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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-03132

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, between 1 April 2016 and 30 June 2021, how many Vietnamese nationals have been (a) held on remand, (b) released on bail, (c) prosecuted, (d) convicted and sentenced, broken down by offence and (e) identified as presumed or confirmed trafficking survivors by the National Referral Mechanism, each broken down by how many were (i) adults and (ii) children.

Question reference: S6W-03188

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to establish the independent review to advise on the replacement for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), and by what date the review will (a) commence, (b) conclude and (c) publish its findings.

Professor Ken Muir has been appointed as an independent advisor on education reform and formally started work on 2 August 2021, and is expected to take around 6 months to conclude.

Professor Muir’s work will include designing the implementation of the OECD’s recommendations for structural change of the SQA and Education Scotland, including delivery of the national curriculum, assessment, qualification and inspection functions. This will include consideration of the role, remit and purpose of both the SQA and Education Scotland, their functions and governance arrangements.

Professor Muir is expected to conclude work and report recommendations to Scottish Government early 2022 and we will seek to publish Professor Muir’s findings as soon as practically possible.

Updates on Professor Muir's work will be provided via https://www.gov.scot/policies/schools/education-reform/

Question reference: S6W-01100

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken since March 2021 to ensure that (a) seafarers and (b) offshore workers returning directly to Scotland for a period of leave, after working outside the UK, receive assistance from employers to meet the costs of complying with COVID-19 restrictions and requirements.

International travel restrictions are important in limiting the importation of further cases of the virus, in particular new variants, which could undermine the rollout of our vaccine programme. Exemptions to self-isolation requirements have been granted for seafarers returning directly to Scotland from red or amber list countries outside of the UK. Seafarers who are repatriating in Scotland are also exempt from isolation and the financial pressure that isolation incurs. This exemption does not apply to seafarers returning to Scotland for a period of leave or any other non-work-related circumstance. Offshore workers arriving from amber list countries to work on the UK continental shelf are also exempt from isolation requirements. Where workers are required to travel internationally for business reasons, employers are encouraged to consider how they support their employees to comply with restrictions on their return to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-03000

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its position stated in the procurement notice issued to local government in 2014 that it "strongly discourages trade with illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories", whether this remains its position.

Question reference: S6O-00203

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to raise awareness among the public and healthcare professionals of the symptoms of leukaemia.

Question reference: S6W-03203

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-02838

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle nuisance calls.

The regulation of nuisance calls and texts is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to tackle this issue – and the scams that can underpin them – using our devolved powers.

Many of the proposed actions from the Nuisance Call Commission 2017 have been progressed and delivered. However, we recognise that further work needs to be done. That is why on 19 March 2021 we published Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy 2021-24.

The strategy introduces a new framework for tackling scams, with an emphasis on: disrupting scams at source; building capacity, skills and resilience amongst individuals to avoid the risk that scams pose; streamlining the reporting and advice landscape so that people can access the right support at the right time to meet their needs; and improving coordination and intelligence sharing between frontline advice providers, enforcement bodies and wider advocacy organisations.

A key part of this work is supporting technological innovation. Since 2017, we have been providing funding to Trading Standards Scotland for the purchase and roll out of domestic call blocker devices to the homes of individuals in some of the most vulnerable circumstances in Scotland. A recent report on the effectiveness of these call blockers by Trading Standards Scotland indicated that the devices have blocked 779,633 calls and an estimated 1,265 scams have been prevented.

A new Strategic Partnership was established on 12 August to oversee delivery of the strategy, including development of a robust monitoring framework to assess impacts over time. A progress update report will be produced by the end of 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-02839

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to measure progress on the implementation of the action plan set out in the response to the Nuisance Calls Commission in 2017.

Question reference: S6W-02319

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government within what timeframe it anticipates all prisoners, young offenders and staff within the prison estate will have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, broken down by prison and young offender institution.

The Scottish Government works closely with all stakeholders including Trade Unions, to deliver the vital communication messages across the Prison Estate and the Member will appreciate that staff as part of the wider community, can be vaccinated and it is not mandatory for staff to report their vaccination status, to their employer. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) throughout the Prison Estate is effectively ensuring that we are progressing vaccinations against COVID-19 in conjunction with health professionals from Public Health Scotland (PHS), as well as other health agencies .

We realise that through our work with public health agencies in conjunction with SPS, that we have a job to engage with the prison population. In many ways it mirrors the issues found in wider society and we are dealing with the hardest to reach. Tailored communications are delivered to those in a prison setting. The National Clinical Director attended HMP Barlinnie for a Q&A session with prisoners which was made available via prison radio and TV. Posters with the same national ‘roll up your sleeves’ messaging and appropriate photography were distributed to prisons to be displayed.

Question reference: S6W-02320

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) prisoners and young offenders and (ii) prison staff have received (A) their first dose and (B) both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, also broken down by (1) prison and young offender institution, (2) NHS board area and (3) whether the prisoners and young offenders are (aa) under the age of 18 and (bb) 18 or over.

The Scottish Government has been working in collaboration with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service to improve data on COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Scottish prisons.

New prison vaccination data was been published by Public Health Scotland on 15 September and the link is attached for convenience for the Member. https://publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/covid-19/covid-19-data-and-intelligence/covid-19-weekly-report-for-scotland/

Prison vaccination data will now be reported on a regular basis and will assist in considering possible courses of action to improve the vaccination uptake amongst the prison population, including for individuals who have not received their second dose prior to being released from prison.