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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-27770

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified during the course of its ongoing investigation any other public sector organisations that have been impacted by the cyber attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway infrastructure.

As part of the on-going forensic analysis, NHS Dumfries & Galloway identified that files belonging to National Records of Scotland, that were stored on the NHS D&G IT infrastructure, have been stolen as part of the cyber-attack. As National Records of Scotland are the data controller for those files, they are now considered a second victim in this incident. As such a crime report has been made to Police Scotland.

National Records of Scotland have undertaken a risk assessment and are taking appropriate actions to notify individuals that have been affected. National Records of Scotland will issue a news release later today to provide further information to members of the public.

Question reference: S6W-26990

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) the uptake and (b) any assessment that it has made of the effectiveness of the Small Producers Pilot Fund, since it was launched.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched the Small Producer Pilot Fund in December 2023 with £180,000 of funding in financial year 2023-2024 for two small-scale abattoir projects, a new information resource webpage for small producers, to develop a framework to assess small producer data, and to procure a service to deliver training courses for small producers. We are currently assessing the outcomes of the abattoir work and the website will launch shortly. This Government remains fully committed to supporting economically active small producers with £1 million in 2024-25 through the Small Producer Pilot Fund.

Question reference: S6W-26657

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported announcement from DADDS dental practice in Dumfries that it is to close, which will reportedly lead to the deregistration of 4,000 NHS patients, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to support access to dental care for people residing within the Dumfries and Galloway Council area.

We introduced major NHS dental payment reform on 1 November 2023 which includes a new fee structure designed to make it more attractive for dentists to provide NHS services, and this has generally been well received by the sector.

I acknowledge that access remains challenging in certain areas, including Dumfries and Galloway - which is why we have made tailored funding available, including grants of up to £100,000 for opening a new or extending an existing practice in the area, as well as ‘golden hello’ payments of up to £37,500 for new trainee dentists practising in the area.

Scottish Government continues to work closely with NHS Boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, to ensure they have the necessary support to offer continuity of NHS care to patients.

Question reference: S6O-03332

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist the Scottish Prison Service in the recruitment of new officers, in light of reported concerns regarding an ageing prison officer workforce.

Question reference: S6O-03293

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to reiterate the harms caused to both livestock and farmers by livestock worrying.

Question reference: S6O-03188

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with the health secretary regarding implementing the commitments contained within the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022.

Question reference: S6W-25486

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure early and consistent diagnosis of severe asthma across the NHS.

The Scottish Government’s Respiratory care - action plan: 2021 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) sets out our priorities and commitments for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions such as severe asthma.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also developing a person-centred, once for Scotland severe asthma pathway which will streamline access to advanced therapies and specialist care. This will identify people with severe asthma in the community who are struggling to manage their condition and at high risk of a poor outcome; provide a clear referral pathway through to severe asthma specialists; and provide an evidence-based framework to aid specialists in their decision-making.

Question reference: S6W-25835

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its further consultation paper on restricting promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt.

Improving diet and levels of healthy weight remains a public health priority for this Government. As part of a range of action to improve diet, and help create a food environment which better supports healthier choices, we remain committed to restricting promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) at the point of purchase - this is when people make their decisions about what and how much to buy and to consume, for themselves as well as for their families.

I can confirm that, on 27 February 2024, the consultation paper on the detail of proposed regulations to restrict promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt was published on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781835219058 and on the Citizen Space portal at

https://consult.gov.scot/population-health/restriction-promotion-of-food-and-drink-proposed .

The consultation builds on previous public consultations and Ministerial engagement with business and health stakeholders, and is supported with a partial Business Regulatory Impact Assessment which has also been published today: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781835219867 .

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, closing on 21 May 2024.

Question reference: S6F-02874

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the latest reported figures highlighting the impact of livestock worrying in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25612

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Maree Todd on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress regarding its plans for delivering on its new Dementia Strategy for Scotland.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Scottish Government and COSLA’s joint initial 2-year Delivery Plan , which sets out the key deliverables we’ll prioritise to help achieve the ambitions set out in our new Dementia Strategy for Scotland, published in May 2023.

’m very proud that both the Strategy and the Delivery Plan have been informed by the voice of people with lived experience of dementia, alongside wider partners, and this engagement will continue throughout the lifetime of the strategy to ensure we hold each other to account.

The Plan outlines the priorities for delivery in the coming 2 years, including a focus on:

building our communities’ resilience and participation in supporting people living with dementia and their care partners, through the creation of a cross-sector Programme Board to direct investment to community resources, and a national anti-stigma campaign to make people less afraid of talking about dementia, and;
Ensuring our world-renowned policy of a year’s post diagnostic support for people diagnosed with dementia delivers for everyone, including their care partners, with an independent evaluation to guide our efforts to improve people’s access to support; and
Enhancing the innovations we are seeing in brain health, through evaluating a new Scottish Government-supported Brain Health Service in Aberdeen (the first of its kind in the UK), and establishing a cross-sector steering group on future novel treatments for dementia, and their impact on services and supports.

The Delivery Plan makes clear that the agreed key deliverables signed off by all partners will be prioritised for funding.

Each of the deliverables will be funded and delivered, with accountability to our Strategy Delivery Group, made up of our Lived Experience Panel and key delivery partners.

I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across the chamber as we move this ambitious new dementia strategy for Scotland into delivery, to achieve our ambition to keep people living with dementia well for longer, in a setting of their choice.