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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-03743

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the level of Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol from 50p to 65p, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing the harms caused by alcohol and, in particular, the harms faced by hazardous and harmful drinkers. It is important that an effective level of minimum unit pricing for alcohol is in place in order that we can make inroads into reducing these harms.

Since a minimum price for alcohol at 50 pence per unit of alcohol was introduced on 1 May 2018, there have been two significant events that have impacted on the policy: the pandemic and the change in the legal landscape due to the UK Internal Market Act 2020. Both of these have significantly altered the context in which a review of the level of the minimum unit price would have been expected to have taken place after May 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, there were early encouraging signs of a reduction in alcohol sales and a reduction in alcohol specific deaths following the introduction of a minimum price at 50 pence per unit on 1 May 2018. However, the pandemic and its impact have changed many people’s behaviour around alcohol consumption, and this needs to be taken into account. In 2020, various surveys show those who were drinking heavily before the pandemic were more likely to increase their drinking during lockdown, thereby increasing their risk of harm.

We are in the process of gathering evidence of and analysing the impact the policy has had, and the considerable impacts the pandemic has had and continues to have on our society and economy. It is the affordability of alcohol that matters, not just the price, and that will depend on other factors such as people’s incomes and inflation. In reviewing the price we will look at all relevant factors. The impact the UK Internal Market Act 2020 might have on any proposed change to the level of minimum unit price is under consideration. What is clear, however, is that any proposed change must be supported by a robust rationale and evidence base.

Question reference: S6W-03745

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when its consultation on alcohol marketing will be published.

As announced in A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22 , published on 7 September 2021, the Scottish Government will consult on potential alcohol advertising restrictions during 2022, to protect children and young people. All methods of alcohol advertising and promotion will be considered in developing proposals for the public consultation, including alcohol industry sponsorship of sports.

Question reference: S6W-03746

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether its consultation on alcohol marketing will include proposals to curb alcohol industry sponsorship of sports.

Question reference: S6W-03645

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Funeral Support Payments have been made since the scheme was launched.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Funeral Support Payment’. This includes information on the number and value of payments made since launch. In the most recent publication, which covered data up until the end of June 2021, 9,865 payments had been issued since the launch of Funeral Support Payment.

Information on Funeral Support Payment was last published on the 24 August 2021 and provided information up to the 30 June 2021. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/funeral-support-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-june-2021/

Question reference: S6W-03646

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which powers and responsibilities it plans to remove from local authorities under its proposed National Care Service.

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care recommended that accountability for adult social care should be transferred from local authorities to Scottish Ministers, creating a National Care Service.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on proposals for the remit and role of a National Care Service and wider proposals for community health and social care. The consultation also seeks views on whether children’s social work and social care services, and justice social work, should be included in the National Care Service.

Scottish Government welcomes ongoing engagement with local authorities and their participation in this consultation process. All responses to the consultation and engagement events will be carefully analysed to inform the Government’s position on the role and remit of the National Care Service. We will continue our engagement with key partners and stakeholders across the range of proposals for the new legislation.

Question reference: S6W-03603

Asked by: Jenni Minto, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult on legislation to extend the framework for licensing of activities involving animals to require anyone breeding, selling, or transferring the ownership of a litter of puppies to be registered.

The Programme for Government 2020-21 commits the Scottish Government to consult on legislation to extend the regulatory framework that came into force on 1 September for the licensing of animal welfare establishments, animal rehoming activities, dog, cat and rabbit breeding and pet sales to performing animals and animal care services.

Given that the new licensing regulations have only just come into force and the fact that they introduce significant changes, the Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to consult on extending the licensing framework to encompass a registration scheme for anyone breeding, selling, or transferring the ownership of a litter of puppies.

Question reference: S6W-03589

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its environmental targets, the reported urgency of the climate and nature emergencies, and the role that Scotland’s peatlands play as a carbon store and habitat, whether it will have a licensing scheme in place for muirburn, including a ban on almost all burning on peat, in time for the next muirburn season starting on 1 October 2022.

As we set out in our recent Programme for Government, we are committed to delivering the recommendations of the independent Grouse Moor Management Group review (the ‘Werritty Review’) as a matter of urgency.

This will include tighter regulation, including licensing, and oversight of muirburn, and a ban on burning on peatland (expect in very limited cases as part of an approved habitat restoration programme).

We will also undertake a review of the current definition of peatland, taking expert advice on whether it should be revised and a stricter definition imposed.

The timing of the legislation will depend on the future legislative programme for the Parliament, which will be set out in due course.

Question reference: S6W-03398

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle the health, social and environmental impacts of food.

The Scottish Government recognises that the food we produce and consume has wide-ranging impacts in many areas of life. Our ambition is for Scotland to be a Good Food Nation where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day. We have already been working across government on an extensive programme of measures to deliver on this ambition. This work will now be supported and underpinned in law by the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, introduced on 7 October 2021.

The Bill will provide an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy. It places duties on Scottish Ministers and certain public authorities to produce plans of their policies in relation to food and set out what they will do to make those plans real. These plans will also have to set out the main outcomes to be achieved in relation to food-related issues, the policies needed to do this and the measures we will use to assess progress. We want these plans to deliver outcomes which support our nation’s social and economic wellbeing, the environment, people’s health and economic development.

Question reference: S6F-00388

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is regarding the use of facial recognition technology in schools.

Question reference: S6F-00377

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the First Minister, in light of COP26, what action the Scottish Government is taking to showcase the role that Scottish agriculture can play in reducing carbon emissions.