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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-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-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-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-05581

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines for vehicle idling have been (a) issued and (b) paid in each year since 2016, also broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-05579

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to tackle idling of private vehicles, and whether it will introduce further measures to tackle idling.

The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 provide local authorities with powers to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers of parked idling vehicles who refuse a reasonable request to switch off their engines. It is for individual local authorities to decide how to make use of their powers. The Scottish Government provides guidance and financial support to assist authorities in undertaking these duties.

The Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone', which was published in July 2021, sets out a wide range of measures intended to deliver further air quality improvements over the period to 2026.

Question reference: S6W-05556

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve stroke services.

Question reference: S6W-05702

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05212 by Maree Todd on 10 January 2022, what its position is on whether periods of more than two years between dental check-up appointments is consistent with its policy priorities.

As we have set down in the answer to question S6W-05212 the interval between appointments is dependent on the dentist’s clinical assessment of the oral health of the patient.

This assessment should be based on the available evidence from expert groups on appropriate oral health management. For example, the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) published an Oral Health Assessment and Review in 2012. This advised that patients considered at low risk of oral ill health should receive ‘standard prevention’ and a further Oral Health Assessment at 24 months for adults and 12 months for children.

Question reference: S6W-05545

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) currently does and (b) will collect data on the diagnosis, management and treatment of heart valve disease, including statistics on referrals and echocardiograms.

For more detail on data relating to echocardiograms, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05550 on 21 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Information on outpatient referrals can be found here ( Waiting times - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org) . Waiting times information is not broken down by diagnosis code.

In April 2021, we commissioned Public Health Scotland to develop the Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme, this includes the collection of data on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant, and Adult Cardiac Surgery in Scotland, both of which are relevant to the management and treatment of heart valve disease.

Further development of this audit programme and decisions around any future data to be collected will be undertaken in collaboration with clinicians and people with lived experience of heart disease in Scotland.