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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-18878

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions it has aligned with EU legislation, since 1 January 2021, by means other than the Scottish Ministers’ "keeping pace" power under the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with EU law where that is possible and where it will have a meaningful impact on the outcomes we share with the EU.

In doing so we acknowledge that alignment in all cases is not possible. Consideration of alignment with EU law is part of the policy development process and varies depending upon the relevance of EU law to Scotland regarding the matter in question, the extent of the devolved settlement and UK Government decisions which might have a constraining effect on Ministers ability to take effective action.

The Scottish Government’s policy statement on the approach to EU alignment, approved by parliament on 8 June 2022, sets this out in detail, acknowledging that a broad section of EU legislation is now not applicable in Scotland since the UK’s departure from the EU.

It is therefore not possible for the Scottish Government to provide a definitive answer to the question asked, although officials are working with their parliamentary counterparts to significantly expand the information provided to parliament regarding the commitment to align with the EU.

Question reference: S6W-19126

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many carer breaks have been delivered to people in each year since the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force, also given as a proportion of people eligible for one, and broken down by local authority area.

The number of unpaid carers who receive short breaks or respite is reported in the accompanying tables of the Scottish Government Carers Census . This collection only covers unpaid carers who have a support plan and/or receive support from local services, rather than the total caring population. Table 1 below does not include data from 2018-19, as it is not comparable to subsequent years.

Table 1: Number and percentage of people who received short breaks or respite in 2019-20 to 2021-22 (all areas submitted) (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)

Year	Number of people provided with short breaks or respite	Percentage of people who received support who were provided with short breaks or respite
2019-20	4,450	29%
2020-21	5,360	29%
2021-22	11,570	37%

In order to help monitor the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, which took effect on 1st April 2018, a variety of information on unpaid carers and the support they are provided with is collected from local support services through the Scottish Government Carers Census.

Since the implementation of the Act was a significant change to practice, it has required changes to the data that is collected by Local Authorities and Carer Centres and the implementation of new systems to collect and record that data. As such, the Carers Census is likely an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers receiving support since data quality is still improving over time. Data for 2019-20 and 2020-21 were collected at the same time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes between 2020-21 and 2021-22 are likely to be more reflective of the greater completeness and improved data quality in 2021-22 rather than actual change.

In addition, data from the Scottish Health Survey suggests that for 2017-21, 4% of all unpaid carers aged 16 and over received short breaks or respite. This is equivalent to an estimated 27,000 carers. The Scottish Health Survey samples the wider population rather than only carers who have a support plan or who receive support from local services.

The number of short breaks or respite provided as a proportion of those eligible is provided in Table 2. Data for 2018-19 is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years. These proportions are not based on the figures shown in Table 1, as those figures relate to all carers recorded as receiving a short break or respite rather than only those with recorded needs and eligibility.

The first column shows the percentage of people who received a short break or respite who were recorded as needing one, regardless of eligibility
The second column shows the percentage of people who received a short break or respite who were recorded as needing one and met local eligibility criteria.

Table 2: Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite who received one, 2019-20 to 2021-22 (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)

Year	Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite and received one	Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and were eligible for, a short break or respite and received one
2019-20	86%	88%
2020-21	83%	86%
2021-22	76%	79%

Unpaid carers are considered to be eligible to receive a short break if they are a) assessed as needing one and b) meet local eligibility criteria. However, many carer centres do not operate using eligibility criteria and will provide the support needed to the carers that they are in contact with. As such, information on whether a carer is eligible for support is poorly returned in the Carers Census. In 2021-22, information on eligibility was missing for over 60% of records.

In addition, there were a number of carers in the Carers Census data who were recorded as receiving a short break or respite but who weren’t recorded as needing one. This could be due to a number of reasons such as differences in data recording or changes in the carers’ circumstances.

Local level breakdowns are not provided as, despite the increase in the number of organisations returning data through the Carers Census, there are still some gaps in coverage across Scotland. The differences in approach to carer support between local areas also make direct local comparisons inadvisable; as do the differences in data recording. For instance, some areas are only able to return information for carers who have a support plan in place while others are able to return information on all the carers they support.

Question reference: S6W-19134

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have attended a breast screening programme appointment in each month since July 2021.

The breast screening programme is commissioned by NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS) and operates out of six centres across Scotland. Scottish Government do not hold the information requested centrally as this is a matter for Regional Screening Centres. However, Public Health Scotland publish programme statistics on an annual basis and the most recent publication can be accessed on the following link : https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-breast-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-breast-screening-programme-statistics-annual-update-to-31-march-2022/

Question reference: S6W-19144

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many newborn screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19143

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many pregnancy screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19137

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many diabetic retinopathy screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19122

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its housebuilding target is for the current parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government’s target is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

Our long term plans recognise that changing circumstances or unforeseen events may require us to adapt, and we intend to carry out a review at the mid-point of the 110,000 target period (2026-27), to assess if current plans should continue unchanged or be adapted.

To note that the homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes, as identified in Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) prepared annually by local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-19458

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has come to a decision on whether to provide the Scottish SPCA with additional powers to investigate wildlife crime, following the Scottish SPCA taskforce review.

I would like to thank the Scottish SPCA Taskforce for conducting the review and providing the final report. Following consideration of the report provided by the Scottish SPCA Taskforce, I can announce that I will be bringing forward provisions in the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2 to allow for a limited extension of the Scottish SPCA’s current powers to investigate wildlife crime.

The powers will allow the Scottish SPCA to in certain circumstances search, examine and seize evidence in connection with specified wildlife crime offences.

Our full proposals have been published on the Scottish Government webpages, which you can find here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835210468 , and I have written to the Parliament notifying them of the proposals. We will also be consulting with key stakeholders on the proposals over the summer.

Question reference: S6W-19145

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times since January 2019 train services between North Berwick and Edinburgh Waverley have been cancelled for (a) all and (b) part of their journey due to (i) track problems, including signalling and flooding, and (ii) track congestion.

ScotRail advised that between 6 January 2019 [the start of 2018-19: reporting period 11] and 27 May 2023 [the end of 2023-24: reporting period 2], there were 444 full cancellations and 122 part-cancellations on the North Berwick line as a result of infrastructure issues. This is out of 68,274 trains planned for that route during this time (0.82 percent).

While full- or part-cancellations as a result of track congestion are not reported separately, ScotRail also advise that there were a further 46 full cancellations and 39 part-cancellations to ScotRail services as a result of the actions of other train operating companies. This is out of 68,274 trains planned for that route during this time (0.12 percent).

Question reference: S6W-19138

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

The Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme is commissioned by National Services Scotland (NSS) and operates out of eight centres across Scotland. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested centrally as this is a matter for Regional Screening Centres. However, Public Health Scotland publish programme statistics on an annual basis and the latest report can be viewed at : https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics-year-ending-31-march-2022/