Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 42727 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-02742

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent reports that a significant proportion of publicly-available electric vehicle charging points are not working.

CPS has transitioned to a new charge point network operator (CPNO), with all charge points and members being migrated from BP Pulse to SWARCO on the 27 th July. This was the outcome of a rigorous tender exercise to find a new operator to manage CPS on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Migrating over 2000 charge points and 32,000 driver accounts is a significant undertaking which required months of planning and preparation by a range of technical and operational specialists.

The process of bringing the entire ChargePlace Scotland estate online for the first time under one operator has been a huge undertaking. And while some interruptions had been expected, the level of disruption many drivers have faced was regrettably on a scale we did not foresee. Transport Scotland officials understand how critical it is for EV drivers to have access to a comprehensive and reliable network and we fully appreciate the service levels members expect from CPS.

I am pleased to update you that the network has now been stabilised and significant progress has been made in resolving some of the key issues which initially affected drivers, including RFID card access, customer account set-up and, above all, charge point availability. The network now has over 1800 publically available charge points connected and in working order. We are now in a second phase of the CPS migration programme, with the team endeavouring to resolve outstanding charge point repairs as a matter of urgency.

Question reference: S6W-02346

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which cabinet secretary or minister has responsibility for climate justice.

Question reference: S6W-03203

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-02958

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid out in legal fees by each local authority in each year since 1999.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities, separate from the Scottish Government. As such, the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government and would have to be obtained directly from individual local authorities or from COSLA.

Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics is an annual publication providing a comprehensive overview of financial activity of Scottish local authorities in 2019-20 based on authorities' audited accounts.

Question reference: S6W-02910

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it (a) has taken to date and (b) plans to take to avoid the potential loss of 100 manufacturing jobs at CalaChem in Grangemouth.

The Scottish Government was deeply concerned to learn that CalaChem Ltd is entering into a consultation with its manufacturing services workforce in Grangemouth. Through Scottish Enterprise we have engaged with CalaChem Ltd, and will continue to work with them throughout its consultation period to explore all possible options to support the business and workforce.

In the unfortunate event that job losses should occur, the Scottish Government will provide support to all affected employees through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). We have already contacted the company and have outlined the offer of PACE support for employees in the unfortunate event this may be needed.

Question reference: S6W-02857

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the anticipated breakdown by (a) role and (b) starting year of the 320 additional staff that it has committed to delivering to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workforce by 2026.

The breakdown of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workforce is published on a quarterly basis through the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) CAMHS Workforce publication. This data can be found on the NES Turas Data Intelligence platform and provides a breakdown of staffing per NHS Board in CAMHS, including breakdown of professional role.

In May 2021, we allocated £16.4 million to support NHS Boards to implement the National CAMHS Service Specification. In addition, on 14 September, we announced £10.83 million funding to further support the implementation. Through this funding, NHS Boards have started to recruit additional staff to implement the Specification and to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs. NHS Boards will recruit a variety of staff in different roles, based on individual service needs.

Question reference: S6W-02871

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what training has been provided to staff in its Clinical Priorities Unit in relation to engaging with people on issues such as disabilities, equality measures, fairness and human rights, including with people with long-term conditions, and when any such training was provided.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all our staff have the necessary training/skills to fulfil our commitments to equalities and diversity and dealing with specific groups of stakeholders. Diversity and inclusion capability building, including learning and development, for Scottish Government staff is set out in our Mainstreaming Equality Outcomes Report 2021. In July 2021, we launched new mandatory diversity and inclusion training. This aims to ensure everyone working within the Scottish Government develops and maintains a foundational level of knowledge about inclusion and supports individual self-reflection and personal development.

Question reference: S6W-02878

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT regarding the removal of its obsolete network of KX and KX+ series of telephone boxes in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-02807

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 Delta variant, what its position is on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control statement that "children appear to be equally susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to other age groups".

We welcome and have noted the technical report on ‘COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in transmission – second update’ from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues has previously recognised that the Delta variant is more transmissible than the previously dominant variants, including among children. However, compared to adults, children are at much lower risk of severe COVID-related health outcomes. Once infected, they are more likely to experience mild or asymptomatic infection. Severe illness, hospitalisation and mortality are rare. Moreover, the evidence base continues to suggest that children transmit the virus at lower rates than adults, are more likely to transmit among themselves than to adults, and that cases in education settings follow and mirror transmission rates in the community where adult to adult transmission is more common. The summary report of the evidence on children, schools, early learning and childcare settings and transmission from COVID-19 provides more detail.

From w/c Monday 20 September all 12-15 year olds will be eligible for one dose of the vaccine which should help reduce transmission in children 12 years old and above.

Question reference: S6W-02808

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy that schools remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, what its position is on whether (a) significant mitigations are needed in schools and (b) community transmissions must be kept to a minimum; what additional policies it will implement to ensure that children and young people do not face disproportionate risks to their long-term health as a result of COVID-19, and what the timescales are for any such action.

Our focus has been, and remains, on keeping our school communities safe including minimising the risk of any long-term impact of the pandemic. The First Minister confirmed in her update to Parliament on 14 September, that we are retaining the current suite of mitigations in schools for the time being. This decision follows the latest recommendations of the advisory sub-group on education and children’s issues, and was taken after very careful consideration. The measures in place in schools and across wider society are crucial in reducing infection but we will continue to keep the requirements under very close review.