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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-30715

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what specific interventions it is planning to address the reported higher consumption of sugary soft drinks among children from deprived areas.

As reported in the Scottish Health Survey Supporting documents - The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) there has already been a significant decline in children’s consumption of non-diet soft drinks once a day or more, from 38% in 2008-2009 to 16% in 2017-2018, and to 5% in 2021-2022.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is much that still needs to be done to further reduce children’s sugary soft drinks consumption, especially in low-income areas. We continue to support the UK Government’s Soft Drink Industry Levy, recognising the positive impact this has made in reducing sugary soft drinks consumption and incentivising industry reformulation.

The Scottish Government is delivering a range of initiatives to further improve the access and affordability of healthier food and drink options, helping children, especially those in deprived areas, to develop healthier nutritional habits that will last them a lifetime. This includes continued support of the Healthy Living Programme, the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations and the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme(SMHSS) Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme - Maternal and child health - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-30708

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on implementing (a) its 2018 diet and healthy weight delivery plan and (b) the commitments in the plan relating to children.

Scottish Government are taking forward a range of actions across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

This includes our continued support for convenience stores to increase the accessibility of fruit and vegetables in more deprived areas, supporting businesses to reformulate their products to make them healthier, and maintaining funding to community food networks, to enable them to increase access to affordable, healthier food to their communities and to promote the health benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

Specifically, regarding children, we have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations, strengthening the provision of balanced and nutritious food to children.

Our Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme promotes good nutrition to support healthy physical and brain development through the provision of healthy drinks and snacks in the earliest years. We have continued provision of free vitamin D to children under three, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Over the last 6 years, in addition to the core funding provided to Boards to support maternal and infant nutrition, we have invested more than £10 million to promote, protect and support breastfeeding to help give children the best possible start in life. Breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks are now at 47%. Infant feeding statistics - Financial year 2022 to 2023 - Infant feeding statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland the highest they have been since records began.

Question reference: S6W-30836

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recommendation by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission "that the use of e-collars for the training of animals in Scotland should be prohibited", as set out in its paper, Report on the use of handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars) in dog training.

The Scottish Government welcomed the 2023 Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on handheld remote-controlled training devices that use static pulse as the stimulus. We are currently awaiting a further report from SAWC on a wider range of aversive dog training tools, including other types of electronic training collars. We will consider all their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.

Question reference: S6W-30843

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support (a) drug services and (b) local authorities with the provision of drug harm reduction measures such as needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy.

The Scottish Government is committed to support Health and Social Care Partnerships and their local services deliver on our National Mission to save and improve lives affected by problem drug use. This includes the implementation of harm reduction initiatives including needle and syringe programmes and improved access to opioid substitution therapy (OST).

Our broad principle is that if providing safe equipment to a person is likely to reduce the risk of harm to themselves or others, there should be no question of that provision. We continue to provide direction and funding to local areas to implement the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards, and Standard 4 in particular states that everyone at risk, including those who inject drugs, should be able to access a wide range of harm reduction services – for example, needles and syringes, injecting risk assessments, wound care and naloxone.

Services across Scotland have developed flexible and targeted approaches to supplying Injecting Equipment Provision (IEP) by introducing more mobile and more flexible approaches (such as IEP vans) that actively go out to areas where they know people will use them.

The Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, published on 31 May 2021 aim to improve access, choice and support to OST and to a range of linked support such as primary care, mental health treatment and advocacy for other services. Public Health Scotland reports annually on how local areas are achieving this. Its Benchmarking Reports are published each June and these include details of how access to OST and access to drug harm reduction measures are improving in local areas.

Question reference: S6W-30837

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17386, S6W-17387 and S6W-17875 by Mairi Gougeon on 5 May, 9 May and 24 May 2023, by what date it will publish its response to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission paper, Report on the use of handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars) in dog training.

Question reference: S6W-30809

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many seven-day emergency readmissions there have been in each year since 2016, broken down by NHS board.

Table 1 provides information on the number of emergency readmissions within 7 days of a prior hospital discharge. The data are broken down by financial year (2016-17 to 2023-24) and NHS board of residence, in Scotland.

Table 1: Emergency Readmissions within 7 days of a prior hospital discharge by NHS Board, Scotland 2016-17 to 2023-24

NHS Board	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	5,058	5,470	5,506	5,233	3,947	4,501	3,970	4,435
NHS Borders	1,269	1,233	1,242	1,174	815	834	1,299	1,531
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,454	1,560	1,593	1,654	1,241	1,367	1,480	1,595
NHS Fife	3,915	4,744	4,716	4,547	3,467	4,310	4,493	5,181
NHS Forth Valley	2,524	2,576	2,529	4,254	3,270	3,588	3,558	3,514
NHS Grampian	4,766	5,031	5,045	5,661	4,236	4,719	4,974	5,349
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	13,518	11,469	11,723	12,078	8,858	9,927	9,857	10,477
NHS Highland	2,735	3,423	3,894	3,779	2,877	3,474	3,820	4,005
NHS Lanarkshire	8,011	7,858	8,234	8,565	5,826	7,378	8,178	7,953
NHS Lothian	8,191	8,317	8,726	9,551	8,012	7,842	6,795	7,822
NHS Orkney	145	153	193	174	150	171	175	138
NHS Shetland	147	162	181	183	154	134	148	176
NHS Tayside	3,835	3,704	3,588	3,986	3,241	3,923	4,583	5,332
NHS Western Isles	307	321	332	392	251	264	304	265
NHS Scotland	55,875	56,021	57,502	61,231	46,345	52,432	53,634	57,773

Source: Public Health Scotland (SMR01)

Question reference: S6W-30750

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to calls for improved regulation of non-healthcare professionals who carry out medical aesthetic treatments, such as Botox and dermal fillers.

Scottish Government officials have been undertaking scoping work with a variety of stakeholders including healthcare professionals (representatives from British College of Aesthetic Medicine and British Association of Cosmetic Nurses), hair and beauty industry representatives, Environmental Health Officers, and Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

This scoping work is informing the development of a consultation that will seek the views of the public on the specific details to ensure that proportionate, robust, flexible and future-proofed further regulation is introduced. This new public consultation will be published by the end of the year.

Question reference: S6W-30638

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason NHS Lothian has reportedly not implemented public health messaging on long COVID, in light of the reported need to raise awareness, reduce stigma, promote early diagnosis and connect individuals with available rehabilitation support, and what upcoming plans it has to address this.

Question reference: S6W-30936

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the increase in tonnage of waste incinerated, outlined in the 2023 household waste statistics, to be a positive or negative market signal for prevention and reuse efforts.

Scotland was the first UK nation to introduce a ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste, which comes into force on 31 December 2025.

The increase in waste incinerated reflects preparations for the upcoming ban which have already supported a decrease in the total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland by half over the past decade.

As we continue to increase our reuse and recycling rates, we will produce even less waste, however we will still need an appropriate way to manage our unavoidable and unrecyclable waste – and continue to reduce the amount going to landfill. The development of the Waste Route Map with partners now the Circular Economy Act is in place will be critical in accelerating action in this area.

Question reference: S6T-02170

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of any potential implications for accessibility, equality and safety for passengers and the public, whether it will permit the reduction in opening hours of ticket offices by ScotRail.