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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: S5F-04894

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2021

To ask the First Minister for what reason the Scottish Government has chosen not to extend the reduction to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax beyond March.

Question reference: S5W-35141

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) Public Health Scotland, (b) NHS boards and (c) other stakeholders will support people seeking asylum who are experiencing difficulty travelling to or accessing COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Question reference: S5W-35293

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its anti-destitution strategy.

Question reference: S5W-35137

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who are (a) refugees and (b) seeking asylum are included in each COVID-19 vaccination priority group.

The Scottish Government is clear that everyone who is resident in Scotland is entitled to access health care, this includes people who are seeking asylum. Our goal is to ensure all adults in Scotland are included in this Covid-19 vaccination programme. We are working with community leaders and frontline services to adapt our delivery and communication models to reach as many people as possible. Our goal is to ensure all adults in Scotland are included in this Covid-19 vaccination programme. We do not hold the information you have requested centrally.

Question reference: S5W-35138

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that all people who are seeking asylum, regardless of immigration or asylum support status, will have access to the COVID-19 vaccines.

Question reference: S5W-35174

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance has been produced for GPs regarding the disposal or return of unused COVID-19 vaccines.

We have been clear we expect health boards to minimise wasted doses of vaccine, and have provided them with best practice advice on how to achieve this.

Some wastage is unavoidable for a variety of reasons based on the characteristics of the vaccine, logistical issues with cold chain supply, storage failure and/or specific clinical situations such as a breakout of COVID-19 in a care home.

Any wastage is reviewed to ensure any preventable loss is avoided in the future. We will continue to monitor wastage rates and regularly report back.

A waste management reporting tool has been established to learn why waste is arising so that solutions can be put in place to minimise waste. It will also provide the ability to extract data on the number of doses not able to be used for various reasons.

Question reference: S5W-34057

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many COVID-19 vaccine drive-through centres it plans to have in each local authority area.

Question reference: S5W-35501

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government extending the Stamp Duty holiday until July 2021, what plans it has to take similar action regarding the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).

Question reference: S5W-33794

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether people with inflammatory bowel disease will be among the early groups to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

People who have inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) encompass a wide range of individuals with degrees of severity, so it’s important that the vaccine priority list focuses in on the specific groups who are at the highest risk. Some of those with IBS will fall into the priority groups below, like the clinically vulnerable priority group (the 6th category in the list below, under ‘underlying health conditions’), but this does depend on each individual’s circumstances.

Some individuals with IBS will also be prioritised due to their age and / or additional underlying health conditions.

The full JCVI priority list is currently:

• residents in a care home for older adults and their carers

• all those 80 years of age and over, and frontline health and social care workers

• all those 75 years of age and over

• all those 70 years of age and over, and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

• all those 65 years of age and over

• all those aged 16 to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality

• all those 60 years of age and over

• all those 55 years of age and over

• all those 50 years of age and over

Question reference: S5W-35301

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the take-up of the Scottish Child Payment.

I am pleased to report that ahead of this new benefit’s official launch on 15 February, 85,000 applications had already been received, many of which claim entitlement for multiple children. The Scottish Government has been proactive in promoting this benefit, prior to launch we wrote to everyone on the Universal Credit and HMRC tax credit databases who may be eligible, inviting them to apply for Scottish Child Payment.

Maximising the take-up of benefits and tackling child poverty are both moral imperatives and fundamental priorities for the Scottish Government. To drive take-up of Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grants and Best Start Foods, we will launch a multi-media campaign next month, targeting parents through TV and digital advertising.

This campaign builds on the work already undertaken to raise awareness of the Scottish Child Payment, including the promotion of the benefit on commercial radio in November and December, a toolkit of marketing materials distributed through a number of key channels and 18 online Scottish Child Payment Stakeholder Roadshows held in late 2020 attended by over 1,600 individuals representing the third sector and local authorities.

The Scottish Child Payment will also be a central feature of our second Benefit Take-Up Strategy, which we will publish in the autumn.