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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-05969

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards delivering its commitment to increase the resourcing of the Scottish Funding Council in 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-05943

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which minister is responsible for the implementation of its Deposit Return Scheme.

Portfolio responsibility for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) lies with me as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.

In line with the principle of extended producer responsibility and the polluter pays principle, the work to deliver DRS is being led and paid for by industry, in particular the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL). I meet with CSL on a monthly basis to ensure that the agreed implementation timetable is maintained.

Question reference: S6W-05968

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue letters of guidance to Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council outlining its expectations for collaborative working to implement skills alignment, which was recommended in Audit Scotland’s report, Planning for Skills.

Letters of Guidance are issued by the Scottish Government to its public bodies annually. The letters set clear Ministerial expectations on our priorities for the year ahead.

The letters to both Skills Development Scotland and to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have a clear emphasis on the need for shared working on skills planning; recognising the commitment as set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the SFC Review of Coherence and Sustainability to build capacity and a more systematic approach to the way we collectively plan coherent tertiary education and skills provision and investment, so that it responds better to current and future needs. The Letters of Guidance will draw on the Shared Outcomes Framework that is currently being developed and which will set out clearly the intent for collaborative projects, connected to the National Performance Framework and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation priorities, and include milestones, objectives, impacts and measures for each of these projects.

We expect that the letters will be issued in Spring 2022 once the budget for 2022-23 has been approved by parliament.

Question reference: S6W-05947

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what specialist support Police Scotland offers to police officers and staff experiencing poor mental health.

The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).

Question reference: S6W-05970

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards establishing outcome-focused, common monitoring criteria with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council, which it committed to do in the 2017 Enterprise and Skills Review.

I meet jointly with the Chairs and Chief Executives of both agencies to discuss progress in collaborative working on skills every 6 weeks.

This is supported by an assurance group, chaired by Senior Civil Servants and including the Senior Responsible Officers for all collaborative skills projects.

A Shared Outcomes Framework that defines the collaborative projects, sets out strategic objectives, key milestones, deliverables, impacts and measures is currently being developed by the Scottish Government and both agencies to enable more effective monitoring and reporting of joint action in this area .

Question reference: S6W-05924

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) women have frozen their eggs and (b) men have frozen their sperm through NHS fertility services in each of the past five years.

This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact the Health Boards for the four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland who may be able to provide this information. Contact details for each Health Board is set out below.

NHS Grampian – for the Aberdeen Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: gram.communications@nhs.scot

By Post:

NHS Grampian
‎ Summerfield House
‎ 2 Eday Road
‎ Aberdeen
‎ AB15 6RE

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – for the Glasgow Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

By Post: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Board Corporate Headquarters

JB Russell House

Gartnavel Royal Hospital

1055 Great Western Road

GLASGOW

G12 0XH

NHS Lothian – for the Edinburgh Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk By Post: Lothian NHS Board

Waverleygate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

NHS Tayside - for the Dundee Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: tay.informationgovernance@nhs.scot

By Post: Information Governance

Maryfield House (South)
‎ 30 Mains Loan
‎ Dundee
‎ DD4 7BT

Question reference: S6W-05977

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making (a) Distance Aware badges and (b) COVID-19 lateral flow tests available for collection in local retail community shops in rural, remote and island areas.

The Scottish Government has given full consideration to ensuring Distance Aware badges and lateral flow device (LFD) tests are available across Scotland, including in rural, remote and island areas.

As well as Distance Aware products being available in ASDA stores and online from a number of charities, we have also ensured badges and lanyards are available in all community and mobile libraries across Scotland. We will monitor and evaluate awareness, uptake and impact of the initiative over the coming weeks.

People living in rural and remote areas can also access LFD tests online, or collect from participating local pharmacies and dispensing GPs. Additionally, we have provided local partners with LFD tests, signage and posters, to establish additional LFD test community collection points over the winter period. These sites range from transport hubs to vaccination centres and are advertised on local authority websites.

Question reference: S6W-05930

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons no requests have been granted for victims to attend parole board hearings since this was permitted in March 2021.

The measures that the Parole Board had to take in response to COVID, to ensure the safe working of staff and others, meant that it has not been feasible to facilitate arrangements for a victim to observe a Tribunal. The Parole Board rules require proceedings to be kept confidential which means that a member of staff needs to be present, with the victim observing by video link.

The Parole Board has however, used this time to put in place the mechanisms needed to allow this to happen when it is safe to do so. In light of the relaxation of the working from home guidelines from 1 February 2022, the Parole Board has indicated that it will now begin to consider requests to observe hearings, with a view to testing first before moving to full implementation in the Spring. Granting of requests to view a Tribunal is a matter for the independent Parole Board following consideration of representations from the prisoner.

Question reference: S6W-05975

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Lord Advocate’s statement on 22 September 2021, whether guidelines have been issued to Police Scotland on the use of recorded police warnings for simple possession offences involving Class A drugs, and, if not, when these guidelines will be issued.

Lord Advocate’s guidelines to Police Scotland on the use of Recorded Police Warnings have been in place for a number of years. My statement to the Scottish Parliament on 22 September 2021 was reflected in a corresponding amendment to the guidelines.

The current guidelines permit a police officer to issue a Recorded Police Warning in relation to an offence involving simple possession of all classes of controlled drug.

Question reference: S6W-05952

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether Unique Property Reference Numbers were used during Storm Arwen to locate people who are identified on the vulnerable persons list, and, if not, for what reason.