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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: S6F-01057

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to mark Deaf Awareness Week 2022.

Question reference: S6F-01051

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on what the Scottish Government is doing to support households through the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6F-01049

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01048

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-08063

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to create a Migration Service for Scotland, including when it anticipates that this will be in place.

Scotland’s population is predicted to decline from 2028 and the ending of free movement has hindered our ability to attract and retain the people our communities, public services and economy needs. It is vital that we expand the advice and support available to people moving to Scotland, showcasing all that we have to offer.

Consequently, we have made a Programme for Government commitment to deliver a Migration Service which support those who have chosen to make Scotland their home. This service will build on existing resources focusing on two elements: attracting people from across the world to Scotland and ensuring that those who have moved have access to the information required to stay here. We are currently in the policy development phase of delivering the service which we anticipate will be operational in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-07972

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support will be provided to people in care homes with long COVID, following the allocation of £10 million for long COVID care.

Providing consistent high quality personalised care for people living in care homes is a key priority for health and care services in Scotland. The Scottish Government is clear that anyone living in a care home who would benefit from access to NHS services should receive it. This includes access to care and support in relation to symptoms caused by long-term effects of COVID-19, where such services are clinically assessed to be in the best interest for their care.

The Scottish Government is currently working with people, families, the care home sector and other stakeholders to develop a framework for adults living in care homes. The Framework will seek to examine how the health and care of people living in care homes should be optimised, supported, and delivered, and to ensure that they receive the right care from health care professions at the right time and have access to the same level of involvement, choice and support for their health and wellbeing as if they were living in their own home. It will also aim to enhance the health of people living within a care home, improving the way we assess, monitor and respond to enduring and changing health and care needs through working with health and care professionals, health and social care partnerships and care home providers.

In addition, we have awarded the Care Inspectorate £95,000 to enable them to build on the learning from the Care About Physical Activity (CAPA) programme. The project will work across cares homes, care at home, housing support and day services for adults, with a focus on engaging people in physical and mental activities and movement in order to positively affect health and wellbeing.

Question reference: S6W-07998

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to protect high growth potential firms in strategic sectors from overseas takeovers.

The powers required to legislate in respect of company acquisition and ownership are reserved to the UK Parliament and, as such, the Scottish Government does not have the power to take action in this area. In addition recent legislative change in the UK via the National Security and Investment Act enables an increased screening of acquisitions in certain sectors on grounds, for example, of national security. This reflects similar change in EU legislation.

The Scottish Government and Enterprise Agencies therefore aim to work with businesses in Scotland, domestic and overseas owned, to ensure Scottish operations are not only secured here but opportunities for growth are pursued. Scotland has a highly supportive eco-system for early stage and high growth businesses with potential to scale. In a UK context Scotland is recognised by the Scale Up Institute as having a particularly supportive business eco-system for ambitious Scottish companies, with our Enterprise Agencies at the centre of a network based upon collaboration between public, private, third sector organisations and academic partners.

In support of this approach both our Inward Investment and Global Capital Investment Plans place maximum emphasis on securing good quality investment into Scotland aligning with our values as a nation and delivering our net zero economy supported by good green jobs. We will therefore continue to work closely with those Scottish and overseas-owned businesses and organisations with whom those values most closely align.

Question reference: S6W-08097

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has met its target to embed, within every Drug and Alcohol Partnership, the 10 Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards by April 2022.

Work to embed the MAT standards by local services and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) is a crucial and significant undertaking. To support progress, we are providing multi-year funding to HSCPs specifically for the standards and have set up a MAT support team, based within Public Health Scotland to lead this work.

I have committed to update Parliament on the progress of MAT standards on a six monthly basis and will be returning to Parliament in June to provide an update on progress on embedding the standards.

Local progress from each HSCP area is currently being evaluated and a report will be published in June to coincide with the update to Parliament. This report will be a collation of process, data and lived experience evaluation. This will be followed in short order during the summer with a report providing more detail of work undertaken in each area.

April 2022 is not the end of line for the standards and what happens post April is as equally important. From now and over the life of the National Mission, work will continue on the standards to make sure they are not only embedded, but are improving and are sustainable.

Question reference: S6W-07984

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Social Security Scotland and (b) the Department for Work and Pensions regarding redeployment of staff affected by the reported planned office cuts at (i) Ebury House, Aberdeen and (ii) Victoria Road, Kirkcaldy.

On 17 March Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) announced their plan to close a number of back-office sites across the UK and collocate others. The Scottish Government was not consulted prior to the announcement, however, have subsequently contacted DWP to gain an understanding of the impact of this change. DWP outlined they do not intend to reduce staff headcount through this change process. Should the situation change, the Scottish Government stands ready to provide the support necessary including through Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, (PACE), which provides individual skills development and employability support.

Question reference: S6W-07973

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) information it has and (b) action it has taken to gather data on the prevalence of long COVID in care homes.

( a) The information requested is not held centrally.

(b) The Scottish Government recognises that accurate data on long COVID prevalence and symptoms is needed to forecast and plan for the need for healthcare services arising from long COVID. Public Health Scotland will lead on surveillance of long COVID. It is currently anticipated that this surveillance will be undertaken via the EAVE II study, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh ( About EAVE II | The University of Edinburgh ). Funded by the Medical Research Council, the EAVE II study has used a pseudonymised patient dataset to track the COVID-19 pandemic across Scotland. In a separate project funded by the Chief Scientist Office, the EAVE II dataset will be used to create a tool to identify people at greatest risk of developing long COVID. The findings will in due course provide information about the number of people diagnosed with long COVID and their use of health services, including among residents of care homes.