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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-07316

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for its Deposit Return Scheme, published in 2021, how the 1% increase in business benefits due to the additional half a billion containers within the scheme was calculated.

The benefits of a Deposit Return Scheme to businesses are not only a function of container numbers. As well as reimbursement to retailers through the handling fee, the benefit to businesses includes: savings from waste uplift costs for hospitality return points, reduced operational costs for private waste management companies (relating to uplifts from hospitality customers, albeit offset by reduced income from these activities), avoided compliance costs for producers, and income to the reverse vending machine service industry, as well as potential advertising revenue.

Question reference: S6W-07312

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for its Deposit Return Scheme, published in 2021, for what reason it has included a 23% increase in benefits to operators of the scheme and an additional half a billion containers but not reflected this in the costs of the scheme; how the mix of material has been factored into its calculations, and what breakdown of materials it has factored into the additional half a billion containers.

The economic model underpinning the figures in the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment takes account of a number of factors, and costs and benefits do not necessarily increase in proportion to the change in input. In this case, the addition of 0.5bn containers increases costs through greater potential for fraudulently redeemed containers, but also increases the benefits both from more income from sale of materials and from unredeemed deposits.

Question reference: S6W-07928

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on each of the recommendations in the Royal College of Nursing report, The Nursing Workforce in Scotland, and how each of these will be taken forward.

The Scottish Government recognises and pays tribute to the role the Royal College of Nursing members have undertaken within health and care services during the pandemic. The Government is giving due consideration to the recommendations highlighted in the report.

The report, and its recommendations, cover a range of areas including where work is underway in the context of remobilisation.

The importance of a sustainable, skilled workforce has already been emphasised by commitments in both our Programme for Government and National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland, published on 11 March, 2022. This includes our commitment to increasing the NHS workforce even further, with 1,800 additional full time posts on top of projected workforce growth requirements.

Question reference: S6W-07917

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many intensive care unit (ICU) nurses were employed in Scotland on 1 April (a) 2020 and (b) 2022.

Question reference: S6W-07840

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of abuse of older people have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. The data we receive from Police Scotland for production of the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up in each financial year. We do not receive further details on the characteristics and circumstances of individual crimes, including the age of any victim(s).

Question reference: S6W-07999

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) secondary and (b) primary schools have WiFi available for use in every classroom, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-07811

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Food Security and Supply Taskforce will report on its work.

Question reference: S6W-07857

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recommendation in the report of the Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing that there should be an explicit duty of candour on Police Scotland to co-operate fully with all investigations into allegations against its officers.

The Scottish Government is committed to accepting the majority of recommendations in the Dame Elish Angiolini review, many as specifically set out, but with scope to explore options where other routes or mechanisms may achieve the desired outcome. We will consult on recommendations which will, or are likely to, require legislation this year including that there should be a statutory duty of candour.

‎ As published in the most recent thematic progress report in December 2021, initial discussions with operational partners and staff associations have taken place on this recommendation ahead of the full public consultation. We will continue to engage with stakeholders throughout the consultation period and will provide updates through the thematic progress report, with the next due to be published in June 2022.

Question reference: S6W-07757

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the hip replacement surgery operation waiting times are for the (a) first hip and (b) second hip, and what percentage of first hip replacements result in the need for the second hip to replaced.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that are planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards. We would therefore advise contacting NHS Boards to obtain this data.

PHS continues to work in collaboration with the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and key stakeholders to improve waiting times information. Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for Inpatient or Day Case treatment at specialty level are published up to 31 December 2021 in the following link.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11657/ipdc_feb22.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-07317

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for its Deposit Return Scheme, published in 2021, in light of it including an additional half a billion containers within the scheme and additional 20,000 return points, how it was calculated that the costs to regulators will remain the same, and how this calculation has been validated.