441

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02394 by Maree Todd on 15 September 2021, what action it is taking to address reported disparities in access to flash glucose monitors and insulin pumps in economically deprived and minority ethnic groups.

We are committed to improving outcomes for people living with diabetes across Scotland. Our Diabetes Improvement Plan contains specific commitments to support increased access to diabetes technologies, with significant focus on equity of access to care and services.

Our national policy is to further increase access to diabetes technologies for everyone who would benefit from these life changing therapies, and we expect NHS Boards to provide insulin pumps and flash glucose monitors to all clinically suitable children and adults.

We are aware that children and adults from the most deprived areas are less likely to use diabetes technologies and we are committed to understanding the reasons for this. We are working in partnership with Diabetes Scotland and the Alliance to ensure that the needs of people living with diabetes are fully understood. In December 2021 we launched a lived experience network through the Alliance, to ensure that the experiences of those living with diabetes are taken into account when shaping policy. We are working to ensure that to the membership of this panel is as diverse as possible.

We will take targeted action to ensure equity of access across Scotland and share progress of this using data from SCI-diabetes.

Question reference: S6W-06418

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether municipal waste incinerators in Scotland are currently required to accurately measure direct CO2 emissions through the use of calibrated flow rates and calibrated CO2 continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS), and, if not, what plans there are to require this, in line with the approach taken by the UK Government Environment Agency.

As per S6W-06417 answered on 28 February 2022 , measurement of CO2 emissions using calibrated flow meters and CEMS is not a current requirement in SEPA permits for existing MWIs.

All SEPA Permits for existing sites must comply with the requirements of the Waste Incineration BAT Conclusions (WI BATCs) by 3 December 2023. SEPA will review Permits for MWIs to ensure they will be compliant by the deadline. This will include the new requirement for a calibrated flow meter.

The calibration of CO2 CEMS is not required by the WI BATCs. However, as part of the BAT review process, SEPA will consider whether to include a requirement for calibration of CEMS for CO2 and reporting of CO2 mass emissions to align with the approach taken by the Environment Agency. Whether or not each MWI has an appropriate CEMS in place which is able to be calibrated for measurement of CO2 will be confirmed during the BAT Review for each Permit.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers