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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.

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Question reference: S5F-04733

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-34210

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 18 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many contacts have been traced by Test and Protect (a) overall and (b) using only SMS messages in each week since 1 September 2020.

a) Test and Protect information is published weekly as part of the Public Health Scotland COVID-19 statistical report. The latest data (published 13 January) shows that between 28 May to 10 January 2021:

130,719 individuals were recorded in the contact tracing software,
from which 489,311 contacts have been traced
of which 347,910 were unique.

More information can be found within the publication: https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/

b) Since October 2020 some contacts will receive a single SMS only, providing isolation information and signposting. This allows contacts to be traced and isolate quickly. The majority of contacts traced receive a phone call from either local health protection teams or the National Contact Tracing Centre. Information on proportion of contacts traced using the single SMS is not currently published by Public Health Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-34561

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether dog walking businesses are allowed to operate under the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Professional dog walkers may continue to carry out their business under the current Covid-19 restrictions.

The Scottish Government issued Guidance for Animal Owners on 11 January 2021 which permits this to take place within the requirements of the guidance on physical distancing and good hygiene. This guidance is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-animal-owners/ .

Question reference: S5W-34184

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33789 by John Swinney on 14 December 2020, what the job title was of the person it made contact with in the Public Protection Specialist Crime Division of Police Scotland.

I refer the member to the written and oral evidence provided to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints and related correspondence. Following Ms Mackinnon’s appearance at the Committee on 27 October she followed up a number of points in writing to the Committee Convenor. This included confirmation that any request for details of Police Scotland contacts should be made to Police Scotland for consideration under its personal data obligations. I note that the Convenor has subsequently requested this information from Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-34183

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33789 by John Swinney on 14 December 2020, on what dates since December 2017 it has met Police Scotland to discuss the policy on harassment complaints, and who attended.

There was one meeting held on 6 December 2017. This was a generic meeting about addressing sexual harassment using a person centred approach and did not include reference to any specific concerns, complaints or individuals. The meeting was attended by Judith Mackinnon, Scottish Government Head of People Advice and three police officers from Public Protection Specialist Crime Division of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-34117

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the role of the Water Industry Commission is in monitoring and regulating any anti-competitive arrangements within the competitive water market in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-34129

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Financial Transactions money will be in the 2021-22 Budget, and where it will be deployed.

Question reference: S5W-34284

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that people who might not be included in official unemployment figures, including recent graduates, receive support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government is ensuring that a wide range of employability support is available to all those who need it during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The No-One Left Behind approach ensures that quality support based on individual need continues to be available across Scotland during this very challenging period. We are building on the £33 million already invested by the Scottish Government to support existing employability support services, including Community Jobs Scotland, Employability Fund and Fair Start Scotland, by investing a further £100 million to tackle unemployment and address retraining needs. This includes £60 million to support the new Young Person's Guarantee (YPG). The YPG aims to ensure every young person in Scotland, aged between 16 and 24 years, has the opportunity, based on their own personal circumstances and ambitions, of going to university or college, joining an apprenticeship programme, undertaking training or fair employment including work experience, or participating in a formal volunteering programme.

Under the Young Person's Guarantee, £30 million is being provided to Local Authorities to deliver enhanced employability support locally to young people across Scotland, ensuring one-to-one flexible support and training is available that will help young people to improve their future employability prospects. A significant part of the YPG funding will be for 'in-work' training, supporting SMEs and third sector employers to create more jobs, including pathways to apprenticeships. Other priorities include providing mental health support for young people and improving the availability of formal volunteering opportunities.

The National Transition Training Fund will support those aged 25 or over whose jobs are at risk as a result of the pandemic or have been made redundant, to access retraining. The first strand of the Fund, managed by Skills Development Scotland, was launched on 8 October. Individual Training Accounts (ITA), offer up to £200 to people of all ages who are unemployed or earn less than £22,000 who wish to upskill. ITAs reopened on 1 July this year, and remain open to applications.

We will continue to provide support for individuals affected by redundancy through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE initiative. Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. As announced in Programme for Government, we are investing an additional £5 million to scale up and enhance our support for those made redundant.

We have also provided additional funding of £2.35 million for our Parental Employability Support Fund which will provide intensive employability support for those most at risk of poverty, including disabled, young and minority ethnic parents to help them access or progress in work. This brings in year investment to £7.35 million.

All individuals can access careers information and guidance support from Skills Development Scotland through Scotland’s careers website: My World of Work , and a dedicated helpline: 0800 917 8000. Skills Development Scotland has also set up a dedicated Employment Online resource for advice on redundancy, employment, online learning, immediately available jobs, and wider support services: link

In terms of support specifically for graduates, Scottish Government is working with organisations in the FE and HE sector, including the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Colleges Scotland and Universities Scotland on how to support increased graduate recruitment, internships and upskilling, by building on previous graduate employability models such as ‘Adopt-an-Intern’ and ‘Scotgrad’. Graduates can also access a range of services through their university Careers Office, with most universities providing support to graduates for at least a year following graduation. The October issue of the AGCAS journal, Phoenix, also provides some important advice for students and graduates and can be accessed via the following link: Responding to Covid-19

Question reference: S5W-34096

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31954 by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020, whether Scottish business customers are insulated from the costs of any trading losses incurred by Business Stream from its trading activities in England.

The performance of Business Stream in England will have no impact on the wholesale charges levied on Licensed Providers in the Scottish retail market. It is for Licensed Providers to determine the charges that should be levied on their customers but within the constraints of a highly competitive market. WICS also requires Scottish Water under the Governance Code to demonstrate that there is no detriment to Scottish customers from the activities of Business Stream.

Question reference: S5W-34094

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission and its indication that it plans to continue with international work, what its position is on whether it is appropriate that the commission permits the use of air travel rewards from such business travel for personal gain, and how this permission compares with advice to civil servants.