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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: S6O-00070

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to ensuring that any legislation it introduces to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic does not seek to allow regulations to be made or changed without being subject to the affirmative parliamentary procedure.

Question reference: S6O-00068

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to encourage people to engage with and respond to the COVID-19 recovery consultation.

Question reference: S6O-00073

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to implement the provisions on pavement parking prohibition in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Question reference: S6W-01454

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to mitigate the risk of drought.

The Scottish Government is working with key business sectors, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water, local authorities, and other stakeholders to make sure water is used efficiently; the first line of defence against the risks of drought.

SEPA has just consulted on a Water Resources Management Plan, which highlights the risk of climate change and the need to work in collaboration to develop a series of practical actions to deliver a more sustainable and resilient use of water. This builds on the approach taken under the National Water Scarcity Plan, which focuses on making early information available to allow water users to manage supplies during prolonged dry periods without harming the environment. Following the consultation SEPA will develop a more proactive approach that aims to increase the resilience of businesses and reduce the pressure on the water environment during droughts.

Scottish Water carefully considers the actions required to mitigate against any drought risk through its water resource plan to ensure it has resilience in its networks to cope with an increase in demand during extended periods of dry weather.

Question reference: S6W-01821

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Specialist Nurse Practitioners there are for (a) primary and (b) secondary breast cancer, and what the nurse-to-patient ratio is, both broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-01574

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) planning, or (b) preparation it has undertaken to prevent air pollution levels rising (i) to, or (ii) above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

Green recovery must form a central part of Scotland's emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic. In relation to air quality, the key challenges will be to understand how the air pollution reductions seen during lockdown periods can be maintained long-term and sustainably, and how these changes can benefit the long-term health of the population

On 15 July 2021 the Scottish Government published its new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone' (CAFS 2). CAFS 2 sets out a series of actions to deliver further air pollution reductions over the next five years. These actions include work being progressed across Government which will benefit air quality, such as continuing to take forward introduction of Low Emission Zones in Scotland's four largest cities, a £500 million funding commitment to active travel over the next five years, a reduction in motor vehicle kilometres by 20% by 2030 and the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans, also by 2030.

We are also taking forward proposals to control the sale of the most polluting domestic fuels, produce a code of good agricultural practice for improving air quality in Scotland and develop a public engagement strategy on air quality. At the same time we will ensure that CAFS 2 integrates fully with other Government plans and strategies that have implications for air quality, such as the Climate Change Plan update, the National Transport Strategy 2 and National Planning Framework 4.

Question reference: S6W-01534

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling or scientific advice it has regarding the estimated number of COVID-19-related (a) cases, (b) hospital admissions, (c) ICU admissions and (d) deaths there might be following the planned easing of restrictions on (i) 19 July and (ii) 9 August 2021.

Since May 2020 the Scottish Government has published 3-4 week projections of infections, hospital and ICU occupancy in its weekly publication Modelling the Epidemicin Scotland Coronavirus (COVID-19): modelling the epidemic - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . It is published each Thursday at 5.30pm. These projections take account of the uncertainty in transmission rates, and indicate the variability as to whether infections will increase, remain level or reduce in coming weeks.

The number of new cases has been increasing over the last week. The estimate of R has increased and now spans one. Hospitalisations have been declining from a peak in mid-July, but have now levelled off. Potential future changes in hospital occupancy and intensive care use depend on both current infection levels and the impact of the relaxations of measures which will take a few weeks to become apparent.

In the publication we have not been projecting the numbers of people expected to die with Covid 19 in recent weeks. The number of daily deaths has fallen to very low levels, too low to produce accurate projections.

Question reference: S6W-02216

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils who sat exams in 2021 received the highest grades, broken down by (a) state and (b) independent schools.

Question reference: S6W-02083

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop an updated Scottish Organic Action Plan, to build upon that set out for 2016-20.

We are supportive of ensuring the organics sector, as part of the wider Scottish agriculture industry, contributes fully to our Ambition 2030 strategy to grow our food and drink industry.

We have committed to doubling the amount of land used for organic farming, doubling the amount of organic produce that comes from Scotland and are focussing on more organic produce being used in public sector food procurement. We are considering how best to build upon the Scottish Organic Action Plan and will be meeting with the Scottish Organic Stakeholder Group to hear their views.

Question reference: S6W-02314

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason people under 40 who were given the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for their first dose, prior to the recommendation that this age group should receive an alternative vaccine, are not being offered the option of an alternative vaccine for their second dose.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have recommended that, where operationally possible, those aged under 40 should receive an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

However, everybody who has already had a first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should receive a second dose of the same jab, irrespective of age, except for the very small number of people who experienced blood clots with low platelet counts from their first vaccination. There have been no confirmed cases of thromboembolic events to date in second doses.

People will not be offered options on which vaccine they will receive, unless there is a clinical reason why this would be required, such as an allergy. Any vaccine authorised for use in the UK, by the appropriate Medical authorities is safe and effective, and will have a similar effect in terms of protection.

It is also worth noting that this is the case with many other vaccines. People are not routinely offered a choice of the type of vaccines in other vaccine programmes in Scotland. The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce an option for receiving either COVID-19 vaccine, beyond a clinical recommendation as the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for the vast majority of the population.