Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 43085 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-15617

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland's preparedness for any future pandemics.

Question reference: S6W-15787

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14973 by Michael Matheson on 2 March 2023, what action has been taken following the meeting on 15 February 2023 regarding the use of diesel generators at Arecleoch and Glen App wind farms.

The rules and regulations that govern the resilience of the GB electricity grid are a matter reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no responsibility in relation to the operational management of wind farm sites.

At the meeting on 15 February 2023, Scottish Government officials were given reassurances by Scottish Power Renewables that they are taking forward work on alternatives to the use of diesel generators.

Scottish Government officials continue to seek regular updates from Scottish Power Renewables on this work as it progresses.

Question reference: S6W-15722

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the information set out at paragraphs 2.161 and 2.162 on page 59 of its document, A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland: Full Business Case Stage 1, how it calculated the value of the "Commercial value of advertising space at RVMs" at £26 million; whether it will publish its workings and assumptions for calculating this figure; what its position is on whether the figure will still be accurate in August 2023; what £26 million of benefits from "Commercial value of advertising space at RVMs" being "allocated to society" means; who specifically will receive the £26 million, and, in light of this document being published in May 2019, whether it is now better able to assess who will benefit from commercial advertising on Reverse Vending Machines.

Question reference: S6W-15547

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many young carers have not received the Young Carer Grant in each year since it was established, broken down by local authority area.

Scottish Government published analysis in October 2022 estimating around 73% of people eligible for Young Carer Grant received the payment in 2021-22. These figures are available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/take-up-rates-scottish-benefits-october-2022/

In addition, information relating to Young Carer Grant applications is routinely published by Social Security Scotland as part of Official Statistics releases. The statistics currently include a breakdown of received applications, as well as authorised applications, by local authority and financial year. These statistics are available at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications .

As part of work to continuously improve Official Statistics outputs, the forthcoming Young Carer Grant statistics release will include a local authority breakdown expanded to report denied and withdrawn applications. These Official Statistics will be published on 21 March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-15535

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Sir Lewis Ritchie has made any recommendations, further to those in his original 2018 report, following his four review visits to Portree Hospital, in 2018, 2019 and twice in 2022, and the virtual meeting assessment of progress in 2020.

Further meetings with Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie, NHS Highland, elected members of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross and the wider public community have built on the recommendations in the original (2018) report. Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie issued his written view of assessment of progress, with further recommendations and qualifications to the respective local Chairs of Implementation of the SLSWR OOH Review Report and NHS Highland Board, following in-person visits to Skye in December 2018 and May 2019 and a virtual assessment of progress in October 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-15586

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the specific needs of blood cancer patients will be fully recognised in its proposed new cancer strategy.

Question reference: S6W-15466

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is undertaking preparations for legal challenges to any potential action by the UK Government that may prevent the implementation of Scottish Government legislation or policy, in light of reports that the UK Government is considering refusing to grant exemptions under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 to allow the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme and a potential ban on single-use vapes.

The Scottish Parliament approved the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations in 2020. The Regulations are wholly within devolved competence. There is an agreed and published process between UK Government and devolved governments for excluding certain areas from the UK Internal Market Act.

We have been following that process for excluding the deposit return scheme regulations from the Internal Market Act and this has been the subject of discussion with the UK Government for many months. I will keep Parliament updated on the exclusion process.

On single-use vapes, we expect Zero Waste Scotland to submit its report on the review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes in May, and we will consider its findings. Should our preferred course of action require an exclusion we will follow the agreed process.

Question reference: S6W-15518

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average response time has been for the Office of the Public Guardian to process (a) Electronic Power of Attorney Registration (EPOAR) submissions and (b) postal power of attorney requests in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

The information below has been provided by the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (OPG). Full-year information is not yet available for 2022-23. The average response time for the OPG to process powers of attorney, online via Electronic Power of Attorney Registrations (EPOAR) and by post, in business days (excluding those expedited where special urgency was indicated) is as follows:


Year	Business Days
Year	EPOAR	Postal
2018-19	30	39
2019-20	36	43
2020-21	150	154
2021-22	123	135

Question reference: S6W-15615

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its work to prepare Scotland for any future pandemics is conducted (a) across Scottish Government portfolios and (b) alongside the work of other governments in the rest of the UK.

Preparation for outbreaks of infectious disease is an ongoing part of health protection. That work is led by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care but the breadth of response required to respond to pandemic events is laid out in the 2022 Strategic Framework Update for COVID-19 and the four-harms approach to decision-making used by the Scottish Government for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations on a range of risks including pandemic preparedness. The Scottish Government works closely with the cross-government Pandemic Disease Capabilities Board to keep Scotland’s readiness up to date.

Question reference: S6W-15538

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress implementing the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15536. on‎ 17 March 2023. Any update of progress of this independent review would require to come from NHS Highland as the responsible agency for implementation.

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