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 47964 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-01819

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, Leave no one behind, from The Health Foundation.

Question reference: S6O-01815

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last spoke to NHS Lothian and NHS Borders.

Question reference: S6W-13200

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any delays in the delivery of homecare medications.

National Procurement (NP), part of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), with representation from Health Boards, have regular performance management meetings with homecare providers to review key performance metrics and to agree and track progress against recovery plans.

Where a particular provider is experiencing service disruption, Health Boards will seek to register patients, where feasible, with alternative providers to help reduce demand on the affected provider. A challenge over the past year has been that multiple providers have experienced staffing issues which has created market-wide capacity constraints.

Question reference: S6W-13373

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will detail the associated costs for its Winter Heating Payment advertising campaign, including a breakdown of spend by advertising method.

Advertising for Winter Heating Payment was initially planned for January 2023 to allow for the associated regulations to have completed the parliamentary process. Due to the low temperatures experienced across Scotland during the early part of December 2022, some of the planned advertising for Winter Heating Payment was brought forward to raise awareness of the changes and to allow people to plan accordingly.

This included:

National radio campaign - total cost including VAT £10,456.98.
National print advertising campaign - total cost including VAT £8,743.30.

Information was also shared through a media release and through Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland social media channels including Twitter and Facebook and with stakeholders.

The priority for this recently paid for advertising push, was reaching digitally excluded prospective clients that we are not able to reach through messages shared through Social Security Scotland, Scottish Government and stakeholder social media channels.

Further advertising is planned for this year and Social Security Scotland will select channels based on insight, taking advice from its media buying agency.

Question reference: S6W-13374

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to spend on (a) Facebook, (b) Instagram, (c) Twitter, (d) YouTube and (e) Tik Tok in relation to its Winter Heating Payment advertising campaign.

Social Security Scotland posted on its Twitter and Facebook accounts to raise awareness of Winter Heating Payment. There has been no spend to date on Winter Heating Payment advertising through social media channels. This will be part of further advertising planned for early this year. Social Security Scotland's budget breakdown by channel is still to be confirmed and will be based on insight, taking advice from their media buying agency.

Question reference: S6W-13430

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can offer to local authorities whose roads and other infrastructure are being affected by historical mine workings.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing over £13.2 billion in the Local Government Settlement 2023-24.

The local authority may also wish to contact the Coal Authority to establish if there is any recourse to them regarding the historical mine works.

Question reference: S6W-13407

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the dualling of the A96.

The current plan is to fully dual the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen; however, we are conducting a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme which is underway and the first part of the review, a report on the Public Consultation and the Initial Appraisal: The Case for Change was published on 22 December 2022. This is sensible good governance for major investment of this kind.

Transport Scotland is now pushing forward with the next phase of further detailed work to inform the remaining stages of the Review. These include a robust appraisal of the remaining options alongside a Climate Compatibility Assessment, with outcomes expected to be announced in the first half of 2023 for final public consultation, before a final decision can be reached.

Question reference: S6W-13408

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it still anticipates that the dualling of the A96 will be completed by 2030.

In relation to the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process. This includes the significant work required to prepare for publication of made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, in the coming weeks. Subject to no legal challenge being received, the Scottish Ministers will then have the relevant powers to acquire the land necessary to construct the scheme.

Delivery can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.

Question reference: S6W-13417

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13230 by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the estimated net financial gain for each of the 29 local authorities estimated to receive such a benefit.

As stated in my answer to S6W-13230, these calculations are based on commercially sensitive data provided in confidence to ZWS by local authorities. Therefore, we will not provide a breakdown by local authority.

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

Question reference: S6W-13409

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent communication it has had with Moray Council regarding the dualling of the A96.