Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 42583 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6F-01491

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01490

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-11556

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many P1 children it expects will undertake a Scottish National Standardised Assessment by the end of the 2022-23 school year.

The national standardised assessments are designed to be age and stage appropriate, and as inclusive as possible: there is no time limit for their completion; learners can undertake the assessments in more than one session; the system is compatible with a range of devices and assistive technologies; and teachers have the flexibility to decide how and when assessments are administered. As such, we expect most primary one learners to undertake the assessments, as has been the case in previous years*. As always, teachers’ presentation decisions should be made after considering the individual needs and wellbeing of children, the diagnostic purpose of national standardised assessment and the way in which teachers and schools intend to use information.

* 2019/20 exception, due to COVID-19 related school closures.

Question reference: S6W-11588

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason colleges and universities have reportedly not received confirmation of funding for counselling provision for the 2022-23 academic year.

Since 2019/20, the Scottish Government have invested more than £11.5 million to support our Programme for Government commitment to introduce more than 80 additional mental health counsellors in colleges and universities. We have now achieved that target, as the latest figures from the Scottish Funding Council show that an additional 89 FTE mental health counsellors have been appointed by colleges and universities through the programme.

We will shortly inform institutions, through the Scottish Funding Council, of their funding allocations for Academic Year 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-11598

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that suicide awareness is taught in schools.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. We are committed to improving support for children and young people’s mental health in order to ensure early intervention and prevention of suicide.

Health and wellbeing is a core part of Curriculum for Excellence, and schools play a vital role in supporting pupils’ mental health. The Mental Health in Schools Working Group, on behalf of Ministers, produced a framework to support local authorities and schools embed support for children and young people's mental health and wellbeing across all aspects of the school environment. The group has also developed professional learning for school staff, which includes suicide awareness.

We continue to support local authorities with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a new Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan in September 2022. These include plans to further develop existing and new resources for schools which build understanding on mental health, self-harm and suicide prevention.

Question reference: S6W-11245

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work was conducted by (a) its, (b) Police Scotland and (c) Scottish Prison Service staff to get Peter Tobin to disclose the location of where he buried the remains of his victims.

These are matters for Police Scotland rather than Scottish Government or the Scottish Prison Service, which has no has no legal authority to question individuals in relation to crimes committed in the community.

I have asked the Chief Constable to write directly to the member with further detail on Police Scotland’s activity in this regard.

While I understand there are no current lines of enquiry following the death of Peter Tobin, any information that is received by Police Scotland will continue to be reviewed as has been the established procedure since his conviction and imprisonment.

Question reference: S6W-11617

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported progress NHS England has made towards elimination of hepatitis C by collaborating with the pharmaceutical industry and using artificial intelligence, and whether a similar approach would be considered in Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland by 2024. We are pleased that excellent progress has been made to date, despite the additional challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. An update on the progress of this work has recently been published by Public Health Scotland, and the report can be found here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/15549/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland-oct22.pdf

Clinicians and carers across Scotland are encouraged to identify those with risk factors for HCV and test them. To support this activity, the Hepatitis C Clinical Leads Group of the Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN) published Recommendations on Hepatitis C Virus Case-finding and Access to Care in 2019, and this can be found at: https://hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/recommendations-on-hepatitis-c-virus-case-finding-and-access-to-care/

In 2019, NHS Tayside were world-leading in eliminating HCV within their Health Board area, a key part of their strategy involved innovative testing models using community pharmacy. Officials are exploring what a national roll out of that approach requires.

Question reference: S6W-11657

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of trends in the number of car thefts in the last five years.

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly National Statistics on crimes recorded by the police. This includes recorded crimes of 'Theft of a motor vehicle' which covers both cars and other motor vehicle types. These have fallen substantially over the longer term, with a 69% reduction from 15,000 in 2006-07 to 4,691 in the year ending June 2022. In terms of the last five years, levels have remained fairly constant, except for a significant fall in the year ending June 2021, that may have been a consequence of pandemic-related restrictions. The number of crimes recorded in each of the last five years for the year ending in June is set out in the following table.

Year	Number of recorded offences of 'theft of a motor vehicle'
2017-18	4,938
2018-19	4,873
2019-20	4,889
2020-21	4,233
2021-22	4,691

More information, including a break-down by local authority area, can be found on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-year-ending-june-2022/documents/

In addition to police recorded crime, information on adults' experience of theft of a motor vehicle is available from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey. This includes crimes that are not reported to the police. The latest published results (for 2019-20), suggested 0.2% of adults in Scotland were victims of motor vehicle theft that year, with no difference to the findings in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Question reference: S6W-11555

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to halt the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs) for P1 children, in light of Parliament agreeing motion S5M-13945 on 19 September 2018, and Toni Giugliano, SNP Policy Convenor, reportedly describing assessing four and five-year-olds as "compounding pressures and mental health problems".

There are no plans to discontinue national standardised assessments for P1 learners. The Scottish Government commissioned David Reedy to conduct an independent review of the assessments for P1 children in response to motion S5M-13945. The Reedy review (2019) concluded that the P1 SNSA was compatible with a play-based approach to learning, had valuable potential and should continue. The report further identified “scant evidence of children becoming upset when taking the P1 SNSA” – a finding which is borne out by pupil survey responses from P1 learners in 2021/22, which indicate 92% of children felt happy completing their assessments.

Question reference: S6W-11463

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to remove time-related restrictions on the use of the Young Scot National Entitlement Card scheme for rail travel.

The Scottish Government is progressing its Fair Fares Review to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares as we recover from the pandemic. The Fair Fares Review is considering both the availability of services and the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available on all modes including bus, rail and ferry. The review will consider options that maintain and increase affordability for those who need it most, taking cognisance of the relative changes to the overall cost of travel. I have asked my officials to ensure that the terms and conditions attached to the Young Scot NEC card are considered as part of this wider review.