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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-01311

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-10411

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for a Home Energy Scotland Loan are currently waiting to be processed.

Question reference: S6W-10327

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to discourage and reduce the use of vaping products among children and young people.

The Scottish Government has a precautionary approach to vaping products. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessation tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They should not be used by non-smokers, in particular by children and young people. They should not been used or promoted as a lifestyle accessory.

Our recent vaping consultation, which closed at the end of April, sought views on tightening rules on advertising and promoting vaping products. The results of this consultation will be published soon and will inform our Tobacco Action Plan refresh.

We are working with a range of stakeholders to ensure that our Tobacco Action Plan discourages and reduces the use and visibility of vaping products by all non-smokers, including children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-10258

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on marketing and advertising to promote social distancing and COVID-19 protection measures on public transport in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

The focus of the Scottish Government`s communication activities and guidance during the pandemic was to ensure that, when people needed to travel, and the prevailing Covid-19 restrictions allowed them to do so, they knew to plan ahead and were informed of the guidance to follow to use public transport safely.

Typically messaging on protection levels, ventilation, physical distancing and wearing a face covering when in crowded locations or when on public transport was included within the broader Government’s public health campaign messaging or was part of an operators own communications materials. No specific SG funding was allocated for this activity therefore, it is not possible to say how much was spent specifically on public transport marketing or advertising relating to social distancing and COVID-19 protection measures.

Question reference: S6W-10359

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many (a) Ukrainians who came to Scotland through (i) its Super Sponsor Scheme, (ii) the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and (c) seasonal worker visas and (b) Afghans who came to Scotland through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have since become homeless, also broken down by local authority area.

Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including data related to arrivals, is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.

The UK Government published quarterly immigration statistics here: Immigration statistics, year ending June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government do not currently correlate the visa routes and homelessness status regarding displaced individuals from Ukraine or Afghanistan.

Question reference: S6W-10452

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many rooms on board the cruise ship being used to house Ukrainian refugees in Leith have (a) portholes and (b) no portholes.

The Scottish Government's priority is to provide safe, comfortable accommodation and a wraparound support offer to the displaced people from Ukraine who have arrived in Scotland, and to those who may still arrive.

The MS Victoria I has a total of 305 Sea View Cabins and 434 inside cabins. Whilst on cruise ships some cabins have no windows we are working with our partners to address any additional wellbeing risks when living in this type of accommodation.

The MS Victoria I has been well received by people on board, and is ensuring we are providing accommodation that is safe and sustainable whilst we match people with suitable longer term accommodation.

Question reference: S6W-10413

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for a Home Energy Scotland Loan were received in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-10410

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether current staffing levels at Home Energy Scotland are sufficient to handle the reported increasing demand on the service.

Demand for the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Advice service has risen significantly since the recent energy bill rises and other cost of living pressures have started to put pressure on households.

Earlier this year, we committed to expanding the HES service by 20% and this increase will be fully operational from October. HES capacity has increased in the last three years with the number of households targeted for advice and support rising from 77,000 in 2020-21 to 132,000 this year - an increase of 12,000 on 2021-22.

We recently allocated additional funding for energy advice services in the face of rising bills - £1.2 million to ensure households and businesses get support. This includes £280,000 to expand the Home Energy Scotland Advice Service and a further £198,000 for Home Energy Scotland to provide training to third sector organisations on energy efficiency.

We have also augmented the Home Energy Scotland Energy carer service which visits and supports extremely vulnerable households who would struggle to engage over the telephone or online. This type of work broadens and strengthens the capacity of the advice network but does not generate pro rata increases in numbers of households supported because the level of support required for these households is very intense.

We will continue to monitor demand for the Home Energy Scotland service to ensure it has the capacity to meet demand.

Question reference: S6W-10408

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for a Home Energy Scotland Loan were (a) accepted and (b) rejected in (i) 2020-21 and (ii) 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-10363

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the total number of women aged between 50 and 70 who have waited more than 36 months for their breast screening appointment in each of the last five years, broken down by breast screening centre.

Financial Year	Total Number of Loan Applications Received
2020 - 2021	2602
2021 - 2022	3897

Financial Year	Total Number of Loan Applications - Accepted	Total Number of Loan Applications - Rejected
2020 - 2021	2325	277
2021 - 2022	3731	166