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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-31785

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it (a) can take and (b) is taking to support local authorities to ensure that licensed taxi drivers comply with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to refusing or attempting to refuse to carry visually impaired people due to them travelling with their guide dog.

Accessibility obligations for taxi and private hire car drivers and Local Licencing Authorities are reserved to the UK Government under the Equality Act 2010.

The taxi licensing system is devolved under the Civic Government Act 1982 and is implemented by (local authority) licensing authorities. They are responsible for enforcing the duties placed on drivers to carry a disabled person’s assistance dog at no additional charge, unless the driver has a medical exemption certificate.

Transport Scotland will shortly survey licensing authorities to better understand the provision of accessible taxis and disability equality training requirements in each licencing area.

Question reference: S6O-04103

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the next Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Question reference: S6O-04046

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consult MSP staff trade unions before deciding on uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the 2025-26 financial year.

Question reference: S6O-04022

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported disproportionately lower levels of social security uptake among ethnic minority groups.

Question reference: S6O-03988

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what ongoing discussions the finance secretary is having with ministerial colleagues and officials regarding the planning of portfolio budgets in the lead up to the publication of its Budget for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-30964

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that emergency care is maintained for patients requiring air ambulance services, in light of any issues created by the issuance of CAP1264 by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The Scottish Government (SG) is aware of the Civil Air Publication to address the design requirements and options for new heliports located at hospitals in the United Kingdom. Any new recommendations will, of course, be considered by Health Boards and organisations with responsibility for maintaining helicopter landing sites.

The SG is also aware that HM Coastguard Search and Rescue has paused helicopter landings at a number of landing sites across the UK.

Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance aircraft continue to land at helicopter landing sites across Scotland. Should a helicopter landing site not be available for use by one of these assets then another suitable site will be identified. A SAS vehicle will transfer a patient and clinical team to the appropriate receiving medical facility.

Question reference: S6W-29825

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its proposed Adults with Incapacity Bill as outlined in its Programme for Government 2024-25, whether it plans to consult on each of the recommendations contained under Recommendation 13.3 of the final report of the Mental Health Law Review, which relate to amending the power of attorney scheme.

Question reference: S6O-03797

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to bring down processing times for the Adult Disability Payment, in light of the most recent high level statistics from Social Security Scotland indicating a reversal in the previous reduction to processing times.

Question reference: S6W-29669

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to open the £10 million Changing Places toilet fund, in light of the reprofiling of the commencement of the fund, as detailed in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, published on 3 September 2024.

Question reference: S6W-29668

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is still committed to investing £10 million in Changing Places toilets by the end of the current parliamentary session, in light of the reprofiling of the commencement of the Changing Places toilet fund, as detailed in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, published on 3 September 2024.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country, allowing people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

As you will be aware, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s statement to Parliament on 3 September outlined the challenging financial situation faced by the Scottish Government following the UK Chancellor's July statement. She confirmed that spending controls are in place to make sure the entire Scottish Government budget is being managed prudently. These additional controls set out that any activity undertaken, or commitment made, that generates expenditure in 2024-25 must only proceed if it is truly essential and unavoidable. “Unavoidable” means if the Scottish Government would otherwise breach its legal obligations, or fail to provide essential support to emergency situations, or cause significant economic damage across Scotland. The scale of the savings required means that these exceptional measures are being applied across the whole Government, with all policy areas having to think about what this means for them.

This means that whilst the Scottish Government had set out the intention to make CPT funding available across financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, unfortunately it is no longer possible to launch the fund in the current financial year. However, funding will be reprofiled into future years.