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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-21190

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how much funding has been made available by NHS boards for hospices in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) hospice.

Question reference: S6W-21182

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any local authorities have expressed concerns to it regarding their future financial sustainability, and, if so, which ones.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials regularly meet with local politicians, council Chief Executives and Directors of Finance to discuss national priorities and local issues. In those meetings, in parallel with ongoing engagement with COSLA Leaders and Spokespeople, Councils routinely identify policy challenges and financial pressures locally.

Despite a decade of UK Government austerity measures, the Accounts Commission, who are responsible for holding councils and other local government bodies in Scotland to account, have confirmed that local government revenue funding is 2.6% higher in real terms than it was in 2013-14.

Scottish councils have therefore been treated fairly throughout UK imposed austerity but we recognise the challenging environment they face, alongside the rest of the public sector, and that is why we are committed to a Fiscal Framework as part of our New Deal with Local Government in order to ensure the sustainability of local services.

Question reference: S6W-21189

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards the health and social care elements in its 2019 publication, 5G: strategy for Scotland, particularly those relating to the adoption of 5G in hospitals and care settings.

The Scottish Government’s 2019 5G Strategy included an action to develop a series of 5G use cases across several industrial sectors, including health and social care. The Scotland 5G Centre has led this work through their network of 5G Innovation Hubs and developed the following use cases:

“Gro Health” app Dumfries is a personalised treatment platform proven to support sustainable weight loss, blood glucose control, and improvements in mental health and wellbeing.
“Care Reality VR Training Environment” is Scotland’s first Virtual Reality immersive learning platform using 5G that creates a tailored training environment for health and social care staff.
“Care Reality Virtual Choirs” is an Extended Reality therapeutic singing intervention with a mental health focus that uses 5G to enable participants to be part of a choir in real time regardless of their physical location.
“Safehouse Monitoring & Anomaly Detection device” is a 5G-based solution focusing on at-home social care that alerts carers to fall incidents.
“Smart Walls” project at The Ladyfield at the Crichton is a 5G-based solution which offers potential to improving health and well-being for residents as well as cost savings to the NHS.

The Scotland 5G Centre will also launch a Digital Healthcare Innovation challenge in partnership with the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre later in 2023.

Question reference: S6O-02573

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any recommendations from the independent reporter to consider any outstanding objections to the development of the A720 Sherrifhall roundabout, in light of the public local inquiry, which took place at the beginning of February 2023.

Question reference: S6W-21005

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many legal challenges have been brought to date regarding Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone.

Question reference: S6W-21006

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of any cash settlements awarded to defenders in any civil or criminal cases regarding Low Emission Zones has been to date.

Question reference: S6W-21178

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by the single-use carrier bag charge in each year since its introduction.

This information is not held centrally.

The Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (legislation.gov.uk) sets out the record-keeping requirements in respect of bags charged for. There is no requirement to report the data to a third party, only to produce the data, if required by the enforcement authority. The overall purpose of the charge is to reduce carrier bag usage rather than generate funds.

Question reference: S6W-21163

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is currently providing to children’s hospices.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government made a Programme for Government commitment to “ensure provision of high quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7m per year through Children’s Hospices Across Scotland”.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides £143,115 annual funding to Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention (CYPFEI) fund. This funding supports CHAS to deliver their services and offer full family support for babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions.

Question reference: S6W-21181

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any local authorities have yet to settle any equal pay claims, and, if so, which ones.

As pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as the employer and trade unions representing the local government workforce, the Scottish Government has no role in negotiations in relation to equal pay claims.

Whilst the Scottish Government remains committed to working in partnership with local government to ensure equal pay policies apply across the public sector, the information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information of this nature can be obtained by approaching individual local authorities or COSLA accordingly.

Question reference: S6W-21173

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the next review of fire safety regulations in Scotland will commence.

As referred to in answer to question S6W-21174 on 15 September 2023, the Scottish Government continue to keep the Fire (Scotland) Act (2005), related Fire Safety (Scotland) regulations (2006) and all relevant fire safety guidance under continuous review. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .