Chamber and committees

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-18517

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with NHS Shetland regarding the reported backlog of ophthalmic surgery, including cataract operations, for patients resident in Shetland, and what steps are being taken to reduce waiting times.

The Scottish Government are in regular contact with NHS Shetland to identify short term options and sustainable long-term solutions to support ophthalmic surgery, including cataract operations, across the North of Scotland.

We are working with all NHS Boards including NHS Shetland to reduce long waiting times. This includes targets announced in July 2022 to address the backlog of long waits and the delivery of the £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan to support sustainable improvements and new models of care, such as the National Treatment Centre Programme.

Question reference: S6O-02359

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding Levelling Up funding for Scotland's islands.

Question reference: S6W-17944

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the investigation by the BBC programme, Panorama, into pregnancy advice centres outside the NHS giving misleading information about abortion, which found that more than a third of these services gave misleading medical information or unethical advice, and sometimes both, what its response is to Stanton Healthcare East of Scotland obtaining charitable status to operate a pregnancy advice centre in Scotland.

The Scottish Government believes all women in Scotland should be able to access timely abortion care without judgment, should they require it. We would encourage all women wanting advice on an abortion or considering options for their pregnancy to contact their NHS Board, who can help offer advice or signpost them to other appropriate services.

The Scottish Government respects the fact that many individuals and organisations do not support abortion and may wish to discuss alternatives with patients, where patients request this. However, we expect all organisations to provide clear information for clients about the nature of the services they provide.

Decisions on the registration of charities in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Charities Regulator OSCR, which is independent of the Scottish Government. Concerns about the actions of a charity should be raised with the charity trustees in the first instance and then with OSCR. If there is any evidence to suggest that Stanton Healthcare East of Scotland has provided any misleading or unethical advice, the Scottish Government would be happy to discuss this and, if appropriate, share any relevant evidence with OSCR.

Question reference: S6W-17943

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it used in relation to its decision not to reinstate shared cabins on the Aberdeen-Kirkwall-Lerwick NorthLink ferry route following the lifting of all of its COVID-19 restrictions and the statement by the World Health Organization that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.

Question reference: S6W-17622

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children leave secondary school without having received swimming lessons in the previous two years of their learning.

Question reference: S6W-17647

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-12519 and S6W12628 by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2022, as part of its role in ensuring that submarine cables are protected and in engaging with affected stakeholders, what assessment it has made of the reported claim that the major communications outage in Shetland on 20 October 2022 may have been deliberately caused by a Russian vessel, rather than being the result of accidental damage by a UK registered fishing vessel.

Telecommunications is reserved to the UK Government. Security and resilience of sub sea telecommunication cables, as well as the whole network, is therefore UKG responsibility. UKG are aware of the incident and the cause. As noted in the responses to your previous questions S6W-12519 and S6W-12628, The Scottish Government received confirmation from the UK Government’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency that a UK registered fishing vessel was the cause of damage to the subsea cable affecting telecommunications on Shetland.

Question reference: S6W-17620

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making the provision of swimming lessons to children a statutory requirement.

There is no mandatory curriculum within Scottish schools. Local authorities have the flexibility to decide upon the content of their lessons, taking account of the needs and circumstances of children and young people in attendance at their schools. This also applies to PE lessons.

We nonetheless recognise the significant physical and mental health benefits that physical activity brings and believe that every child should be given the opportunity to learn to swim. Swimming is a life skill. We have therefore been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportScotland and Scottish Water to pilot bespoke interventions and approaches within local areas to provide opportunities for more children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.

Question reference: S6W-17621

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many children over the past five years have received swimming lessons through physical education classes at school.

The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people receive at least two hours of physical education per school week in primary schools, and at least two 50-minute periods of physical education per week in secondary schools - between secondaries 1 and 4.

Under the provisions of Curriculum for Excellence, schools and education authorities have the flexibility to decide upon the content of their lessons at the local level by taking into account the needs and circumstances of all children and young people in attendance. This includes taking decisions locally about the content of their PE lessons, where they can offer swimming lessons to their pupils if they wish to do so.

However, I recognise the importance of ensuring that all children can have equal opportunities to access swimming lessons, regardless of their families' social or economic circumstances. Therefore, we have been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportScotland and Scottish Water to pilot bespoke interventions and approaches within local areas to provide opportunities for more children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.

Question reference: S6W-17619

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what water safety teaching it requires of schools in coastal and island areas.

There is no mandatory curriculum within Scottish schools and local authorities have the flexibility to decide upon the content of their lessons at the local level taking account of the needs and circumstances of children and young people in attendance at their schools.

However it is important that we all know how to stay safe in and around Scotland’s waters. We are fully aware that conditions in open water sites change constantly and can be dangerous. Indeed, there is a significant difference between swimming in a heated indoor swimming pool and a cold open water site such as a loch. Therefore issues such as the importance of floating to live or the dangers of cold water shock also must be communicated in order to prevent drownings.

Water Safety Scotland and Education Scotland have launched a full progression pathway for water safety education for schools in Scotland. This pathway focuses on the provision of age and stage appropriate water safety education to support all children and young people aged 3-18 to develop valuable lifesaving knowledge, skills and understanding.

This pathway is available for use by all school practitioners when delivering water safety education, and it is available on Education Scotland’s website through the following link: Water Safety | Learning resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot) .

Furthermore, the Scottish Government will continue to work with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportscotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.

Question reference: S6W-17623

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it plans to offer schools in order to provide swimming lessons.

The Scottish Government have been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sport scotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.

sport scotland’s investment into Scottish Swimming includes support to enable delivery of 4 school swimming pilot projects for evaluation and to develop a School Swimming Framework that can be used by partners.

The Delivery Model Pilots will take place across 2022-23 to support schools to understand and consider different approaches and models of delivery to help educate and provide opportunities for children across Scotland to experience the water in a fun, safe and inclusive approach. This reflects the many different scenarios faced by schools when deciding how best to support young people to access school swimming.

Active Schools has a key role to play in complementing PE in schools by developing opportunities for physical activity and sport. Specific activities, such as swimming, provided through Active Schools is at the discretion of each local authority/Active Schools team.

In addition Active Schools plays a role in supporting local swimming clubs to link to schools, making pupils aware of the opportunities that exist to participate in swimming in the club setting, and we would encourage local authorities to provide Active Schools activity free of charge to ensure activity is accessible to all.