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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: S6W-22683

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to increase the funding available to preserve the heritage of Scotland’s churches and chapels, in light of the reported announcement by the Church of Scotland that it is to close and sell up to 40% of its churches.

The Scottish Government delivers support for the historic environment through sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, which is the lead public body to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment.

Historic Environment Scotland provides a wide range of grants and funding for projects that aim to protect and promote historic places. It provides circa. £14 million each year to local communities to repair and revitalise the historic environment.

The Scottish Government has been engaging with Historic Environment Scotland, Church of Scotland and other stakeholders on the closures of historic and listed churches.

We will continue to work closely with the Church of Scotland and leaders of all faiths and denominations, to regularly discuss issues impacting on their communities.

Question reference: S6W-22690

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the publication of local government audits is essential to ensuring effective and efficient government.

The audit of the Annual Accounts of a local authority provides essential external scrutiny and assurance that a local authority is managing its finances appropriately. Best Value audits provide further scrutiny of the effectiveness of a local authority’s use of public funds to deliver public services and are essential in order to provide public assurance that a local authority is delivering value for money for council tax payers.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission to secure the audit of all accounts of local authorities and associated bodies (including health and social care integration boards and other joint boards) by appointing either Audit Scotland or firms of accountants as the auditors.

Local Authorities are required to make their audited annual accounts available for public inspection and publish them on their website. Audit Scotland publish all audit reports of local authority annual accounts.

Question reference: S6W-22704

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been spent on training in the current year.

For the current academic year 2023-2024, there has been no Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) spend to date. We hope to confirm the final decision on delivery soon.

Academic year 2022-2023 is still in delivery with any contractually agreed training due to be completed by the end of December 2023. Based on the latest data provided by the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the total spend so far is £11.55 million. Spend figures for 2022-23 will be finalised when delivery is complete.

Question reference: S6W-22686

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Kidney Care UK publication, Home Dialysis Energy Reimbursement in Scotland, what assistance it will offer to NHS boards to enable the full, fair and timely reimbursement of energy costs for kidney disease patients who undergo dialysis at home.

Question reference: S6W-22717

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Stagecoach regarding recent reports of bus fires.

Question reference: S6W-22709

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it expects to meet its target for transferring all Personal Independence Payment claimants to Adult Disability Payment by the end of 2025.

Question reference: S6W-22694

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22175 by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023, in light of it having provided this data in the answer to question S3W-33114 by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 May 2010, for what reason it stated in its answer that this information is not held centrally, and whether it will now provide the information requested.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. For convenience, the National Records of Scotland have provided the data requested below:

Table 1: Acute gastroenteropathy due to Norovirus (A08.1) was the underlying cause of death, 2015 to 2022.

Year	NHS Board area	All deaths	Pre-existing conditions	No pre-existing conditions
2015	Fife	1	1	0
2015	Highland	1	1	0
2015	Lothian	3	3	0
2015	Tayside	2	2	0
2016	Ayrshire and Arran	1	1	0
2016	Fife	1	1	0
2016	Grampian	2	2	0
2016	Highland	2	2	0
2016	Lanarkshire	1	1	0
2016	Lothian	2	2	0
2016	Tayside	3	3	0
2017	Fife	1	1	0
2017	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2	2	0
2017	Lothian	2	2	0
2018	Ayrshire and Arran	2	2	0
2018	Grampian	1	1	0
2018	Lanarkshire	1	1	0
2018	Lothian	1	1	0
2018	Tayside	1	1	0
2019	Forth Valley	1	1	0
2019	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1	1	0
2019	Highland	1	1	0
2019	Lothian	2	2	0
2019	Tayside	1	1	0
2020	Fife	1	1	0
2020	Highland	1	1	0
2020	Lothian	3	3	0
2021	Grampian	1	1	0
2022	Fife	1	1	0
2022	Grampian	1	1	0
2022	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2	2	0
2022	Lanarkshire	2	2	0
2022	Lothian	3	3	0
2022	Tayside	1	0	1

Table 2: Acute gastroenteropathy due to Norovirus (A08.1) was mentioned on the death certificate, 2015 to 2022.

Year	NHS Board area	All deaths	Pre-existing conditions	No pre-existing conditions
2015	Borders	2	2	0
2015	Fife	1	1	0
2015	Highland	3	3	0
2015	Lanarkshire	1	1	0
2015	Lothian	4	4	0
2015	Tayside	4	4	0
2016	Ayrshire and Arran	1	1	0
2016	Fife	2	2	0
2016	Grampian	3	3	0
2016	Highland	3	3	0
2016	Lanarkshire	2	2	0
2016	Lothian	6	6	0
2016	Tayside	4	4	0
2017	Ayrshire and Arran	1	1	0
2017	Fife	1	1	0
2017	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6	5	1
2017	Lothian	3	3	0
2017	Tayside	1	1	0
2018	Ayrshire and Arran	2	2	0
2018	Fife	2	2	0
2018	Grampian	4	4	0
2018	Highland	1	1	0
2018	Lanarkshire	1	1	0
2018	Lothian	3	3	0
2018	Tayside	2	2	0
2019	Borders	1	1	0
2019	Fife	1	1	0
2019	Forth Valley	1	1	0
2019	Grampian	1	1	0
2019	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	3	3	0
2019	Highland	3	2	1
2019	Lothian	2	2	0
2019	Tayside	4	4	0
2020	Fife	1	1	0
2020	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1	1	0
2020	Highland	1	1	0
2020	Lothian	4	4	0
2021	Ayrshire and Arran	1	1	0
2021	Grampian	1	1	0
2021	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1	1	0
2021	Tayside	2	2	0
2022	Borders	1	1	0
2022	Fife	1	1	0
2022	Grampian	2	2	0
2022	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2	2	0
2022	Lanarkshire	3	3	0
2022	Lothian	8	8	0
2022	Tayside	1	0	1

Source: National Records of Scotland

The International Classification for Disease (10th edition) is used to code deaths. The code used is Acute gastroenteropathy due to Norovirus (A08.1).

Figures include non-residents. Deaths are allocated to area based on the usual residence of the deceased. If the deceased was not a Scottish resident, the death is allocated to the area where the death occurred.

The figures by underlying cause (Table 1) are a subset of those which have mentions of A08.1 on the death certificate (Table 2). Therefore, the deaths in Table 2 will include all of the deaths in Table 1.

The year is based on date of registration. In Scotland deaths must be registered within 8 days although in practice, the average time between death and registration is around 3 days.

Question reference: S6W-22684

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce an equivalent scheme to the Community Facilities Programme in Wales, which provides small and large grants to community and voluntary sector organisations to improve community facilities that are well used by local people, such as churches, post offices and community shops.

In Scotland we have a well established policy framework supporting our communities, delivered through a range of programmes and funds including funding to develop and improve community facilities.

For example, our Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) has invested over £180m capital funding since its launch in 2021-22. The PBIP includes investment delivered through local government and the delivery of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF). PBIP is shaped by the needs and aspirations of local communities and has provided direct support for community and voluntary sector organisations to create and improve local facilities.

The RCGF provides capital funding to community-focused projects to help deliver regeneration in deprived and fragile areas. RCGF is primarily aimed at either providing new infrastructure or enhancing existing infrastructure that will improve the economic, social, and physical environment of communities. The fund has supported communities across Scotland to create and improve hundreds of assets and facilities, bringing back into use vacant and derelict buildings, including historic and landmark buildings.

Our Empowering Communities Programme complements the PBIP with revenue investment enabling communities to connect with and maximise impact from the capital investment, supporting the capacity, resilience, and sustainability of communities.

Question reference: S6W-22687

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent estimate it has made of the total costs incurred per chronic kidney disease patient who undergoes dialysis treatment at home compared with dialysis treatment in hospital.

Question reference: S6W-22708

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, since August 2022, what percentage of claimants to be automatically transferred to Adult Disability Payment have been transferred because (a) their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) award is due to be reviewed, (b) their PIP award is coming to an end and (c) they have reported a change in circumstances to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Official statistics show that as of 31 July 2023, 51,260 people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance had their award transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland. This accounts for 55% of the Adult Disability Payment caseload.

Information is not readily available showing a breakdown of the reasons for transfers from Personal Independence Payment to Adult Disability Payment. The next set of statistics covering the quarter up until end of October 2023 are due to be published on 19 December 2023.