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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-07124

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the estimated cost of fraud of the Deposit Return Scheme reduced from £108 million in the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 to £74.3 million in the Final BRIA of 2021.

Question reference: S6W-07122

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not include in either the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 or the Final BRIA of 2021 of the Deposit Return Scheme an estimate of the total annual cost of loss of revenue for retailers that is attributable to the loss of floor space required for RVMs, and whether it will publish these calculations showing the full detail.

As stated in the Final Business Regulatory Impact Assessment, it is anticipated that floor space implications associated with the installation of Reverse Vending Machines (RVM) are likely to be modest. Generally, it is expected that high-volume retailers will choose to introduce RVMs as they will be able to process returns with greater efficiency, while low-volume retailers will choose to operate manual collection and return, as the costs and space requirements of an RVM may be prohibitive.

Whichever method is adopted, retailers will be able to charge a handling fee from the scheme administrator to fully compensate them for the costs involved in the collection, checking and storage of used containers.

Question reference: S6W-07123

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 and the Final BRIA of 2021 of the Deposit Return Scheme and section 4.1 on calculating the costs and benefits of recycling, whether it will provide the detailed calculations for the “associated costs and benefits”, setting out (a) the individual figures and computations of the costs per tonne calculated for “collecting, sorting and disposing of the recycled materials” and (b) the benefits per tonne of “material revenue, carbon savings, residual collection, landfill savings and litter reduction benefits”, and for what reason the loss of landfill tax resulting from less material going to landfill has been excluded from the calculation.

The model used to inform that BRIA deals with local authorities as a collective group and it is therefore not possible to provide detailed calculations for individual local authority costs and benefits in relation to recycling. You can view the full report here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Landfill tax is considered a ‘transfer payment’ under HM Treasury guidance and is therefore not included in BRIA calculations.

Question reference: S6W-07111

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity at the meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 25 January 2022 that it will "begin to build counting and sorting centres in August 2022", how many of each of these two types of centres will be built; where each will be built; at what costs, and how many employees will be employed at each of them.

Question reference: S6W-07247

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, High and highly bonded: Fused football fans who use cocaine are most likely to be aggressive toward rivals, by Martha Newson, which found that around 1% of fans reported using cocaine in football stadia and around 30% had witnessed other fans take cocaine at matches, and what action it will take in response to the findings.

The High and highly bonded report has a Britain-wide focus and makes no mention of Scotland. Nonetheless, we fully recognise the need to address the use of drugs in Scotland. January marked the first year of the National Mission to save and improve lives affected by problematic drug use. Over the last year our main focus has been on laying the groundwork so that we can focus on delivering change that will make a real and tangible difference to people's lives.

In January 2020 the First Minister set out clear priorities of the National Mission: to wrap support around people who are most at risk through fast and appropriate access to treatment, increased access to residential rehabilitation, better support after non-fatal overdoses, and recognising the vital role of frontline organisations.

Question reference: S6W-07199

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage cumulative economic growth in Scotland, in terms of increased total GDP, was for the period from May 2007 to December 2019, and how this compares with the equivalent figure for the UK as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-07198

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage cumulative economic growth in Scotland, in terms of increased total GDP, was for the period from May 2007 to May 2016, and how this compares with the equivalent figure for the UK as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-07262

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many classroom assistants have been employed in each local authority in each year since 1999.

Information on the number of pupil support assistants employed in 2021 was published on 15 March 2022 and is available here School support staff statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Information on previous years is available in the answer to parliamentary question S6W-01069: 'To ask the Scottish Government how many classroom assistants have been employed in each local authority area in each year since 1999.'

Question reference: S6W-07155

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when people who are over the age for automatic inclusion in the breast screening programme will be able to make breast screening appointments at locally available screening units.

In recognition of the anxiety the pause for those over the age of 71 to self-refer is causing, I asked for work to explore options that will accelerate the restart of self-referrals for women aged 71 and over. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic. As part of these considerations our goal is to restart the option to self-refer by the end of September 2022, with a number of factors still to be worked through. The restart will be done in a phased way without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population for whom there are clear screening benefits. Every effort continues to be made to increase capacity in the screening programme, including through deploying additional mobile units and offering weekend and evening appointments.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

Question reference: S6W-07174

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-14658 and S5W-24160 by Shona Robison on 6 March 2018 and Jeane Freeman on 22 July 2019 respectively, what steps it is taking to raise public awareness of the reported potential impact of Essure contraceptive implants on women's health.