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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: S6F-02428

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of any impact of operational changes in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on response times to recent incidents, including the fires at the Ayr Station Hotel and Kitty’s nightclub in Kirkcaldy.

Question reference: S6F-02429

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the First Minister how the measures in place to tackle the climate emergency will also help to address poverty.

Question reference: S6F-02424

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

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-21645

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what COVID-19 surveillance measures it will activate this autumn and winter to protect people with weakened immune systems who remain vulnerable to COVID-19.

In Scotland, respiratory infection levels, including those of COVID-19, and their impact are monitored using various sources of data, including microbiological sampling and laboratory test results from community and hospital settings, NHS 24 calls, primary care consultations, and hospital admissions. The intelligence generated from these different data sources provide a comprehensive picture of current respiratory illness in Scotland. In addition, COVID-19 outbreaks and general trends can be estimated by measuring concentrations of the virus in wastewater.

Surveillance of respiratory infections is a critical part of our approach to monitoring and managing the spread and prevalence of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. It helps us to determine the right public health strategies and timing, to manage transmission in the community. Public Health Scotland (PHS) are responsible for delivering Scotland’s National Respiratory Surveillance Plan with the support of the Scottish Government.

Our successful vaccination programme means many people previously considered at highest risk, and the wider population, are now far less likely to become seriously ill from Covid-19. However, people with a weakened immune system might not develop the same level of immunity from the vaccination as others. This means that some people with a weakened immune system may still be at higher risk from COVID-19, although many do get some protection from the vaccine. These people should continue to follow the advice of their GP or specialist clinician, who best know their health condition and circumstances. This may include accessing to antiviral treatment where required. The advice across respiratory diseases remains to get your booster when we invite you for vaccination and if you feel unwell with a respiratory infection to try to stay at home.

Question reference: S6W-21604

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship report, including, as stated in its response to the report, progress on the (a) allocation of "funding to support the report's key recommendations" and (b) development of "proposals for the report's core recommendations on pre-start centres and pop-up business supports".

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Pathways report.

In this financial year we have:

Continued to provide funding to Women’s Enterprise Scotland, Investing Women and Business Women Scotland to allow existing programmes to continue ahead of a shift to competitive funding in future years;
Renewed funding to Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a further round of the Scottish Ecosystem Fund, widened to offer support to projects that address the Pathways review’s key themes; and
As the first phase of work to develop Pre-Start and Pop-Up business supports we have launched the £1.5 million Pathways Pre-Start Fund allocating funding to projects that offer pre-start support and advice to individuals or groups, with emphasis on widening access to primary carers and under-represented groups.

The Scottish Government will work with our agencies and delivery partners to further develop proposals for the report’s core recommendations on pre-start centres and pop-up business supports, incorporating the knowledge gained from the Ecosystem and Pathways Pre-Start funds with the intention to allow broader services to commence in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-21421

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 percentage of all school pupils have been provided with a digital device, in line with its commitment to do so, as of the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that every school aged child has access to a device by the end of this Parliamentary term and we continue to work with COSLA and local authority partners to develop delivery plans. Information provided by local authorities in early 2022, indicated that by that point almost 280,000 devices had been distributed. We will work with local authorities to provide further updates on the rollout in due course.

Question reference: S6W-21449

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 what strategies are being implemented to support palliative care delivery in rural and remote areas.

Question reference: S6W-21426

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20844 by Paul McLennan on 13 September 2023, what the (a) purchase price and (b) grant offered was for each property in the applications received and approved (i) prior to and (ii) since the announcement on 19 July 2023, and whether it will also provide a breakdown of these figures by applications from (A) registered social landlords and (B) local authorities.

The following tables shows applications and homes formally approved prior to, and since 19 July, including grant offered split by registered social landlord and local authority in 2023-24. It should also be noted that discussions have taken place to support additional acquisitions with other providers but formal applications have either not yet been received or are in the process of being approved.

We have not been able to provide purchase price information at this stage as, although approved, many of the properties have not yet been purchased:

Date Range 1 April 2023 to 18 July 2023
Registered Social Landlord (RSL)	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied for	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant Per home (£)
Abertay HA	2	2	2	80,000.00	40,000.00
Angus HA	1	1	1	20,800.00	20,800.00
Argyll Community HA	1	1	1	23,200.00	23,200.00
Cloch HA	1	6	6	300,000.00	50,000.00
Shettleston HA	1	1	1	117,760.55	117,760.55
Hillcrest Homes (Scotland) Ltd	1	4	4	260,988.00	65,247.00
Ochil View HA	1	8	8	320,000.00	40,000.00
Paragon HA	1	5	5	225,000.00	45,000.00
West of Scotland HA	1	1	1	95,888.00	95,888.00
RSL Total	10	29	29	1,443,636.55	49,780.56

Local Authority	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Fife	1	25	25	1,250,000.00	50,000.00
Highland	4	4	4	194,150.00	48,537.50
North Lanarkshire	1	50	50	1,215,000.00	24,300.00
Stirling	1	30	30	1,740,000.00	58,000.00
LA Total	7	109	109	4,399,150.00	40,359.17

Total 1 April 2023 to 18 July 2023	17	138	138	5,842,786.60	42,339.03

19 July to 18 September 2023
RSL	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Abertay HA	3	3	3	120,000.00	40,000.00
Barrhead HA	1	10	10	500,00.00	50,000.00
Blochairn HA	1	1	1	65,743.60	65,743.60
Knowes HA	1	4	4	200,000.00	50,000.00
Ore Valley HA	1	2	2	100,000.00	50,000.00
River Clyde Homes	1	20	20	350,000	17,500.00
Shettleston HA	1	1	1	66,610.00	66,610.00
The Highland Housing Alliance	1	4	4	351,751.00	87,937.75
Total RSL	10	45	45	1,754,104.60	38,980.10

Local Authority	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Fife	1	25	25	1,250,000.00	50,000.00
Highland	22	23	23	1,305,550.00	56,763.04
Shetland	1	1	1	83,000.00	83,000.00
Total LA	24	49	49	2,638,550.00	53,847.96

Total 19 July 2023 to 18 September 2023	34	94	94	4,392,654.60	46,730.37

Question reference: S6W-21433

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 whether it will provide an update on progress in relation to the medium-term action in the Women's Health Plan to establish a Women's Health Lead in every NHS board, including the number of Women's Health Leads that are currently in place and where, and whether the "funding and resource restraints" that were identified in relation to these positions in the minutes of the Women's Health Plan Implementation Programme Board's meeting on 2 November 2022 have been resolved.

The recent Women’s Health Plan: Interim Progress Update 2023 produced for the Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board and the quarterly blog by the Women’s Health Champion sets out progress made since the Report on Progress , which was published in January 2023.

There is now a Women’s Health Lead in nearly every NHS Board. It is for NHS Boards to determine the local role of their Women’s Health Leads according to local need and priority and with reference to the aims set out in the Women’s Health Plan .

The Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board will next meet on 15 November 2023, at which the minutes from the previous meeting will be agreed and subsequently published online.