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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-25738

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the condition in Annex B of its publication, Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021: guidance for dog breeders, which states that "No dog may be kept for breeding if it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of its genotype, conformation, behaviour or state of health, that breeding from it could have a detrimental effect on its health or welfare or the health or welfare of its offspring", has noticeably improved the welfare of brachycephalic dog breeds in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any targeted work to assess if the welfare of brachycephalic breeds has improved following the introduction of The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 regulations), however this is something that we do intend to investigate further with local authorities and relevant stakeholders.

Meantime, the Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with local authorities on the enforcement of the 2021 regulations and work with key stakeholders to promote and encourage ethical and responsible breeding of dogs.

Question reference: S6W-25708

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to Rape Crisis Scotland in each financial year since 2020-21, and how much it will provide in the financial year 2024-25.

Please see below the funding that has been provided to Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) in each financial year since 2020-21. Please note for 2023-24, we have provided the total committed spend for the current financial year, which may change by April 2024.

We cannot confirm the amount of funding which will be provided to RCS for the financial year 2024-25 at this time. However, we can confirm that RCS will receive funding through the Children, Young People and Families Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities fund, through ‘100 days’ funding and the Delivering Equally Safe fund amongst others in 2024-25.

Please note that, in addition to funds provided to Rape Crisis Scotland, we also provide funding to local Rape Crisis Centres through the Delivering Equally Safe fund. Additionally, some of the funds provided to Rape Crisis Scotland are distributed by them to local Rape Crisis Centres.

Financial Year 2020-21 - £3,342,646

Financial Year 2021-22 - £5,654,322

Financial Year 2022-23 - £4,587,738

Financial Year 2023-24 - £4,557,276* (committed spend for financial year)

Question reference: S6W-25694

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value is of any (a) contracts and (b) grants awarded to Thermo Fisher Scientific by Scottish public bodies in each of the last five years.

A full breakdown of the total number and value of contracts awarded to Thermo Fisher Scientific for the last five fiscal years covering all Scottish public bodies is provided in the following table.

Year	Number of Contracts	Total Contracts Value
19-20	11	£1,428,668.49
20-21	22	£17,619,595.56
21-22	20	£4,016,757.72
22-23	17	£113,420,984.14
23-24	11	£14,217,082.43
Total	81	£150,703,088.34

No grant payments have been made to Fisher Scientific UK Limited (Thermo Fisher) directly from the Scottish Government in the last five fiscal years. The Scottish Government can only provide their own grant data as the information requested is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-25628

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been referred to the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service in each NHS board that it is operational in, in each of the last three years.

A final two year report of Scotland’s early adopter sites, was published by the University of Strathclyde on Thursday 29 th February highlighting its success, a summary of which is available at rapid-cancer-diagnostic-services-evaluation-summary-february-2024.pdf (nhscfsd.co.uk)

The report found that 3,616 RCDS referrals were received and 2,489 (~69%) accepted. The remainder of referrals were largely either redirected to site-specific cancer pathways (~15%) or did not progress onto the RCDS pathway as they didn’t meet referral criteria (~12%).

This data covers the time period from when RCDSs were activated up to October 2023. Work is continuing with PHS to establish a national data collection for RCDSs.

Question reference: S6W-25655

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed a gender-competency framework for education and learning that incorporates intersectionality and anti-racism competencies, as part of the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning.

The Gender Equality Taskforce in Education & Learning developed a set of ambitions in order to help inform its work, including the development of an intersectional framework. Since then, discussion and work has been ongoing to refine the workplan, to ensure that it is able to enact the type of long term, complex, systemic change that is needed. I am committed to continuing and accelerating such work to ensure that girls and young women have a gender equal experience of education and learning.

Question reference: S6W-25669

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the percentage of the total number of schools that have abolished fees for school trips and extra-curricular activities for pupils from lower-income families.

Question reference: S6W-25618

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported calls from the Scottish Retail Consortium and Scottish Tourism Alliance for a restoration of tax-free shopping for overseas visitors as a means of supporting Scotland’s retail and tourism sectors.

The Scottish Government does not have policy control over VAT rates or VAT exemptions. This is a fully reserved policy.

In a letter of 22 October 2021, the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Kate Forbes, and the then Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, Fiona Hyslop, jointly called on the UK Government to reverse their decision to end VAT-free shopping following EU Exit. The letter called on the UK Government to introduce a VAT-free shopping scheme for EU and non-EU visitors to the UK.

The UK Government, as part of their ‘Mini Budget’ on 23 September 2022 announced the introduction of a new digital VAT-free shopping scheme. This however was scrapped as part of the reversal by the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

I have called on the Chancellor in my pre-Spring Budget letter to listen to industry and urgently reconsider his position.

The removal of this policy is likely to be having a detrimental impact on retail businesses and may be discouraging tourists from visiting the UK. and Scotland specifically. Many EU countries continue to offer tax-free shopping for non-EU visitors, which make them a more attractive tourist destination. Scotland’s vibrant retail sector is put at a disadvantage as a result.

The Scottish Government’s position remains that the restoration of VAT-free shopping for all overseas visitors to the UK would help support this vital sector in Scotland.

Ultimately, the Scottish Government believes that all tax powers should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament so that we can provide the support that Scottish retailers and tourism businesses need.

Question reference: S6W-25603

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the results from the Police Scotland pilot, Proportionate Response to Crime, in north east Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25284

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what total value of government-funded grants for heat pumps has been awarded to homes in the Aberdeen City Council area in each year since 2022.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme, launched in December 2022, offers homeowners and self-builders in Scotland a grant, interest free loan or a combination of both to support the installation of clean heating systems and energy efficiency measures. Prior to this, homeowners could access support for installation via the HES Loan and Cashback Scheme.

The following table details grant funding awarded for the installation of air, water or ground source heat pumps to homeowners in the Aberdeen City Council area in financial years through the HES Loan and Cashback Scheme or HES Grant and Loan Scheme, up to the end of the Quarter 3, December 2023. This does not include funding for other interventions such as energy efficiency.

Financial Year	Total Grant funding awarded
2021-22	£148,720
2022-23	£244,648
2023-24 to December 2023	£189,876

The Scottish Government also funds the installation of heating systems and insulation measures for homeowners through Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based Schemes. Overall these schemes are of a comparable scale to the HES scheme. However, as these are government-funded installations rather than grants awarded to homeowners, and because they fund a range of measures sometimes including heat pumps, they are not included in the figures provided.

Question reference: S6W-25608

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that its guidance document, Supporting Transgender Pupils In Schools, accurately reflects the revised Equality and Human Rights Commission document, Technical guidance for schools in Scotland.

The non-statutory guidance on supporting Transgender Young People in Schools sets out a range of advice on legislation, policy and practice including illustrative examples. It is for education authorities and schools to use the guidance as they see fit, in line with local priorities and circumstances.

As would be usual with any relevant significant legal or policy developments, the Scottish Government will consider whether the guidance requires to be updated to reflect these.