- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure adequate availability of rented accommodation for students, in light of reports that a lack of available and affordable housing is having an adverse impact on students' mental health and wellbeing.
Answer
Scotland has led the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK with 115,558 affordable homes having been delivered since 2007, over 81,000 of which were for social rent, including 20,250 council homes. The Scottish Government's per capita spending on affordable housing is more than three times higher than the UK Government's.
In addition, our Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation, which is looking at a number of accommodation issues including supply and affordability, will soon be concluded. I look forward to receiving the recommendations of the expert group who have overseen the review in due course.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for the publication of the commissioned endometriosis management and treatment research, as set out in Action 32 of the progress report on the Women's Health Plan.
Answer
We are jointly funding a £250,000 endometriosis research project with Wellbeing of Women and the recipient of the grant will be announced in March. The funding for the research will cover a period of 3 years, from financial year 2022/23, after which the findings will be published.
Additionally, in January 2023 our Chief Scientist Office announced funding for the ENDOCAN project, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, that will investigate whether a large scale, UK-wide trial to determine whether a cannabinoid can reduce endometriosis-associated pain. Funding of £299,509 has been committed to this 30 month project.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14221 by Neil Gray on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on the property matching app that it is developing.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14804 on 22 February 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many times the endometriosis advisory group has met since its first meeting in April 2022, as set out in the progress report on the Women's Health Plan, and when the group's findings will be made available to the public.
Answer
The Endometriosis Advisory Group (EAG) was established to support the action in the Women’s Health Plan to strengthen collaborative working between regional specialist endometriosis centres, territorial and special NHS boards and primary care providers, to drive improvement in patient pathways and achieve equitable access to care and treatment.
The EAG first met in April 2022 and have since been involved in communications on an ad hoc basis to assist in the understanding of the systems currently in place for endometriosis, from education to current practice and pathways.
As per previous years, in order to lessen the burden on NHS teams over the winter period from November 2022 to the end of February 2023 we commenced a light touch process to help monitor and prioritise communications. After this period of time we will reinstate communication and meetings with the EAG.
The EAG offer their expert advice and knowledge to help inform and guide policy processes and as such there is no formal findings or report which the EAG has produced.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14221 by Neil Gray on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on the launch of its Offers of Accommodation scheme.
Answer
The Offers of Accommodation scheme set out to replace the previous two-stage Expression of Interest process which enabled potential hosts to submit information about their properties, with a streamlined, single-stage online form, designed on user-centred principles and built by the Scottish Government’s Digital teams. The new Offer to Host form can be found at Offer to host - Start page (ukrainehostoffers.service.gov.scot) The form went live, initially for a limited trial, on 22 November and was promoted through a news announcement, social media and a distribution of a partner toolkit. Since the form went live, it has had 442 completed submissions as of 14 February, which are now being checked by Local Authorities and fed back to Matching teams.
The Offers of Accommodation form now feeds in directly to the Warm Scottish Welcome Matching Tool used by the National Matching Service since September 2022. This digital tool was designed by Scottish Government Digital teams, in collaboration with COSLA and Scottish Government operational officials, to facilitate the matching of Ukrainian Displaced People in Welcome Hub accommodation to longer term hosting and social housing opportunities across Scotland.
The Matching Tool is currently being rolled out to a small selection of Local Authorities, with the ambition of all 32 Local Authorities being invited to have access to the platform over the course of the coming months. Ahead of the wider roll-out, staff at all Scottish Local Authorities have been invited to begin necessary background checks on 17 February.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14449 by Neil Gray on 2 February 2023, whether it will publish another Two Year Annual Report on Activities of the National Performing Companies in the future.
Answer
As noted in my answer to question S6W-14449, work on the two-year report on the activities of the National Performing Companies was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
I will consider whether this work should be restarted given the National Performing Companies all publish their own annual reports on their individual websites including information relating to their community and education programmes, financial figures and key artistic achievements.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the sale of clothes free from fossil fuel-derived fibres, and what information it has regarding the quantity of such clothing that has been sold in each of the last five years.
Answer
Retail has an essential role to play if we are to deliver on our ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2045, which is why the Retail Strategy’s Delivery Plan contains a commitment to develop a Just Transition Plan for retail that includes an action to promote the steps that retailers and their supply chain operatives can take to reduce carbon consumption and environmental impacts.
The specific information requested on the quantity of such clothing that has been sold in each of the last five years is not held by the Scottish Government .
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding applicable safety standards to protect (a) offshore workers and (b) seafarers from Scotland working on internationally flagged vessels in waters over 12 nautical miles from the Scottish coastline.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects the highest safety and crew welfare and employment conditions for all workers employed in offshore and maritime industries.
Safety standards for offshore workers in the UK Continental Shelf are regulated in Great Britain by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and is a reserved matter for the UK Government. All relevant legislation was enacted prior to devolution.
Maritime safety is also a reserved competence of the UK Government undertaken by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Maritime Labour Convention came into force in the UK on 7 August 2014. It sets out the minimum working and living rights for seafarers with the onus on operators.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) length, (b) beam and (c) maximum operational draught of MV Hebrides is.
Answer
MV Hebrides is 99 metres in length, 15.8 metres wide and her operational draught, which is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the vessel’s hull, is 3.3 metres.
Further information is available on CalMac’s website by following the link: https://www.calmac.co.uk/fleet/mv-hebrides
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Glasgow City Council about the reported 1,111 Ukrainians who are due to disembark MS Ambition by 31 March 2023.
Answer
Scottish Government officials and Glasgow City Council have been engaging regularly since November 2022 to undertake a Joint Assurance Review to ensure exit planning for the disembarkation of the MS Ambition remains on track.
The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council have been meeting with guests to help them make an informed decision about their next accommodation and where possible, we are seeking to move a displaced people according to their needs. This has been supplemented by ongoing and regular discussions between the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, regional local authorities, and CoSLA, where host and accommodation matches for MS Ambition-based Ukrainians are identified as efficiently and effectively as possible.