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 44446 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-01756

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-01761

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that schools are inspected regularly.

Question reference: S6O-01762

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in closing the attainment gap.

Question reference: S6O-01753

Asked by: Jenni Minto, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its support for the veteran medal replacements initiative.

Question reference: S6O-01752

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest Recorded Crime in Scotland statistics.

Question reference: S6O-01749

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to improve public safety in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-13067

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a requirement on local authorities to provide a hot meal as part of school meals.

Local authorities and schools are required to ensure that all food and drink served in schools meets the nutritional standards set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. Further information about nutritional standards is available in our Healthy Eating in Schools guidance which is available on the Scottish Government's website through the following web link: Healthy eating in schools: guidance 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

There is no specific requirement for school meals to be hot although it would be difficult to meet the nutritional standards set out in the Regulations without providing hot options. The Regulations provide flexibility for local authority school caterers to design menus which meet local needs and circumstances. This would allow for example, more hot choices to be offered during the colder winter months and more cold options during warmer months.

Question reference: S6W-12950

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that patients are protected from the "serious harm" due to overcrowding, which NHS Health Improvement Scotland is reported to have warned NHS board chief executives of in a letter of 11 November 2022.

The safety of patients and staff within our A&E Departments is paramount. This is why the Scottish Government is providing Boards facing the greatest challenges, including University Hospital Monklands and Forth Valley Royal Hospital, with enhanced support over the winter period. The level of delayed discharge is driving up A&E long waits, which is why we are working jointly with Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to ensure people leave hospital without delay, freeing up vital beds for those who need them most.

Since the beginning of 2021, HIS has been carrying out COVID-19 focused inspections of acute hospitals, using methodology adapted from their previous ‘safe and clean’ inspections. As at November 2022, HIS have carried out nine Safe Delivery of Care acute hospital inspections.

Through our £600 million winter plan we are recruiting 1,000 new NHS staff. Additionally our £50 million Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits by improving the systems and processes to deliver better communications and robust escalation. This approach also aims to reduce unnecessary attendances through redesign of urgent care which signposts people to more appropriate care, avoiding admission where possible through Hospital at Home and our Out-patient Antimicrobial Therapy service which allows patients to be treated at home or in the community, ensuring people are discharged as soon as fit and ready.

Our Right Care Right Place media campaign aims to help the public to better understand the healthcare services available to them so they can make more informed choices about the right care in the right place for their specific health care needs which is not always emergency care.

Question reference: S6W-12984

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many patient bed places there are in each hospital in the NHS Highland area.

Beds data by NHS board and hospital are already published by Public Health Scotland. The most recent quarterly publication is ‘ Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Quarter ending 30 June 2022 ’, which was published on 29 November 2022. This is the latest available data that can be released as we are now within 12 weeks of the next scheduled publication in February 2023.

The beds data can be found on the Data files page by scrolling down to the heading “Hospital beds to June 2022”, where there is a link to the following Excel file:

Beds by NHS board of treatment and specialty (csv | 4.5Mb).

This is quarterly data for the five year period up to and including April – June 2022.

Below is an excerpt from this file that contains the latest values for Highland hospitals.

Site	Type	Daily average staffed beds
Lorn & Islands Hospital	All Specialties	47
Caithness General Hospital	All Specialties	44
Raigmore Hospital	All Specialties	469
Belford Hospital	All Specialties	35

Additionally, PHS publish annual beds data by NHS board and hospital, with the most recent publication being ‘ Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information for Scotland: Annual – year ending 31 March 2022 ’. See the Excel file: Table 4 - beds XLSX | 5.7MB .

Question reference: S6W-13121

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update its interim greenhouse gas emissions targets in line with the latest advice from the Climate Change Committee, and, if so, whether it will seek advice on future target levels in order to avoid changes in estimation methodologies affecting the achievability of the targets.

The Scottish Government is considering the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) latest advice on greenhouse gas emissions targets and will respond as soon as possible. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the CCC’s advice on future target levels must be sought at least every five years to ensure they are still in line with, among other things, current international carbon reporting practice.