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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-04918

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in the (a) South Lanarkshire, (b) North Lanarkshire and (c) Falkirk local authority area have experienced fuel poverty in each of the last 10 years.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) local authority tables.

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 is available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in the table show number of fuel poor households, and the fuel poverty rate, based on the last 10 years for South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, and Falkirk.

	South Lanarkshire		North Lanarkshire		Falkirk
Publication years	Estimated households in Fuel poverty 000's	La fuel poverty rate	Estimated households in Fuel poverty 000's	La fuel poverty rate	Estimated households in Fuel poverty 000's	La fuel poverty rate
2010-12	52	37%	52	35%	25	36%
2011-13	44	31%	56	37%	22	31%
2012-14	42	30%	52	35%	20	29%
2013-15	36	26%	48	31%	18	25%
2014-16	36	25%	40	26%	17	24%
2015-17	33	23%	36	24%	16	22%
2016-18	30	20%	35	23%	16	23%
2017-19	32	22%	31	20%	16	22%

* Results from 2010-12 to 2015-17 are based on the definition of fuel poverty set out in The Scottish fuel Poverty statement 2002 .

*Results from 2016-18 to 2017-19 are based on best estimates under the new definition of fuel poverty as set out in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019 . They reflect amendments made to the legislation during the Bill process up to and including Stage 2.

By the end of 2021, we will have allocated over £1 billion since 2009 to tackling fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency, including £114 million on our Warmer Homes Scotland and local authority Area-Based Schemes this year alone.

The budget for Fuel Poverty/Energy Efficiency in 2021-22 is £145.6m. This compares to £137.1m in 2020-21 and £119.6m in 2019-20.

Notes

1. Source Scottish House Condition Survey.

2. The SHCS is a sample survey and therefore all figures are estimates which lie at the midpoint of a confidence interval which depends primarily on sample size. For the table above, the 95% confidence intervals for the fuel poverty rates range between +/- 6.1 and +/- 4.3 percentage points.

Published Local Authority estimates along with confidence intervals around the survey based results for 2010-12 to 2016-18 are available here:

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/SHCS/keyanalyses .

Question reference: S6W-04924

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support pupils in light of reports of a five-fold increase in the number of children who have missed more than half of their schooling over the last academic year.

This five-fold increase refers only to primary pupils and the proportion of pupils absent for over 50% of the time remains very small at 1% of all primary pupils. The wider context is that in 2020-21 over 41% of pupils had attendance rates over 95%. It should be further noted that 2020-21 daily management information are not directly comparable to the 2018-19 National Statistics due to differences in collection methods, quality assurance undertaken and COVID-19 related school closures in 2020-21.

To ensure schools and local authorities are able to best support pupils’ education the Government has committed almost £500m funding during 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support education recovery, and we continue to prioritise support for children and young people in the continued navigation of the pandemic. We are investing £260m to recruit additional teachers, including £20m for tutoring and mentoring to help children and families, along with £90 million to support local authorities in implementing protection measures to ensure schools are safe, open and welcoming.

We also delivered £25m in 2020-21 for over 72,000 devices and more than 14,000 connectivity packages have been distributed to learners across Scotland and we remain committed to ensuring every child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this Parliament.

Furthermore, record investment of £215 million in the Scottish Attainment Challenge this year, including a £20 million Pupil Equity Funding premium, is providing additional support for children and young people who need it most.

With the support of £1 billion over this parliamentary term, the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge programme will support continued empowerment of school leaders through Pupil Equity Funding and a clearer and funded strategic role for all 32 local authorities. This will enable local authorities and schools to implement local, evidence based approaches to supporting children and young people impacted by poverty.

Question reference: S6W-04926

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the development of a new gas-fired power station at Peterhead.

The Scottish Government supports the development of new electricity power stations with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) such as the proposal for a new station at Peterhead. This has the potential to ensure that a net zero electricity system in Scottish remains resilient and secure.

The Scottish Government is supportive of CCUS, an industrial scale decarbonisation system with the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets. The advice from the Climate Change Committee describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net zero emissions.

Question reference: S6W-05164

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address reported concerns about dog welfare in relation to ear cropping.

The Scottish Government considers the practice of cropping a dog's ears purely for cosmetic reasons in order to achieve a desired look a despicable and cruel practice. Should the Scottish Parliament agree that the measures set out in the Kept Animals Bill should apply to Scotland then that Bill, if delivered, will provide Scottish Ministers with regulation making powers to prohibit the importation of certain types or classes of animals, including dogs that have been mutilated for cosmetic reasons.

If and when these new powers are available to us, we will seek to bring forward new legislation to prohibit the importation into Scotland of dogs with cropped ears or other unacceptable mutilations. Meantime, we continue to work with the other GB administrations, APHA and animal welfare stakeholders to highlight the illegality and cruelty of such procedures.

Question reference: S6W-04915

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it recommends that cyclists wear a helmet.

Wearing a helmet is a matter of personal choice, not a requirement.

The wearing of cycle helmets is covered by the Highway Code and is a matter reserved to the UK Government. It recommends wearing a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened, if cyclists choose to do so.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the safety of all vulnerable road users through a variety of means including the building of safe, high quality active travel infrastructure, providing training and encouraging good road user behaviour with mutual respect.

Question reference: S6F-00633

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the First Minister how many missing person investigations have been carried out in 2021.

Question reference: S6W-05114

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce pop-up COVID-19 vaccination centres in supermarkets and shopping centres.

Local teams look at available space within their area when considering appropriate locations for COVID-19 vaccination centres to meet local requirements, that have the right reach and size of venue for their population. Pop-up clinics can be located in a variety of venues with local health boards considering, amongst other things, the flow of queues; the time of year; and the health and safety of staff and the public when scoping out new locations.

Since the vaccine rollout began, we have made the vaccine as accessible as possible and drop in clinics are available throughout Scotland’s mainland health boards. The most up to date list of which can be found at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/vaccinedropinclinics.

Question reference: S6W-04796

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide more information about the location of the single event linked to the identification of nine cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-04789

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many COVID-19 vaccine doses have not been used within their expiry date, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) type of vaccine.

Question reference: S6W-04967

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet (a) COSLA and (b) teaching unions in relation to pay restoration for teachers.

Teachers’ pay negotiations are a matter for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), comprising membership from local authority employers, teacher unions and Scottish Government.

The last SNCT pay negotiation meeting was held on 17 November. The next meeting will be arranged at the appropriate time.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers and remains committed to working with our partners in the SNCT to bring these discussions to a successful conclusion.