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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: S6F-02424

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02429

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the First Minister how the measures in place to tackle the climate emergency will also help to address poverty.

Question reference: S6F-02423

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02433

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government is providing to Creative Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-21678

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions there have been in Scotland under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-21677

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions there have been in Scotland under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in each of the last 10 years.

The latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2020-21 and is provided in the following table.

Number of people convicted under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, where main crime, 2011-12 to 2020-21.

2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
760	837	974	918	901	721	574	511	496	363

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Please note: Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be reflective of long term trend.

Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published on 24 October 2023.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

Question reference: S6W-21560

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update good practice guidance, as a result of previously updated NICE guidelines on myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Question reference: S6W-21559

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently living with (a) myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), (b) fibromyalgia and (c) long COVID/post-exertional malaise.

a) Neurological Conditions: estimating the prevalence in Scotland of selected conditions using GP and Hospital Admissions datasets , a Scottish Government experimental statistics report published in December 2022, contains estimated prevalence of selected neurological conditions in Scotland, including ME/CFS.

b) We do not hold data on the prevalence of people living with fibromyalgia in Scotland.

c) Until March 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported monthly on responses to long COVID questions in the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) . This reporting provided prevalence estimates of self-reported long COVID by duration and associated activity limitations, with data available at Scotland level.

Question reference: S6W-21330

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the impact of pilots such as the Golf for Health scheme in Fife, which sees GPs prescribe sporting activity as a health treatment, and whether it plans to provide financial support for any similar pilots or efforts to further roll-out “sport on prescription” as a means of prevention and cure of certain health problems.

The Scottish Government recognises that being physically active is one of the very best things we can do for our physical and mental wellbeing.

It is an effective treatment in the management and prevention of many long-term conditions and reduces the risk of overall mortality. Strong evidence shows that even small increases in activity can have benefits to our health. Evidence also shows that well-informed conversations with healthcare professionals can help to encourage people to be more active. Referral by a health care professional to opportunities to participate in physical activity and sport is a recognised structured approach to health improvement and is an important strand in our overall approach.

Our funding for sport is founded on a recognition of the important role which participation plays in supporting our health and wellbeing. The Golf on Prescription initiative is one amongst a wide range of such referral programmes across the country which involve different sports as well as activities such as walking, jogging, dance and many others. We encourage sports governing bodies as well as local leisure service providers to engage with Health Boards to explore the potential for referral programmes and we are aware of many successful initiatives.

Public Health Scotland published new Physical Activity Referral Standards in February 2022 to provide guidance which aims to reduce variability, enhance the quality of services and build further evidence of what works in relation to such initiatives. This includes the need for a focus on engaging with and delivering services to excluded, marginalised, or otherwise vulnerable population groups. Services therefore must be flexible to ensure that they are able to accommodate issues relating to equality and diversity in local populations which might otherwise act as barriers to participation.

Question reference: S6W-21444

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to encourage the recruitment and retention of people in the social care workforce to deliver palliative care.

The Scottish Government has been working with a number of partners to support the training and recruitment of a social care workforce to deliver integrated healthcare, which can include palliative care.

In collaboration with NES, the Scottish Government worked with the Home Office to ensure Adult Social Care workers were included on the Shortage Occupation List in February 2022, and that they will remain on this when this is next reviewed. To support international recruitment efforts, we have also collaborated with NES and COSLA to create the NES Centre for Workforce Supply: Social Care.

Further to this, we have been working with The Prince’s Trust and regional Developing the Young Workforce teams to encourage more young people to enter the social care workforce, and we continue to work with DWP, empowering their Work Coaches to support service users into careers in adult social care.

We also launched the National Induction Framework to support the onboarding process for new workers in February 2022, recognising that access to good onboarding can support staff retention by developing skills and confidence early on.

Under the Strategy Steering Group for Palliative Care, we have established a Workforce Education, Training and Resources Working Group to support the workforce and ensure that care is delivered by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency workforce that is trained, skilled, valued and supported.