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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-00378

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government anticipates the impact of COP26 will be on Glasgow’s healthcare services.

Question reference: S6F-00368

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the UK Budget.

Question reference: S6F-00367

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government will be doing to amplify the voices of the Global South at COP26.

Question reference: S6F-00365

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00364

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-00222

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being undertaken in response to reports of recent increases in drink spiking and spiking by injection in nightclubs and bars.

Question reference: S6T-00225

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of NHS Lanarkshire moving to the highest risk level, black, and cancelling elective care, including some cancer procedures.

Question reference: S6W-03602

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide that ordnance clearances taking place as part of the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm project are not high order detonations.

The marine and European Protected Species licences issued to Seagreen Wind Energy Limited (SWEL) in respect of unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance activities were conditioned such that high order detonation techniques for UXO clearance are used only when it is not possible to undertake UXO clearance using low yield or low order techniques. All possible opportunities to undertake clearance using low order and low yield techniques must have failed before use of high order detonation techniques. The marine licence also conditions that SWEL must, no later than 28 days following the completion of the licensed activity, submit a written report to the licensing authority which confirms the method used to remove each UXO, the considerations made and justification for selecting the method used to remove each UXO including, as appropriate, the failure of other methods.

Question reference: S6W-03551

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for the reported reduction in life expectancy for people in (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde between 2016-18 and 2018-2020.

The majority of Scotland’s council areas have experienced a stall in life expectancy growth since 2012-2014. Life expectancy has unfortunately decreased across many areas in Scotland. This trend has also been experienced across the UK.

National Records of Scotland publish official annual statistics on life expectancy by council area. Their report for 2018-2020 can be found here: Life Expectancy in Scotland, 2018-2020 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk) . Between 2016-2018 and 2018-2020, average life expectancy in Inverclyde reduced from 75.2 to 74.3 for males and 79.6 to 78.6 for females. Average life expectancy in North Ayrshire reduced from 76.3 to 75.3 for males, though female life expectancy increased from 79.9 to 80.1.

It is worth highlighting that deaths from COVID-19 have accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy across Scotland as a whole, reducing male life expectancy by 16.7 weeks and female life expectancy by 14.3 weeks. Inverclyde and North Ayrshire have sadly experienced some of the highest rates of deaths per local population from COVID-19, with 216.7 per 100,000 population in Inverclyde and 234.6 per 100,000 population in North Ayrshire.

We know that deprivation drives excess mortality, and that areas of high deprivation have increased rates of deaths from COVID-19. Inverclyde and North Ayrshire have a higher proportion of local zones of high deprivation than many other areas in Scotland. We are committed to ending poverty, increasing equitable access to fair employment, education and training, and improving our physical and social environments. We will do this by working more effectively in partnership across government and with our local partners across all sectors.

Our recently published COVID-19 Recovery Strategy sets out how we will tackle many of the deep-rooted inequalities that lead to unfair differences in health and life expectancy. Increasing life expectancy and improving the health for everyone in Scotland remains a clear priority for this Government.

Question reference: S6W-03555

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce domestic targets for waste based on the carbon metric rather than weight-based targets, as set out in its Zero Waste Plan from 2011.