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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-00668

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 5 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Marine Scotland on the provision of a dedicated research vessel to monitor marine plastic pollution.

Question reference: S6W-01193

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 July 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support will be made available to NHS Boards in responding to COVID-19 in 2021-22.

Additional funding of £1.08 billion has been confirmed through the Scottish Budget for health and care for 2021-22 to support the response to the pandemic.

From this, the Scottish Government is providing an initial £380 million to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to meet ongoing costs associated with Covid-19. This includes funding for PPE, Test and Protect and delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations.

The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that our health and care services have the funding that they require to respond to this pandemic, and will make available further additional support following our detailed Quarter One financial review.

Details of funding allocations to NHS Boards are set out in the following table:

	Covid Funding (£m)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	13.7
NHS Borders	3.4
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	4.9
NHS Fife	11.6
NHS Forth Valley	10.1
NHS Grampian	16.2
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	45.8
NHS Highland	9.8
NHS Lanarkshire	25.9
NHS Lothian	27.0
NHS Orkney	0.7
NHS Shetland	0.7
NHS Tayside	13.7
NHS Western Isles	0.9
National Waiting Times Centre	3.9
Scottish Ambulance Service	17.4
The State Hospital	0.3
NHS 24	2.7
NHS Education for Scotland	1.8
NHS National Services Scotland	156.3
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	0.4
Public Health Scotland	12.6
Total	379.6

Question reference: S6W-00923

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government's work on EU research funding schemes, what discussions it had with UK ministers prior to setting up the Saltire Research Awards.

At the start of 2021, the Scottish Government held several discussions with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations regarding a joint approach to encourage participation in Horizon Europe by UK organisations. As part of these, UK Government officials were made aware of the plans of the Scottish Government to dedicate funding to support European research collaboration before the launch of the Saltire Research Awards. Scottish and UK Ministers communicate on strategic research policy issues regularly.

Question reference: S6W-00961

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing vouchers for one free NHS dental check-up for new mothers that can be redeemed after the baby’s first birthday if the mothers were unable to access this service before the birthday because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-01000

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00523 by Mairi Gougeon on 21 June 2021, whether it will set out the information provided broken down by (a) domestic and (b) foreign vessels.

Further to previous question - 'To ask the Scottish Government what the total catch is that has been landed by domestic and foreign vessels in Scottish ports in each month between (a) January and May 2020 and (b) January and May 2021.'

Data broken down to Domestic and Foreign vessels.

Provisional monthly data on landings (liveweight tonnes) by UK and Non-UK vessels into Scottish ports, January-May 2020 and January to April 2021

Month	2020			2021
	UK	Non-UK	Total	UK	Non-UK	Total
January	29,367	2,409	31,776	46,558	47	46,605
February	27,740	1,099	28,839	11,764	460	12,224
March	20,006	1,896	21,902	19,750	695	20,445
April	10,232	1,775	12,007	21,551	685	22,236
May	11,215	3,485	14,701
Total (January- April)	87,346	7,179	94,525	99,624	1,887	101,511

Taken from the Marine Management Organisations national statistics publication of monthly sea fisheries statistics - Monthly UK sea fisheries statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

These statistics are provisional and will be subject to change. In particular data for the most recent months are likely to increase.

Question reference: S6W-00841

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help prevent chronic stress among officers, and how much funding it has provided in each year since 2019-20 in mental health support for officers experiencing this condition.

The welfare and wellbeing of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. Officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through the “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme provided by Police Scotland. Officers can seek advice and support through ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the ‘Wellbeing Hub’ and can access services such as, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM); the Employee Assistance Programme; and Occupational Health services.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to protect Police Scotland’s resource budget in real terms throughout the lifetime of this Parliament and for 2021-22 we have increased the policing budget by £75.5m, to over £1.3bn.

Question reference: S6W-00838

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Police Scotland officers in U Division (Ayrshire) have been engaged daily in backroom duties in each month since April 2018.

Question reference: S6W-00840

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many civilian staff are employed by Police Scotland, broken down by division.

Information on the number of support staff employed by Police Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The information requested may be available on Police Scotland’s website, within the ‘Police Scotland Officers & Staff Quarterly Fact Sheet’ (link attached). The latest publication (Quarter 1 2021) provides data on staff numbers nationally and by local division.

Police Scotland Officer Numbers - Police Scotland

Question reference: S6W-00628

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement of funding for 40 new legal aid trainees, whether it will provide further information on the geographical base of the trainees, and whether the fund to support the traineeships will be accessible to people in the Northern Isles.

Applications for the Legal Aid Traineeship Fund are sought from all legal firms/organisations across Scotland, including those in the Northern Isles. The Scottish Government and the Law Society agreed that all posts must be externally advertised including on the lawscots.jobs website. The criteria for the Fund explicitly states that all reasonable steps must be taken by legal firms/organisations to use an open, fair, and diverse recruitment process.

The Law Society are responsible for the administration of the Fund and further information on the eligibly criteria can be found here: https://www.lawscot.org.uk/qualifying-and-education/qualifying-as-a-scottish-solicitor/the-traineeship/funded-legal-aid-traineeship-scheme/ .

Question reference: S6W-00790

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will rule out the future use of transvaginal mesh implants.