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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-07904

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) local authorities and (b) other public sector organisations will have preferred bidder status where Community Health and Social Care Boards procure services, as set out in its National Care Service draft proposals.

Scottish Ministers are still considering the wealth of information provided through the recent National Care Service (NCS) public consultation.

In that consultation we sought views on a remit for the NCS to develop and manage a National Commissioning and Procurement Structure of Standards and Processes for ethical commissioning and procuring of social care services and supports. We will develop the approach to national and local level ethical commissioning and procurement with partners, stakeholders and those who deliver and receive care.

Local authority and other public service social care provision will remain important in delivering social care.

Question reference: S6W-07879

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it had with established incinerators and energy recovery plants in Scotland regarding its review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy.

The Scottish Government appointed Dr Colin Church to act as Chair of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland. As independent Chair, Dr Church determined the Review process, including seeking evidence from stakeholders through a written Call for Evidence and commissioning further research to inform the Review. Dr Church also held a series of public stakeholder events, which were attended by representatives from the waste industry as well as community groups, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and members of the public. Following these events, which were open to any individual or organisation who wished to attend, Dr Church held invitation-only roundtable discussions, one of which focused on representatives from industry and trade bodies.

Question reference: S6W-07538

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing legislation to prevent a former employee taking an employer to an employment tribunal on purely malicious claims when the current cost for an employer to proceed to a tribunal is reported to be in the region of £7,000 to £10,000.

Question reference: S6W-08306

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS will continue on the emergency footing that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care previously extended to the 30 April 2022.

Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. The last few months have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.

We are now seeing a steady reduction in new Covid cases. However, I am aware that the system remains under significant pressure. We must continue with a measured and consistent approach to the recovery and renewal of the vital service that we all rely upon. This will require balancing the capacity of the NHS and the wellbeing of our workforce to respond to increasing demands of emergency and urgent care, whilst reducing the backlog of planned care.

As we move through the next phase of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to support our NHS Boards to deliver against commitments in the NHS Recovery Plan and associated Delivery Plans to enable our NHS to plan and prepare the future delivery of health and social care services to our communities. We are confident that we have continued to build on lessons learned and that NHS Boards will be able to respond appropriately to any further challenges which lie ahead.

With that in mind, I have decided that the NHS will no longer remain on an emergency footing after 30 April 2022.

There are temporary terms and conditions provisions that were enacted to support the NHS through this time, including to support those who came back to work on a temporary basis to aid with pandemic response. We will now take the opportunity to review these, and will work through the established structures to set a timetable to return to normal arrangements. In the meantime, these temporary measures remain in operation.

Question reference: S6W-07869

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that the number of children hospitalised for deliberate self-poisoning from paracetamol in NHS Grampian was almost three times higher in 2021 than in 2019.

We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of many children and young people. There is help available for anyone struggling with their mental health, including support for young people feeling suicidal – details are set out on the NHS24 website. Young people who are struggling are urged to speak to a trusted adult; to contact their GP; seek help via the NHS24 helpline on 111, or call Childline on 0800 11 11.

The Scottish Government set up the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) to oversee the delivery of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan ‘Every Life Matters’, published in 2018. The Plan continues to deliver a wide range of actions, including: improving suicide prevention skills of the workforce; ensuring effective, compassionate support to anyone in crisis, and supporting local suicide prevention planning. In addition, the NSPLG identified restricting access to means of suicide as a priority during the pandemic, and is currently drawing together international evidence to identify effective approaches to reducing access to means of suicide for people in crisis, including self-poisoning.

The NSPLG is setting up a Youth Advisory Group to bring together young people with lived experience of suicide, self-harm and poor mental health. This Group will ensure suicide prevention policies and approaches are designed to reach, and support, children and young people; this includes informing the new suicide prevention strategy which will publish in September. Finally, the NSPLG is planning a social media campaign over the coming months aimed at young people, with the objective of encouraging young people to talk more openly about suicide, and to seek help.

We recognise that for some people self-poisoning is a form of self-harm rather than a suicide attempt, and the Government is actively developing a stand-alone self-harm strategy to ensure the right policies and support are in place for people who self-harm. We are currently working closely with stakeholders and people with lived experience to inform the Strategy and supporting Action Plan. We are already investing approximately £1.5 million over three years to Penumbra to pilot self-harm support services for people currently self-harming, or people at risk of self-harming. The pilots will begin over the Summer, with the learning providing valuable insight to the development of the strategy.

We know that providing emotional support to school age children is vital, and we provide local authorities with £16m per annum so that every secondary school has access to counselling support. Additionally, a learning resource has been developed for school staff to help them recognise the signs of poor mental health among young people, including signs of self-harm, and giving them skills to respond.

Finally, having provided £11.25 million to local authorities to respond to the mental health impact of the pandemic on children and young people in Financial Year 20/21, since January 2021, we have provided significant additional funding enable them to deliver further mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people in their communities. This new investment totalled £15 million in Financial Year 21/22 and we are committed to doubling the funding for community mental health supports over the lifetime of this Parliament. In 2021-22 this funding included £2.87 million to local authorities within NHS Grampian, which has enabled a range of services including ‘Fit Like’ Family Wellbeing Hubs in Aberdeen, digital mental health support in Aberdeenshire and whole family support in Moray.

Question reference: S6W-07829

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the statement on the Circularity Scotland website that the retailer handling fee will be determined “annually by independent consultants”, whether (a) this statement is correct and (b) the consultants referred to are PwC, and, if so, what its response is to reports that PwC are not in fact determining the fee, but rather providing advice on the basis of which the fee will be determined by Circularity Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01048

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the transition to secondary school and flexi-schooling models for pupils with additional support needs.

Question reference: S6O-01046

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the charity, Magic Breakfast, showing that four in 10 Scottish schools have no breakfast provision at all and that breakfast provision in Scotland reaches the fewest disadvantaged pupils per school of any UK nation.

Question reference: S6O-01049

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to accelerate energy efficiency and other measures in the coming months ahead of a further potential increase in the price cap in October.

Question reference: S6O-01047

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, A Just Transition? The Voices of Oil and Gas Workers.