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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-01589

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Question reference: S6F-01579

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01578

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-12705

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reached a decision on the future location of the Registrar of Independent Schools.

The Scottish Government has taken the decision to locate the Registrar of Independent Schools within the new national agency for Scottish Education.

We have considered a range of options, including Professor Muir’s recommendation to locate the Registrar within the Scottish Government, and have undertaken further consultation with a range of stakeholders.

On balance, it is clear that there are significant benefits to locating the Registrar within the new national agency. For example, the Registrar’s location in the Scottish educational landscape is now well understood by those involved with independent schools, and this has worked extremely well in terms of knowledge and resource sharing, developing relationships and building trust. This includes the sharing of expertise and enhanced knowledge of the sector for all involved.

This decision will also ensure that the functional and organisational separation between the Registrar and the Scottish Government will continue to inspire trust and confidence within the sector as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-12165

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish a breakdown of where the reallocated funds announced by the Deputy First Minister in the Emergency Budget Review have been, or will be, spent.

A full breakdown of the implications of the Emergency Budget Review (EBR) measures on the Scottish Budget was included within the guide to the Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) provided to the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Of the initial £560 million line items included within the Deputy First Minister’s letter to the Committee in September, £369 million is included within the ABR as either a return of budget or a funding change. The balancing figure of £191 million are reductions to previously unfunded pressures which have emerged since the Scottish Budget was published and savings which will come through the SBR exercise.

The new commitments detailed in the EBR document published earlier this month are also reflected in the ABR position. The additional savings outlined will be processed, where necessary as part of the Spring Budget Revision.

Question reference: S6W-12143

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11429 by Humza Yousaf on 7 November 2022, what action is open to it where NHS boards are reportedly not ensuring in-person patient access to GPs, where clinically appropriate, is maintained.

Should the Scottish Government become aware that a Health Board was reportedly not ensuring in-person patient access to GPs, where clinically appropriate, was maintained, my officials would engage with the Health Board in question and establish the situation. I recently wrote to all GP practices setting out my expectations on patient access and announcing the General Practice Access Group to establish key principles for access to general practice

Health Boards have a statutory duty to deliver primary medical services.

Question reference: S6W-12169

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the budget reallocations announced in the Emergency Budget Review, including the £714 million allocated to fund public sector pay settlements, on the Budget for 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-12110

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole time equivalent radiographers who were fully qualified to undertake MRI scans there were working in the NHS in the financial year (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20, (c) 2020-21, (d) 2021-22 and 2022-23 to date, broken down by NHS board.

The requested information on how many whole time equivalent radiographers who were fully qualified to undertake MRI scans working in the NHS in the financial year (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20, (c) 2020-21, (d) 2021-22 and 2022-23 to date, broken down by NHS board is not centrally available.

Information on how many whole time equivalent Radiographers (Diagnosis and Therapy) working in the NHS since 2012, broken down by NHS Board can be found in the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Question reference: S6W-11992

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding the standard of accommodation at the Alexander Thomson Hotel, in Glasgow, for people seeking asylum.

The Alexander Thomson Hotel is used by Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership (GHSCP) to provide temporary accommodation to people experiencing homelessness, in line with their statutory duties. We are aware that this has at times included asylum seeking families with children, who have not accessed Home Office asylum accommodation, and that concerns have been raised about the suitability of bed and breakfast accommodation for families and the length of time families were accommodated at the hotel.

GHSCP has responded to these concerns and has now secured temporary furnished accommodation for families who had been accommodated in the hotel for an unsuitable period of time. They have also undertaken a review of practice in relation to access to accommodation in circumstances where asylum seeking families with children present to homeless services. The Home Office has a duty to provide accommodation to people who would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their application, and this duty takes precedence over local authority provision of temporary accommodation.

Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes the provision of asylum accommodation. As far as the Scottish Government is aware, the Home Office has not used the Alexander Thomson Hotel to provide asylum accommodation. The Scottish Government has not, therefore, engaged with the Home Office regarding the standard of accommodation at this hotel for people seeking asylum, but has raised significant concerns with the Home Office about its use of hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum and will continue to do so.

GHSCP has committed to ending the use of bed and breakfast accommodation in the city overall through the implementation of their Temporary Accommodation Strategy. However, while they continue to use this type of accommodation in emergency situations, they will prioritise dispersed temporary furnished accommodation for families with children and will minimise the time families spend in unsuitable accommodation.

The Scottish Government has also taken action to ensure temporary accommodation in Scotland is high quality, is only used for short periods and meets all the household’s needs. In May 2020 we extended the Unsuitable Accommodation Order to all homeless households so that no homeless household should be placed in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation, for more than seven days. In October 2021 we established the Temporary Accommodation Standards working group to produce a standards framework for temporary accommodation and to consider how this can be regulated and legally enforced. This will ensure that temporary accommodation used by local authorities to fulfil their duty to accommodate homeless households is safe, warm and of good quality, and that there is a consistency in the standard of temporary accommodation across all local authorities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-12190

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether people outwith the COVID-19 vaccine priority groups will be able to access a booster dose at a cost this winter should they not be covered by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommendations and guidance.

Decisions to prioritise one population group over another for vaccination are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the independent expert advice provided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and senior Clinicians.

NHS Scotland will never ask someone to pay for the flu or COVID-19 vaccines if they are eligible. If they are not eligible for a free flu vaccine then they may be able to get vaccinated for a small fee at their local pharmacy. Please note it is not possible for anyone to pay for the COVID-19 vaccination, and there are currently no plans to implement this as an option.