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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.

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Question reference: S6W-08205

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle digital poverty.

Since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in our Connecting Scotland programme, which provides people on low incomes with a device, connection with unlimited data for two years, as well as training and support. Since programme launch 60,000 digitally excluded people in total have been brought online. We are now working on an extension to the programme to reach 300,000 people by the end of this Parliament.

The programme is part of our wider package of support to help everyone in Scotland benefit fully from the advantages of the digital world – from broadband connectivity to digital skills training and support for schools and business.

Question reference: S6W-08197

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of housing individuals and families in temporary accommodation in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the cost to local authorities for housing homeless households in temporary accommodation. This information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

Funding for local authorities is provided by way of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, including any funding to combat homelessness, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-08175

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Ukrainian-speaking lawyers it has recruited to ease the resettlement process of Ukrainian refugees in Scotland.

Scottish Government lawyers provide legal services and advice to the Scottish Government and its agencies only. As such, Ukrainian-speaking lawyers have not been specifically recruited in order to assist the resettlement process.

To support the settlement process of Ukrainian refugees, the Scottish Government has provided £36,000 to JustRight Scotland to provide free, confidential legal advice to Ukrainians and their family members seeking safety in Scotland. We have also provided £7 million to Local Authorities to meet longer term needs. In addition, we have provided £1.4 million to the Scottish Refugee Council for the expansion of its Refugee Integration Service.

Question reference: S6W-08185

Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to implementing a rapid food production impact assessment of all existing and new legislation and policy affecting agricultural land use and practice, in order to avoid any undermining of the potential for, or increases to the costs of, food production.

Scottish Ministers have established a short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce, together with industry. The Taskforce met for the first time on 18 March and again on 01 and 20 April. It will monitor, identify and respond to any current and potential disruption to the food and drink supply chain resulting from the impact of the current situation in Ukraine.

It is currently considering a range of issues and proposals submitted to it and will seek to recommend, any short, medium and longer-term actions that can be taken to mitigate impacts, resolve supply issues and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland. The taskforce will report in due course.

Question reference: S6W-08127

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the highest ever number of medical students have been told that there are no places for them in NHS junior doctor training in 2022.

Oversubscription to the UK Foundation Training Programme occurs on an annual basis as a result of there being more applicants than available places. The rate of oversubscription is influenced by various factors, the most prominent of which being changes made by the UK Government to the Shortage Occupation List. These changes mean that overseas applicants are eligible to apply to the programme, and can outperform UK graduates when competing for an established place.

However, regardless of the extent to which the programme is oversubscribed, there has to date been a UK-wide intergovernmental commitment to ensure all UK medical school graduates are able to secure a place on the Foundation training programme if they are eligible and wish to do so. This is essential in order to ensure that medical school graduates are able to achieve full GMC registration, which takes place after trainees complete the first year of Foundation training.

The Scottish Government will therefore continue to fund Scotland’s share of oversubscribed places in 2022. Discussions remain ongoing with NHS Education for Scotland regarding the number of required places, and funding will be provided to ensure that every eligible Scottish medical school graduate is given the opportunity to enrol in the UK Foundation Training Programme.

Question reference: S6W-07875

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential financial impact on local authorities of its proposed licencing scheme requirements for short-term lets, in light of any inflationary pressures as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Question reference: S6W-07835

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of so-called Anglophobia have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Information on cases of Anglophobia is not held centrally. Data is published on the number of police recorded hate crimes that include an aggravation for race. The characteristic of race in the hate crime legislative framework includes race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins. If an offence was motivated by prejudice based on Anglophobia (i.e. anti-English prejudice) it would therefore be recorded by the police as an offence aggravated by race.

The Scottish Government published a study on the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime in February 2021. This included: (i) information on the number of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland from 2014-15 to 2019-20 (shown in the following table), and (ii) a more detailed study of the characteristics of these cases in 2018-19 (based on a large scale review of crime records). Based on the findings of that more detailed study, Table 17 of the publication provides a breakdown of what prejudices were shown by the perpetrators. This suggested that 6% of racially aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 included an anti-English prejudice. This would equate to an estimated 210 crimes. Please note, some of these crimes may include multiple racial (or other aggravation) prejudices.

A second study into the characteristics of police recorded hate crime is due to be published later this year. This will provide the same type of detailed disaggregated data and information on police recorded hate crimes for the year 2020-21.

Table: The number 1 of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by police in Scotland, 2014-15 to 2019-20

Year	Number
2014-15	5,195
2015-16	4,927
2016-17	4,687
2017-18	4,765
2018-19	4,270
2019-20	4,172

1. The number of hate crimes with a race aggravation is slightly higher than the figures provided in the aforementioned study. This is because the table also includes hate crimes that have multiple aggravations (one of which is race).

Source: Scottish Government, characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime

Question reference: S6W-07678

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue revised guidance for the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, in light of the opinion of Lady Carmichael regarding the petition for judicial review of 27 February 2020 (CSOH 22).

We currently have no plans to issue revised guidance for the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013. Application of the legislation and associated guidance is the responsibility of local authorities and my officials will continue to engage with them to ensure that the legislation (supported by the guidance) is being applied in the manner intended by Parliament when the law was passed whilst identifying current best practice. Lady Carmichael in her judgement endorsed the 2016 guidance (since fine-tuned in 2019) and application of the legislation.

Question reference: S6O-01065

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the economy in East Kilbride.

Question reference: S6O-01056

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering any reforms to the justice system in relation to convicted and incarcerated persons who own and control property in Scotland.