- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the impact that higher and further education has on reducing poverty and inequality in communities, and what further action it is taking to support the sector through the cost of living crisis.
Answer
Fundamentally, access to education is an issue of fairness. Scotland has a truly world-class higher education system, perhaps the most powerful weapon there is to combat socioeconomic inequality. It is our firm belief that Scotland has a moral, social and economic duty to tackle this inequality. We remain committed to the principle that access to education should be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.
With regards to the cost of living crisis, we are committed to providing a student support system that is agile and supportive and prioritises support for those who need it most. We have taken positive steps to reform the student support landscape and made significant progress to deliver a student support package equivalent to the living wage. The most vulnerable students, including estranged and care experienced students, can now access up to £9,000 per year through bursaries and loans. Scottish Government have also reaffirmed their position that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, tuition fees for Scottish students studying in Scotland are free.
We understand that this is a challenging time for many students. We have provided £16.8m in hardship funding to higher education students studying in colleges and universities for the current academic year to support students experiencing financial hardship. We have also provided £135m in student support for FE students attending college in the current academic year. Colleges can use these funds flexibly to meet demand across FE student bursaries, childcare and hardship funding.
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 has assisted the police in responding to reports of coercive control and stalking behaviours from members of the public.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund is supporting change in the bus sector, in light of Scotland's net zero ambitions.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the recently-introduced Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2021, what mitigations it can offer to the Church of Scotland, given that the church's over 6,000 congregations are all registered as separate charities and have reportedly described attempting to comply with the new regulations as extremely logistically difficult, expensive, and complicated to roll out.
Answer
The Register is a significant transparency measure that will shed light on who makes decisions about Scotland’s land. It has been live since 1 April 2022 and there is no charge to make a submission to the Register. For some, there may be a resource cost for the time taken to gather the information they require as part of their preparation prior to making a submission. The greater the number of properties owned, the greater the effort required is likely to be.
The Church of Scotland are one of the largest owners by volume of property titles held. This makes it important for the integrity of the Register that they comply with the RCI.
On 16 March 2023 the Scottish Parliament unanimously supported a 12-month extension to the transitional period to 1 April 2024 before offence provisions take effect. This is easing the burden by allowing those in scope to spread it over the coming year.
In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.
The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to help support stakeholders through the registration process. This will include additional awareness raising and a review of the existing guidance. It will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the campaign lunched by One Parent Families Scotland, #EndYoungParentPoverty, and its call for a top-up to the Scottish Child Payment for parents who are under 25 and in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answer
Universal Credit is reserved to Westminster and the UK Government has deliberately introduced age discrimination within it. We agree with campaigners that it should be paid at the same amount to everyone.
Universal Credit should be supporting families and children, not punishing them and we continue to call on the UK Government to urgently review Universal Credit, as it is fundamentally not fit for purpose.
We already take action to protect people against the impact of UK Government policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap but we cannot mitigate every action from our fixed budget.
The Scottish Child Payment was doubled in April 2022 to £20 per eligible child and increased again to £25 when we extended it to under 16s in November, an increase of 150% in less than eight months.
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action NHS Scotland can take to ensure that any one-off payments made to its staff, in recognition of their work, do not have a negative impact on any housing benefit entitlement that results in them receiving no net increase in their income.
Answer
Housing Benefit has been replaced by Universal Credit in all but a small number of specific circumstances. Recipients of Universal Credit need to notify their Work Coach of any additional income in a given monthly assessment period. A person’s income could increase, for instance, if they did additional hours or overtime in that period. Most recently, NHS Scotland staff received a one-off additional payment in their April salaries as part of the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement.
Additional income reduces or stops Universal Credit but it is important to stress that everyone should be better off overall as the taper rate is 55%, so for every pound in extra payments, the person keeps 45 pence. Universal Credit will then increase or begin again if someone’s income reduces in the next assessment period unless, for instance, the higher income represented by the substantive part of the NHS Scotland pay settlement places them above the qualifying criteria for Universal Credit.
Spreading the one-off payment over multiple months was considered at the time the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement was negotiated. However, it was not clear this would provide any advantage to the lower paid and indeed it may be more helpful to get the payment within one assessment period and return to a steady state following that.
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 2 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the appointment of a new national planning improvement coordinator.
Answer
The National Planning Improvement Champion will support improvement within the Scottish planning system. Recruitment for this new post, which will be based within the Improvement Service, is underway. Applications were invited by 31 March 2023 and are currently being assessed. We hope to have a successful candidate in post very soon.
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plans for a pilot scheme to provide free school meals in secondary schools.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place for people diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).
Answer
The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to provide high quality, person-centred care and support for all people, including those with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Support is often provided via primary care, with specialist referral if necessary to rule out other causes of symptoms.
PoTS UK is a charity which provides information about managing and living with PoTS. This includes information and advice on self-management, mental health support and medication guidance. Their full resources can be found here: Managing PoTS - PoTS UK . Additionally, STARS (the Heart Rhythm Alliance) provide information on PoTS and resources for patients, which can be found here: Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) – STARS – UK (heartrhythmalliance.org)
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to undertake a public consultation on extending the animal licensing framework introduced in 2021, including for commercial dog walking.
Answer
The Scottish Government plans to consult on extending the animal licensing framework introduced in 2021 to a number of animal care services, including commercial dog walking. We expect to launch a public consultation on our proposals in early summer this year.
