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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-16028

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that any official business conducted via WhatsApp is stored for freedom of information purposes.

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in WhatsApp or similar messaging apps. This responsibility is discharged through the relevant business units who have the responsibility for capturing this information as set out in the Scottish Government Records Management Policy

Question reference: S6W-16030

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its phones have TikTok installed, and whether any ministers have TikTok installed on their phones.

Question reference: S6W-16029

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that any (a) civil servant, (b) ministerial and (c) other official correspondence conducted via Microsoft Teams chats is recorded for freedom of information purposes.

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in Microsoft Teams or similar messaging apps. This responsibility is discharged through the relevant business units who have the responsibility for capturing this information as set out in the Scottish Government Records Management Policy

Question reference: S6W-16033

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has had since he was appointed, broken down by month, and how many of those meetings had (a) civil servants present and (b) minutes prepared.

Information on Ministerial meetings is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

Civil servants should be present for all discussions relating to Government business. Where that is not the case any significant content should be passed back to the Private Office as soon as possible after the event, who should arrange for the basic facts of such meetings to be recorded.

We are unable to provide a breakdown of minutes prepared. The basic facts of formal meetings between Ministers and outside interest groups are recorded, setting out the reasons for the meeting, the names of those attending and the interests represented. Routine meetings with policy officials may only require a short note setting out the reasons for the meeting, the names of attendees and any action points or decisions taken. For courtesy conversations where no policy decisions arise it may be sufficient to record within the official diary that the meeting has taken place.

Question reference: S6W-16032

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on TikTok in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-16004

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has decided to end the provision of routine breast screening for women aged over 75, and, if so, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10348 on 29 August 2022, which outlines that the restart of self-referrals must be conducted in a careful, phased manner in order to understand and mitigate impacts on those for whom screening is recommended, and for whom it has the most benefits.

In November 2022, self-referrals for breast screening appointments were reinstated for those between 71 and 74, and anyone over 75 with a history of breast cancer.

The Scottish Government understands the wish some people have for this to be widened to include all those over the age of 75 without a history of breast cancer, but it is imperative to understand the impact this initial re-instatement is having on both programme capacity and overall wait times, before any further decisions regarding eligibility are taken. The current advice from the UK National Screening Committee is that breast screening should be provided to those age 50-70 years.

These impacts are being regularly reviewed, and an update will be provided to parliament once any decisions have been reached.

Question reference: S6W-15645

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the urgent question by Angus Robertson on 28 February 2023, whether the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture plans to request the addition of a correction in the Official Report, within the 20 working day deadline of 28 March 2023, in relation to his statement that the claim that Scotland has 25% of Europe’s potential offshore wind resource “is now considered to be overtaken by developments”, in light of the UK Statistics Authority’s reported investigation and letter of 7 December 2022 stating that it was never accurate and that “it is good practice for elected representatives to correct their use of official statistics”.

The Scottish Government has accepted that this statistic relating to Scotland’s offshore wind potential needs revising. In response to the issues raised in the UK Statistics Authority’s letter, dated 7 December 2022, the Scottish Government has engaged directly with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) setting out the steps that have been taken to ensure the statistic is not used further, and provided an update on the analytical work that is underway to produce a replacement statistic, which will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6F-01944

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-15079

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has fully costed the 17,000 return points that will reportedly be required as part of the Deposit Return Scheme, (b) will share the estimated cost for each business required to purchase a return point and (c) plans to support businesses that are unable to meet the cost of the return point and any other costs associated with the scheme.

The final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) and Full Business Case (FBC) Stage 1 Addendum, published on 16 March 2020, represent the Scottish Government’s final assessment of the costs and benefits associated with DRS, at that time, prior to implementation.

Retailers can choose to be either a manual return point, use a reverse vending machine or apply for an exemption if applicable.

In response to feedback from retailers, updated guidance and support was published in December to make it clearer, easier and quicker for retailers wishing to apply for an exemption.

We recommend that Return Point Operators(RPOs) contact Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL) for guidance on support. CSL opened their RPO registration on 1 March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-15159

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether spill data on monitored combined sewer overflows (CSOs), where data is currently reported to SEPA, will be published annually, in light of the commitment in Scottish Water's Improving Urban Waters route map that annual publication of this data would commence by December 2022.

As indicated in Scottish Water’s first annual update to its Improving Urban Waters Routemap, which I referenced in my response to S6O-01493 on 23 November 2022, spill data has been published at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Waste-Water/Sewer-Overflow-Spill-Data .

I refer the member to the Official Report: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-23-11-2022?meeting=14005&iob=126871