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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: S6F-02433

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government is providing to Creative Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-21066

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of police morale, in light of reports of officers leaving the service to pursue an alternative career as a response to a lack of pay increase in line with the level of pay increases awarded to other emergency services.

We welcome the agreements reached with police officers and staff, which sees them receive a 7% pay increase for 2023/24. The agreement reached with officers, through the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland, means that police officers in Scotland remain the best paid in the UK.

The agreements recognise the valuable contribution police officers and staff make to keeping people and communities across Scotland safe, while cognisant of the current economic climate. They provide a fair pay deal amounting to 12% over 2 years, which broadly mirrors wage growth for firefighters over the same period.

Police welfare, wellbeing and morale are matters for the Chief Constable, who has set out a range of support for officers and staff through the Your Wellbeing Matters and Your Voice Matters programmes.

Question reference: S6W-21696

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on financially supporting the reparation of historical artefacts that reside in Scotland as the result of colonialism or imperialism, in light of reports that it did not initially wish to pay for the return of the House of Ni’isjoohl memorial pole from the National Museum of Scotland to the Nisga’a Nation in Canada.

Question reference: S6W-21676

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions there have been under section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 in each of the last 10 years.

The latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2020-21 and is provided in the following table.

Number of people convicted under section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, where main crime, 2011-12 to 2020-21.

2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
6,999	9,915	11,661	13,503	14,220	13,602	12,168	10,868	10,400	6,655

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Please note: Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be reflective of long term trend.

Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published on 24 October 2023.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

Question reference: S6W-21680

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions there have been in Scotland under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-21560

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update good practice guidance, as a result of previously updated NICE guidelines on myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Question reference: S6W-21559

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently living with (a) myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), (b) fibromyalgia and (c) long COVID/post-exertional malaise.

a) Neurological Conditions: estimating the prevalence in Scotland of selected conditions using GP and Hospital Admissions datasets , a Scottish Government experimental statistics report published in December 2022, contains estimated prevalence of selected neurological conditions in Scotland, including ME/CFS.

b) We do not hold data on the prevalence of people living with fibromyalgia in Scotland.

c) Until March 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported monthly on responses to long COVID questions in the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) . This reporting provided prevalence estimates of self-reported long COVID by duration and associated activity limitations, with data available at Scotland level.

Question reference: S6W-21434

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the development of the role description of the Women's Health Leads that took place in November 2022, how much time of the Women's Health Leads has been allocated to implementing the Women's Health Plan.

Question reference: S6W-21420

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consequences there are for local authorities that do not meet its commitment to provide every school pupil with their own laptop or other digital device.

We are committed to ensuring that every school-aged child has access to a device to support their learning by the end of this parliament in 2026.

We continue to work with COSLA and local authority partners to develop delivery plans. This includes consideration of funding, monitoring and reporting, as well as the development of a digital strategy for education to ensure that digital provision supports the broader aims of the education system.

Question reference: S6W-21445

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to develop and publish a new national strategy for palliative and end of life care.

The Scottish Government remains committed to developing and delivering a new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy. We have established a Strategy Steering Group to oversee the development and delivery which has now met six times. We have also established a number of working groups to gather evidence to inform the strategy and progress areas in parallel with the development of the wider strategy.