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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-02800

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Food Security Unit in relation to the monitoring of food system resilience.

Question reference: S6O-02809

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work the NHS is undertaking to support people with gambling addiction.

Question reference: S6O-02805

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its pesticides policy, how it monitors any impact of the use of pesticides on the rural environment, including watercourses.

Question reference: S6W-23179

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its refreshed Tobacco Action Plan.

I am pleased to announce that today we have launched our new Tobacco and Vaping Framework - roadmap to 2034.

Our high-level Framework will focus on both tobacco and vaping, with actions underpinned by a series of shorter 2-year action-focused implementation periods.

This will allow for flexibility within the Framework, developing and adapting actions to react to an ever-evolving policy area, and ongoing tobacco, nicotine and vaping product development.

At the heart of the Framework is our renewed commitment to the 2034 tobacco-free generation that was set in 2013. This is the cornerstone of the work of the Framework.

Our first action under the Framework includes the launch today of an information campaign on the risks of vaping to children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-22259

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service expects to develop a system of notifying all victims when it is decided not to prosecute a crime reported by them.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) proactively notifies victims of decisions not to prosecute in all solemn cases and all summary cases within the specified case remit of the COPFS Victim Information and Advice (VIA) service, including Domestic Abuse and Hate Crime. COPFS proactively notifies victims of decisions to discontinue prosecutions in all categories of cases. COPFS advises all victims of all decisions not to prosecute on request.

COPFS is actively exploring possible approaches to extending the current notification scheme to all relevant summary cases.

Question reference: S6W-22914

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the additional £12 million of funding for the expansion of the Hospital at Home service will be made available to NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-22806

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what efforts have been made to improve the process of collecting supporting information for Child Disability Payment applications.

The way Social Security Scotland delivers disability benefits is fundamentally different to the UK – people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

A significant change is that Social Security Scotland will collect information to support someone's application if needed. Under the DWP, people are forced to do this themselves.

To support faster decision making on applications, listening to feedback from clients and third parties, improvements include

improved wording on the application to help clients understand what supporting information to supply,
early phone engagement with clients who have submitted applications without supporting information to establish if they have readily available information to allow a decision to be made,
improved communication with health and social care professionals and introducing a payment to support third sector organisations who provide supporting information at the agency’s request.

Question reference: S6W-22805

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to see a reduction in the waiting times for Child Disability Payment experienced by families of children with health conditions, including those with cancer, and what efforts are being made to reduce waiting times.

Social Security Scotland know some people have waited too long for a Child Disability Payment decision to be made, including some of those with cancer. Urgent improvement action has been taken by Social Security Scotland to speed up processing times. The latest published figures show around 25% more applications were processed in the last quarter than any other since the benefit launched. Social Security Scotland expect further impact of our improvement work to reflect in the coming months.

Social Security Scotland has a fast-track process for people who are terminally ill, called Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI), they aim to make decisions within seven working days of receiving a completed SRTI application and Benefits Assessment for Special Rules in Scotland (BASRiS) form.

Question reference: S6W-22936

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ascertain for what reason excess deaths in Scotland are reportedly far higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, at 3,255 to date in 2023, and what information it has that may explain any such increase.

The Scottish Government closely monitor excess deaths statistics and work closely with our analytical partners Public Health Scotland (PHS) and National Records of Scotland (NRS) to understand the causes of excess deaths.

NRS are responsible for publishing Scotland’s excess deaths statistics, which includes breakdowns by cause of death.

A British Medical Journal editorial from the four UK Chief Medical Officers acknowledged that the UK, like many other European countries is currently experiencing substantial excess mortality. This editorial highlights the reasons behind this excess mortality are likely to be multifactorial, including persisting direct and indirect effects of COVID-19, surges in flu and respiratory infections, significant pressures on NHS acute services, and reductions in secondary prevention as an inevitable part of the response to COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-22947

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with "no fixed abode" have been discharged from hospital in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Published figures on the most recent and historical numbers of patients that have been admitted to hospital can be found within the within the Annual Acute Activity publication, which was published on 26 September 2023 by Public Health Scotland. The publication can be found below:

Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (annual) - Annual – year ending 31 March 2023 - Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (annual) - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Published data is only available for a ten year period, from financial year 2013-14 to financial year 2022-23, and is only available at a Scotland level. Data on patient activity is presented in Table 2 – inpatient and day case activity, and the measure of interest can be found by selecting the NHS board of residence in the indicator drop down and either stays, episodes or patients within the measure drop down. Figures where ‘no fixed abode’ will then be listed in the table.