- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its advice is for patients who move from one regional NHS board to another while on a waiting list for essential surgery.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
- Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact on farmers in Scotland of the UK Government’s energy price cap.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
- Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to universal free prescriptions on the NHS.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the rural economy in areas impacted by long-term population decline.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022
- Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how the needs of mobile home residents will be incorporated in the final version of the strategy, A New Deal for Tenants.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what powers Scottish Ministers have to require Circularity Scotland to publish the methodology used to set retailer handling fees for the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
In line with European best practice for scheme administrators of deposit return schemes, Circularity Scotland Ltd is a private company independent of the Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Ministers have no powers to require Circularity Scotland Ltd to publish the methodology used to set retailer handling fees for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 28 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of fraud committed against pensioners' households have been reported in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported fraud incidents committed against pensioner households. Some information is available from a 2018-19 study into police recorded fraud in Scotland, the findings of which were presented within the Recorded crime in Scotland 2018-19 National Statistics .
Further analysis from this study suggests that an estimated 1,260 crimes of recorded fraud (or 13% of all fraud that year) had a victim of pensionable age (specifically those aged 66 and over).
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it will give to farmers and crofters facing substantial increases in the price of feeding stuff.
Answer
As set out in our Programme for Government we are facing the most severe cost crisis in our lifetime and it is focused on the policy and legislative commitments that will make the biggest difference to households and businesses. The Scottish Government is already committed to measures, worth almost £3 billion this year, that will help with rising costs. Farmers and crofters will benefit from some of the general measures that we have set out, both as individuals and as a sector. The powers needed to tackle the cost crisis lie with the UK Government and we are pressing them to take urgent action.
We recognise that there are specific issues for the farming and crofting sector so we have, through a change to legislation, brought forward annual farm payment dates so that payments will begin at their earliest ever point.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the establishment of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care; whether it is on track to be operational by April 2023, and where the staff for the centre will be based, in light of it reportedly being envisaged that it will be a virtual, rather than a physical, centre.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22.
The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre that could be operational in Spring 2023. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps. Decisions about operational matters, including where staff for the centre would be located, will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ensure access to and implementation of the Horizon Europe programme.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to advocate for full association and participation in Horizon Europe.
The Scottish Government has represented this position by emphasising the significance of the Horizon Europe association to Scotland through ministerial correspondence and meetings with UK counterparts, including the correspondence I sent to the UK Minister for Science, Research and Innovation on 8 June 2022 on this matter.
Scottish Government officials are engaging closely with the UK Government on the Horizon Europe negotiations and are working with the Scottish research and innovation sector to support their access to the programme.
Scottish Ministers’ continue to emphasise the importance of collaboration through this programme with EU stakeholders at every opportunity. Officials in Scotland House Brussels are relaying Scotland’s position to the European Commission and member state counterparts.