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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: S6O-00704

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives from the nuclear energy sector, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-00703

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve bus services in the west of Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00708

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent survey, which found that 65% of those asked preferred to see the national flag of Scotland on their food.

Question reference: S6O-00699

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how measures in the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill will support the Covid Recovery Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-05148

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to mitigate any risks to wildlife that may be caused by light pollution, as a result of the 2022 arts project, Green Spaces Dark Skies, which is part of the programme UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK.

Unboxed is a festival of creativity and innovation with Green Spaces, Dark Skies one of the six cross-UK programmes funded directly by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports and administered via Festival UK Ltd.

Details of all planned activity across these cross-UK programmes and the relevant contacts for further queries are available using the URL UNBOXED | Creativity in the UK (unboxed2022.uk) .

The organisers of the Green Spaces, Dark Skies programme across the UK (Walk the Plank) are responsible for delivery of their programme in all Four Nations and the Scottish Government understand that they have already been in contact with NatureScot (Scotland's nature agency), the relevant National Park Agencies, Historic Environment Scotland, the RSPB and relevant local partners in each community to ensure the work will be responsive to the sensitivities at the selected sites, including no adverse impact on wildlife and bio-diversity.

Question reference: S6W-05210

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of funding constraints, whether flood prevention schemes will be subjected to more rigorous tests of viability than were applied in their approval or priority designation.

Every six years, when preparing Flood Risk Management Plans, SEPA assess measures for reducing flood risk against a range of criteria and consider the priority to be given to each measure. The availability of Scottish Government funding is not one of the criteria used to prioritise measures.

It is for individual local authorities to take forward the design and construction of schemes proposed in the Plans ensuring that the schemes meet the necessary statutory requirements for approval set out in Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. To support this work, the Scottish Government provides a minimum of £42million per annum through the General Capital Grant. An additional £150million has been committed over the next 5 years.

Question reference: S6W-05799

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £10 million Long COVID Support Fund has been (a) spent, (b) allocated and (c) identified by the Strategic Network for targeting at areas where this additional resource is most needed, since 18 January 2021.

NHS National Services Division is establishing a Strategic Network bringing together clinical experts, NHS Boards and lived experience to support the ongoing development, resourcing and implementation of services for people with long COVID. When established, the Strategic Network will have a key role in identifying and ensuring that the £10m long COVID Support Fund is targeted at areas where support is most needed and can make the biggest impact.

We anticipate that the long COVID Support Fund will be allocated and spent over the next three financial years, providing Boards with additional resource to respond in a flexible and tailored manner to the needs of people with long COVID.

For this financial year, 2021-22, total health portfolio funding exceeds £16 billion, with a further £1.9 billion provided to address pressures related to COVID-19. This substantial investment is already benefiting a range of NHS services which are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-05783

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that those with “worker” rather than “employee” status are eligible for financial support as a result of any COVID-19-related closures in the culture sector.

The Scottish Government has provided £240m to the culture sector over the pandemic, including £65m to help alleviate the financial pressures that individuals and organisations face following cultural venue closures and event cancellations in light of the Omicron variant.

Cultural organisations employing workers are eligible for the £25m COVID-19 Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations, administered by Creative Scotland. We would expect any organisation who applies to the Creative Scotland Cultural Organisations Cancellation Fund would use any money they receive to pay all their workers.

Question reference: S6W-05714

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Animals and Wildlife, Penalties, Powers and Protections (Scotland) Act 2020 recently introduced higher penalties for a range of wildlife crime offences including offences related to hare coursing. The Act increased the maximum penalty for killing or injuring hares in their close season under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the maximum penalty for hunting a hare with a dog under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, from six months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. The new maximum penalties are available for offences committed after 30 November 2020.

With the sentencing regime having recently been updated and strengthened, we have no plans to review the sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S6W-05687

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it holds statistics on birth delivery methods in each NHS maternity ward for the last two years.

Data on birth delivery methods are not collected or held centrally. Public Health Scotland collects and publishes data on method of delivery at NHS Board level in its annual Birth in Scottish Hospitals report. The most recent report, for the year ending 31 March 2021, is available online and provides data on method of delivery by NHS Board of residence for live singleton births. The report is available via the following link: Births in Scottish hospitals - Year ending 31 March 2021 - Births in Scottish hospitals - Publications - Public Health Scotland .