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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: S6W-03410

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce the third phase of the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

Question reference: S6W-03138

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which of its departments was responsible for the decision for non-symptomatic school pupils to be offered COVID-19 lateral flow tests, as opposed to PCR tests; who made the decision, and when.

The decision to recommend the use of LFD tests for children, young people and staff in the event of having been identified as a low-risk contact was based upon expert public health advice and through engagement with the Covid-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG) and other partners. The decision was confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on the 14 th September, following previous advice from Advisory Subgroup on Education and Children’s Issues (‘the subgroup’). The minutes of all the subgroup’s meetings are routinely published here .

The updated letter templates to inform staff, parents and pupils of whether they or their child have been identified as a low-risk contact were shared with local authority colleagues on 15 September, although it was made clear that they should be discussed with local health colleagues in each area, and amended where appropriate, prior to issuing to schools.

We know that PCR and LFD testing options play different roles in supporting us to control the virus:

Lateral flow is useful for finding out if a person is infectious now, and able to transmit the virus to others. The level of sensitivity is high enough to detect the vast majority of these cases. Lateral flow testing is less likely to return a positive result outside the infectious window. Results from LFD testing are also available more quickly than PCR tests, which require to be sent to a laboratory. Therefore LFD testing is viewed to be more convenient for regular testing, and provides less disruption to peoples’ lifestyles.
PCR is useful for confirming a suspected case of COVID-19, where the person is already self-isolating and is showing symptoms. Higher sensitivity of PCR means it can identify genetic material from COVID-19 even after the active infection has passed.

Question reference: S6W-03824

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-02308

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme 2021 national report stating that fewer people have been admitted to hospital with a stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic, how many out-of-hospital deaths due to stroke there have been in each reporting period of the last three Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme national reports.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) publish deaths by cause in their vital events reference tables, including stroke, available under cerebrovascular disease, table 6.04: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/vital-events-reference-tables

Background information on how NRS record deaths can be found at:

Deaths - Background Information | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)

Deaths with an underlying cause of stroke (identified as ICD-10 codes I61, I63 and I64), by location of death, showed that in 2018, 698 deaths occurred in a non-hospital setting, in 2019, this figure was 682, and in 2020 it was 847. This includes deaths which are categorised as taking place in a Care Home, Home /non-institution or Other institution.

Question reference: S6W-03553

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had with the nightclub sector in (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde regarding the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme.

Question reference: S6W-03416

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when a new Public Dental Service contract will be delivered.

Question reference: S6W-03406

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to improve wastewater treatment facilities to prevent chemical pollutants from entering the environment.

Question reference: S6W-03405

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to better equip wastewater treatment works to address the issue of medical drugs being discharged into treated water.

Question reference: S6W-03432

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02205 by Michael Matheson on 8 September 2021, when it will publish details of the projects that it will fund from the £33 billion National Infrastructure Mission, and for what reason Annex D (Major Projects and Programmes for reporting to Public Audit and Post Legislative Scrutiny Committee) of the document, A National Mission with Local Impact: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26, lists less than £15 billion worth of projects.

The National Infrastructure Mission includes all capital investment made by the Scottish Government, including that which is aimed at boosting supply chains and promoting private sector investment in our infrastructure and wider economy.

The Capital Spending Review, published on 04 February, sets out the total funding available to support the National Infrastructure Mission: £33,461 million over 5 years. A breakdown of this investment is provided in Table 3 on page 17/18. Table 4 of the Capital Spending Review shows the allocations made to individual portfolios and Annex A shows level 2 and level 3 budget allocations, by portfolio, across the same period.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) lists in the Theme Chapters on pages 32 to 43 a breakdown of the main areas of investment by Scottish Government and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies – with a value of around £23.5 billion of capital investment. In addition, a value of £3 billion has been assumed for projects which are expected to be revenue funded. These two figures together are the basis of the £26 billion of investment cited in the Ministerial Foreword of the IIP.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan Pipeline, set out in Annex D, includes only a subset of the projects and programmes from the IIP total. Projects with a capital value of £5 million and Programmes with a £20 million value are included in this subset. As new projects and programmes are developed, they can be added to the pipeline when they are suitably ready, and consequently reported to the Parliament’s Public Audit Committee. This approach is explained on page 29 of the IIP.

Question reference: S6W-03216

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that it has led to charges being introduced on some previously free-to-use ATM machines in Scotland, and other machines being withdrawn, what discussions it has had with LINK regarding its decision to reduce the interchange fee.

An increase in pay to use ATM’s, or the removal of existing ATM’s, will undoubtedly add to the uncertainty faced by communities and businesses on their ability to access essential services. Through engagement with the banking sector, via bilateral ministerial meetings and the Financial Services Industry Advisory Board (FiSAB), we will continue to urge all banks and ATM providers to listen to and address concerns customers have on their ability to access services.

The regulation of financial services is, however, reserved to the UK Government and as such Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene directly in the commercial decisions made by financial services companies. The Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with the UK Government, banks and other stakeholders to ensure that customers, communities and businesses have access to the banking facilities they need.