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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-12659

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce tighter rules regarding local authorities, its agencies and businesses partnering with security and technology firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese government, such as Hikvision and Dahua Technology.

Question reference: S6W-12660

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeline is for the removal of any Hikvision cameras that are installed within the Scottish Government estate.

Question reference: S6F-01613

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2022

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

Question reference: S6W-12511

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next review the cap on funding for Scottish students seeking to study at Scottish universities.

The Scottish Government works closely with the SFC and Scottish Universities on an annual basis to review and deliver sustainable funding for universities and the whole tertiary sector when setting the budget allocation. This flexibility allows the numbers of funded places for eligible students to respond to university and student demands, so that in 2022-23 there are 121,917 full-time equivalent funded places, compared to 115,987 for 2019-20, the last academic year prior to the pandemic.

Scottish Universities are autonomous institutions and as such, with the exception of controlled subjects, the Scottish Government and Government Ministers do not direct individual universities on the number of funded places made available for specific subjects for eligible Scottish and EU domicile students. Universities are allocated a finite amount of money and it is then for the universities themselves to decide: how to distribute these places between faculties; the courses they offer; and how many of the total funded places will be available on each course. To give universities additional flexibility in student recruitment, the Scottish Funding Council allows universities to recruit up to 10% above the number of funded places awarded.

The Scottish Government firmly believes that access to university should be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay, however there is a need to exert a level of control over the higher education budget, which means that the number of students able to access a funded place is not unlimited. Our commitment to free tuition means that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, Scottish students studying in Scotland do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750, and average student loan debt for Scottish students is the lowest in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-12422

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to procure the C-19 YRS app to help people with Long COVID manage their symptoms.

NHS National Services Scotland is currently conducting a procurement process to robustly assess digital products available to support the assessment and screening of people with long COVID, and determine which one is best placed to meet the needs highlighted by NHS Boards.

This national procurement process is expected to identify a preferred supplier shortly, after which licences for the selected product would be procured.

Question reference: S6W-12258

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09382 by Humza Yousaf on 13 July 2022, whether it will provide an update on the latest figures for 2022.

Question reference: S6W-12302

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage innovation in the public sector procurement of medical devices.

The Scottish Government is committed to sourcing innovative solutions to address key challenges that face our NHS, that have been trialled and validated to work across the health ecosystem in Scotland.

In order to encourage and contribute to the delivery of innovation in general across the Scottish public sector, the Scottish Government have worked closely with NHS National Services Scotland to develop a new, national, business led innovation service called Scotland Innovates. The new service provides a central portal for suppliers to submit innovative solutions for assessment across the entire public sector, including Health.

The Scottish Government recently launched the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) Pathway. This aims to provide a once for Scotland approach to the identification, assessment and accelerated adoption of innovative health technologies, including medical devices, that could have a transformative impact on recovery, reform and sustainability within health and social care in Scotland.

It is for NHS Boards to decide whether to procure health technologies. However, Boards receive support from the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) who provide evidence and advice on the use of new and existing health technologies when they are likely to have significant implications for people’s care.

Question reference: S6W-12251

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will correct and republish Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation, originally published on 1 March 2022, which incorrectly states that Scotland has "a quarter of Europe’s wind potential".

Question reference: S6W-12250

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-00960 by Lorna Slater on 15 November 2022, how it will communicate to the Parliament what the correct figure is for Scotland's share of Europe's offshore wind potential, and how long it will take to publish the correct figure.

Question reference: S6O-01656

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is regarding the impact in Scotland of the UK Government decision to restrict the use of security cameras made by companies subject to Chinese National Intelligence Law.