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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: S6W-12861

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many police warnings for the possession of cannabis have been issued since (a) 12 May 1999, (b) 1 January 2013 and (c) 13 May 2021.

The Scottish Government believes that the best way to reduce drug-related crime and drug-related death is to get people into appropriate treatment and support services at every point of the criminal justice system.

The majority of single possession of drug cases reported in Scotland are dealt with by way of an alternative to prosecution that do not result in a criminal conviction and may include a fine, a warning, or where appropriate, a diversion from prosecution.

The Scottish Government only holds information on an annual basis from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2021. Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin which is due to be published in 2023.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
EEI multiple agency disposal	8	4	7	17	7	6	7	10	22	19	18	12
EEI single agency disposal	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	4	1	2	-
Police Formal Adult Warning (PWMO)	-	-	2	3	1	3	2	-	-	-	2	1
Police Restorative Justice Warning (PRW)	8	6	3	1	-	-	2	2	1	1	2	2
Police Warning (PVW)	-	-	31	44	14	14	12	21	31	19	21	21
Recorded Police Warning	-	-	-	-	-	-	*689	3,489	3,017	3,614	3,243	3,376

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

*Recorded Police Warning only commenced on 11 January 2016.

Police Scotland can be contacted directly for any further information required prior to 1 April 2009.

Question reference: S6W-12966

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help bring vacant and disused buildings in Hamilton town centre back into use, particularly buildings that have been empty for several years.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and we launched the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) in 2021 to support place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a ‘just transition’ to net-zero.

The VDLIP complements our existing investment in support of place based regeneration across Scotland, including the Place Based Investment Programme. We are keen for South Lanarkshire Council to work with its communities and other partners to develop suitable project proposals and apply to the VDLIP.

We are also providing support for town centre regeneration through the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP), which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. The PBIP includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund which is providing funding for The Hamilton Hub which is transforming the formerly vacant Vogue cinema in Hamilton town centre.

Additionally South Lanarkshire Council are in receipt of an allocation of the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. This is a ring-fenced element of the local government finance settlement which is allocated to five eligible Scottish local authorities where there is the greatest amount of long-term vacant and derelict land alongside deprivation. Each eligible local authority is responsible for developing proposals based on its local regeneration priorities in the area, and they must ensure that their proposals meet the aims and objectives of the fund.

Finally we are seeking to promote the reuse of vacant and derelict land and buildings across Scotland through revised Draft National Planning Framework 4 – which was laid in Parliament on 8 November 2022 for the Parliament to consider and approve. This sets out the priority given to the reuse of brownfield land, including vacant and derelict land and buildings, and seeks to proactively enable its reuse and limit greenfield expansion.

Question reference: S6W-12969

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what advice is available to the public on Strep A symptoms and treatment.

Question reference: S6W-12819

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11574 by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022, what assessment it has made of whether sufficient and meaningful community consultation is being carried out.

The Control of Entry arrangement are set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. It is the responsibility of the NHS Boards to put in place a Pharmacy Practice Committee and require NHS Boards to undertake a formal 60-day consultation with local communities who may be affected when an application is made to open a community pharmacy.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Minister are entirely independent on the Control of Entry process. The Scottish Government do not undertake any assessment on the consultations carried out in considering applications for the opening of a community pharmacy. The role of the National Appeal Panel is to consider appeals against decisions made by Pharmacy Practice Committees.

Question reference: S6W-12854

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that (a) housing associations and (b) private landlords properly address any concerns and complaints from residents regarding mould outbreaks.

We are committed to tackling disrepair in housing and driving a culture in which good maintenance is given a high priority.

Social landlords are required to have a clear complaints process and where a tenant is dissatisfied with the response of their housing provider, they are able to escalate their complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is responsible for monitoring social landlords’ progress towards the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which they are required to meet, as part of the SHR’s role to monitor and report on social landlords’ achievement of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. SHR wrote to all Social Landlords on 1 December 2022 on the importance of having appropriate, proactive systems to identify and deal with any reported cases of mould and damp timeously and effectively.

For private landlords, they are obliged to meet the Repairing Standard and Tolerable Standard. If, after a landlord has been notified of a problem, it is not attended to satisfactorily, then tenants have the right to refer the matter to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal for Scotland, who can require landlords to take remedial action. Local authorities also have powers to inspect properties in relation to the repairing standard and rights to make an application to the Tribunal in respect of this were introduced through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

In the New Deal for Tenants consultation, published in December 2021, we asked for opinions on how best to ensure that landlords undertake repairs in a timely fashion. We are carefully considering what measures are necessary to ensure that private rented homes are in good condition and that tenants’ concerns are quickly resolved.

We have also committed to developing a new cross tenure Housing Standard for Scotland during this Parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6W-13077

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the Scottish SPCA's animal welfare charity, Pet Aid, in light of reports of a significant increase in people struggling to care for an animal due to the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-12971

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04787 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 December 2021, how many children and young people in each local authority area have received a free (a) laptop, (b) tablet and (c) Chromebook, in light of its commitment to deliver devices with free internet connection to 700,000 P1 to S6 pupils within 100 days of the May 2021 election.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school aged children have access to a device by the end of this parliament. Given the scale and complexity of this programme of work, the 100 days commitment was to commence planning rather than deliver the devices.

In 2020-21, we provided £25 million of funding to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning.

The answer to question S6W-04787, shows the number of devices distributed via that funding, as reported by individual local authorities.

Local authorities have also invested in devices from their own budgets. Information from them indicates that up to 280,000 devices have already been distributed to learners across Scotland (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government).

We continue to work closely with local authorities to deliver on the commitment moving forward.

Question reference: S6W-12856

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will announce the appointment of a Women's Health Champion, and when the role holder will commence their duties.

Question reference: S6W-12855

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that it has not yet appointed a Women’s Health Champion, despite a plan earlier in 2022 to appoint one “this summer”, what process was followed for the recruitment and appointment; how many prospective candidates were approached, and whether any candidates turned the opportunity down.

Question reference: S6O-01730

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that children and young people in families experiencing poverty are supported throughout the Christmas holiday period.