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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-02033

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide funding for a further Transport Scotland exhaust retrofit scheme to support the bus sector in ensuring existing fleets can meet Low Emission Zone (LEZ) requirements.

The Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit Programme (BEAR) Phases 1, 2 & 3 has made available £12.2 million funding to support the costs of retrofitting of 762 mid-life buses and coaches to Euro 6 standard in Scottish Air Quality Management Areas from 2018 to 2021. A further £5.7 million is being made available in Phase 4 of the scheme. This launched on the 31 st of July and closes for applications on the 26th of August 2021.

Question reference: S6W-02011

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has made regarding its policy and practice for note-taking during its meetings to ensure that all details are recorded.

The Civil Service Code of Conduct (Scottish Government & Agencies 2010) clarifies that civil servants are responsible for keeping accurate official records relating to decisions and key conversations. These responsibilities are discharged through the relevant business unit, with chairpersons and secretariats having responsibility for capturing key decisions or actions in the minutes of meetings and ensuring these are saved as part of the corporate record.

Question reference: S6W-01950

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the planned improvements to the East Kilbride-Glasgow Central railway line.

Network Rail continues to progress early, on site, construction activities whilst the necessary development work for the complete project is progressed.

In June 2021, Network Rail announced as part of the East Kilbride Enhancements Project, Hairmyres station is moving to a new site off Redwood Avenue – approximately 600-metres to the west of its existing location.

Scotland’s Railway, South Lanarkshire Council and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) continue to work collaboratively to fund and develop the expanded transport interchange at Hairmyres to encourage more people out of their cars and onto trains.

Future updates can be sourced via the dedicated project pages in the Scotland’s Railway website:-

https://scotlandsrailway.com/projects/east-kilbride-enhancements

Question reference: S6W-01802

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is for the digitisation of people's medical records.

Our strategy is for all health records to be held electronically. The majority of people’s medical records are already digitised, following significant investment in GP IT systems in primary care and full implementation of the TrakCare patient management system in secondary care. We recognise, however, that paper-based records still exist within the service, particularly within individual clinical specialties, and that there remain a number of older records that have not been fully scanned or digitised. Health Boards continue to work through these challenges. Our forthcoming refreshed Digital Health & Care Strategy will set out further ambitions for greater patient access to their medical information.

Question reference: S6W-01792

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the NHS budget is spent on general practice costs.

Question reference: S6W-01793

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent GPs are employed.

A publication by Public Health Scotland on 26th January 2021 showed the total number of GPs in Scotland was 5,134 as at 30th September 2020, a rise of 89 compared to 2019.

Public Health Scotland are currently analysing data collected from the 2019 Workforce Survey, which will show the Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) figure for GPs in Scotland. Scottish Government are planning to collect WTE data on an annual basis going forward.

Question reference: S6W-00255

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the names of each Special Adviser, also broken down by their (a) responsibility and (b) pay band, and what the total cost of employing special advisers is expected to be (i) in 2021-22 and (ii) over the course of the parliamentary session.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name

Role

Colin McAllister

Chief of Staff to the First Minister

First Minister's Strategic Programme in Government including Inter-governmental relations
Co-ordination of the Special Adviser team

Liz Lloyd

Strategic Policy & Political Adviser to the FM

Strategic advice to the First Minister on transformational policies and projects

Stuart Nicolson

Head of Communications

Senior Political Spokesperson for the First Minister
Co-ordination of the Special Adviser Communication Team

Jeanette Campbell
‎

Special Adviser

Social Justice, Housing and Local Government portfolio

Ewan Crawford

Senior Special Adviser:

Constitution and External Affairs portfolio (except Culture)

Leanne Dobson

Special Adviser

Finance & the Economy portfolio
Programme for Government

Jennie Gollan

Special Adviser

Justice portfolio (inc veterans)
Culture portfolio (except Broadcasting)

Kate Higgins
‎

Special Adviser:

Rural Affairs and Islands
Transport portfolio

Davie Hutchison
‎

Special Adviser:

Health and Social Care portfolio
Broadcasting policy
First Minister's Questions

Ross Ingebrigtsen

Deputy Political Spokesperson for the First Minister

Strategic communications planning
First Minister's Questions

David Livey

Special Adviser

Education and Skills portfolio

John MacInnes
‎

Special Adviser:

Political Research
Support for First Minister's Questions and Parliamentary debates
Support to communications and policy Special Advisers

Emily Mackintosh

Special Adviser:

Media communications including communications support for the First Minister

Callum McCaig
‎

Special Adviser:

Covid Recovery portfolio

John McFarlane

Special Adviser:

Net Zero portfolio (except Transport)
Parliamentary Business and Parliamentary Liaison

The Special Adviser Pay Bands and Ranges and the number of Special Advisers within each Pay Band currently in place are:

Pay band	Pay Range (£)	Number of Special Advisers
1	£41,442 – £55,582	1
2	£55,583 – £68,307	8
3	£68,308 – £91,336	4
3 (premium)	£90,565 – £104,542	0
4	£90,565 – £108,062	2

The cost for employing Special Advisers in 2019-20 can be found in the answer to question S5W-36009 on 24 March 2021. The total cost for 2021-22 and for the rest of the Parliamentary term is not yet known.

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

Question reference: S6W-01533

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged (a) under 18, (b) 18 to 29, (c) 30 to 39, (d) 40 to 49, (e) 50 to 59, (f) 60 to 69, (g) 70 to 79 and (h) 80 and over have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in each week since 3 May 2021, also broken down by how many had been given a (i) first and (ii) second vaccine dose prior to their admission.

Detailed information on hospitalisations by age group and vaccine status of hospitalised patients is available in Public Health Scotland's Weekly Statistical reports. These are accessible here : Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 Statistical Report - 14 July 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 Statistical Report - 7 July 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 Statistical Report - 30 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 Statistical Report - 23 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 Statistical Report - 16 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 9 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 2 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 26 May 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 19 May 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 12 May 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

COVID-19 statistical report - 5 May 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Details on age cohort, crossed with vaccination status is available in each report from the week starting 10th of May 2021 onwards.

Further information including charts and tables are available on Publish Health Scotland's Dashboard, available here : COVID-19 Daily Dashboard | Tableau Public

Question reference: S6W-01453

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 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what water conservation measures it has (a) introduced in the last five years or (b) plans to introduce.

The Scottish Government is working with key business sectors, Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and other stakeholders to make sure water is used efficiently through conservation measures.

We continue to invest in the public network, reducing leakage and increasing water efficiency which helps conserve water in the environment, and we are working to develop technologies and other approaches to enhance resilience. Scottish Water encourages its customers to use water efficiently. In the last year alone, Scottish Water Business Stream has helped its business customers save over £14 million through water efficiency savings, and since 2008 it has saved £213 million and conserved more than 38 billion litres of water.

Question reference: S6W-01505

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination by Polish people in Scotland compares with the wider population.

As detailed in the Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Statistical Report, as at 19 July 2021, which was published on the 21 July 2021, 46.2% of the Scottish White Polish population have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine compared to 87.8% of the wider White Scottish population. The White Polish demographic breaks down further into age cohorts as follows:

The much smaller non-White Polish demographics are contained in the wider Scottish categories in the report.

Vaccination update of first dose by age group – White Polish

Age group	Percentage uptake
80+	68.2%
75-79	64.6%
70-74	60.8%
65-69	54.4%
60-64	55.4%
55-59	60.3%
50-54	59.2%
40-49	53.5%
30-39	42.6%
18-29	32%

All 18+	46.2%

Further information can be accessed from here: Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Statistical Report .