Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 2444 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-22892

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether people with addiction will qualify for the Housing First programmes.

Question reference: S5W-22920

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress each local authority is making with the Housing First programme.

Question reference: S5W-22616

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to promote the benefits of quality home economics education to headteachers and education managers.

STEM Bursary Scheme The Scottish Government has included home economics in the STEM bursary scheme which allows students to obtain a bursary of £20,000 to study for a PGDE in home economics. Home economics is the only subject in the curriculum which can address issues around food in the twenty first century and give young people the knowledge, skills, capabilities and attributes they need to make informed, healthy food choices now and in the future.

Scottish Government has worked with GTCS and Initial Teacher Education Establishments to promote Home Economics as a viable career pathway and to increase significantly the number of Home Economics PGDE places available for students as an emerging trend of alternative routes into teaching.

Scottish Government working with Education Scotland has promoted the bursary scheme through the Home Economics Lead Officer (HELO) network who have direct links to Head Teachers and Education Managers. This network is key to the promotion of Home Economics in Scottish schools with the intention of increasing the number of Home Economics teachers across Scotland over the next few years.

Food for Thought Fund 2012 – 2021

The Food for Thought Fund gives financial support to develop food and health as a context for learning. The fund aims to improve practitioner confidence in providing progressive, high quality, skills based learning experiences which help to embed food education into the ethos of the establishment.

Through Food for Thought funding we are inviting practitioners and school leaders to make the most of the opportunities that exist and to take forward actions that a lack of resources had previously inhibited.

Question reference: S5W-22617

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides regarding the teaching of nutrition and healthy food preparation as part of home economics education in schools.

Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) provides a broad set of national guidance to support schools in developing their curriculum. However, the specific content of teaching programme is decided by schools and local authorities in order to meet children’s and young people’s needs at local level.

Guidance on teaching of Nutrition and healthy eating comes under Food and Health in the Health and Wellbeing Experiences and Outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence beginning in Early Years, continuing through primary school and delivered predominantly via Home Economics in secondary schools. The Health and Wellbeing Experience’s and outcomes and Benchmarks are a set of clear and concise statements about children's learning and progression in each subject area, including Food and Health/Home Economics. They are used to help plan learning and to assess progress.

https://education.gov.scot/Documents/health-and-wellbeing-eo.pdf .

Question reference: S5W-22618

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides regarding stages of cooking skill progression as part of home economics education to ensure that pupils learn new skills every year.

Curriculum for Excellence outlines the entitlement for children and young people to experience a number of Broad General Education Experiences and Outcomes from 3-15 education beginning at early learning and child care stage and continuing through primary school right up to S4-S6.

Benchmarks make clear what learners need to know and be able to do to progress through the levels, and to support consistency in teachers’ and other practitioners’ professional judgements .

Food education permeates every area of the curriculum and is a great context for real life learning. Learning to cook is a skill for life. The Good Food Skills resource supports practitioners with information & activities in relation to the classroom management and teaching of practical food education and skills from early level to fourth level. The importance of Home Economics teachers within secondary schools should be emphasised in relation to building on prior learning from primary school experiences, and teaching combined health, nutrition and practical skills.

The resource will build knowledge and understanding appropriate for every level and offers a skills progression framework with suggested recipes which match the skill set of learners at every level. This will ensure highly effective teaching & learning experiences for children and young people relating to practical food education.

Question reference: S5W-22896

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22254 by Christina McKelvie on 28 March 2019, for what reason it has decided not to quantify the historic implications of slavery for Scotland as a whole, and whether it will encourage other public bodies to carry out this work.

Whilst we are determined to learn from our past and the role Scotland played in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, our efforts at the present time are focused on ensuring we deliver positive outcomes for the minority ethnic people of Scotland now. This work is being carried out through the Race Equality Action Plan and Race Equality Framework which sets out our approach to promoting race equality and tackling racism and inequality between 2016 and 2030.

Question reference: S5W-22885

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that abortion care meets the needs of women who are disabled, have ME or are refugees, and LGBTI people, as recommended in the Engender report, Our Bodies, Our Rights.

The Scottish Government believes all women in Scotland should have access to clinically safe and legal abortion services, within the limits that are currently set down in law, should they require it. It is our view that abortion care should be part of standard healthcare provisions, free from stigma. We continue to work with NHS boards on the provision and further improvement of abortion services across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that abortion services in Scotland are all-inclusive and accessible to all individuals, regardless of disabilities, age, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity. Services should meet the needs of individuals in a person-centred and respectful way.

Question reference: S5W-22691

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport to the Public Petitions Committee on 24 January 2019 regarding petition PE1690 (Official Report, c. 30), what further information it can provide regarding the training module for GPs that is being developed by NHS Education for Scotland, and whether it will take account of the views and experiences of people with lived experience of the condition.

The NES Practice Based Small Group Learning (PBSGL) membership (including GPs, GP nurses, and pharmacists in Scotland) has selected ME as a module for NES to develop and produce in 2020, aligned to the production of the new NICE guideline also due in 2020. It is appropriate to produce this module informed by the NICE guideline to ensure the training module reflects current research findings.

PBSGL modules are designed to meet the learning needs of primary care clinicians. The first step in developing the educational content of the module will be for a small number of primary care clinicians to take part in an online focus group to identify the clinical challenges and learning needs of Scottish primary care. In addition to this, there is often a resource page in the module for use by PBSGL members, which usually contain a range of website sources, including information from charities, third sector organisations and other information clinicians may find useful.

Question reference: S5W-22795

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 3 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Health Protection Scotland issuing a health alert following the discovery of poisonous toxins in samples of heroin circulating across the country since February 2019.

Scottish Government continue to monitor this situation closely. Health Protection Scotland (HPS) are working closely in collaboration with NHS Health Boards in the affected areas and Police Scotland.

HPS have issued a Scotland wide briefing note to alert frontline workers in healthcare and addiction services to the possibility of further cases. Health Protection Scotland have also worked in collaboration with Public Health England to issue an alert through the Early Warning and Response System operated by the European Centre for Disease Control to alert Member States to the potential for further cases and to ascertain whether other Member States have detected any similar events.

Question reference: S5O-03197

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the finance secretary has made of the contribution that immigration makes to Scotland's economy.

Pathfinder City	Number of Housing First Tenancies
Aberdeen / Shire	5
Dundee	7
Edinburgh	12
Glasgow	29
Stirling	3