Chamber and committees

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-06628

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the development of a temporary accommodation standards framework.

Following our consultation in 2019, a short-life working group, chaired by Jim Hayton, was established in October 2021 and has met five times to date. So far, the working group has considered:

Amendments required to the existing advisory standards and how the new standards can be incorporated into a temporary accommodation standards framework.
What the processes are to ensure the framework is implemented by local authorities.
Whether legislative changes are needed to implement the framework.
What the timescales are for the framework implementation.
The support local authorities may require to fully implement the standards framework and to ensure compliance.
How the standards will be assessed.
How the standards framework can be monitored and regulated.
Whether sanctions are necessary and, if so, how they will be enforced.

The working group aims to produce a temporary accommodation standards framework later in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-06636

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will carry out an evaluation of the impact on Gypsy/Traveller communities of the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund.

Question reference: S6W-06640

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide further funding to local authorities in relation to support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving through the national transfer scheme.

Question reference: S6W-06633

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of hotels that are currently being used as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation to people who require it while awaiting the outcome of their asylum application.

I have written to the Home Secretary and the UK Immigration Minister to express my concerns about the use of hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum. Three letters I have issued are published on the Scottish Government website: Use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers: correspondence with UK government - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Home Office procures asylum accommodation through private sector contracts. Mears Group is the current contract holder in Scotland. The Scottish Government has no control of asylum accommodation and support and do not have access to Home Office systems or to operational systems run by their contractors.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Home Office has procured hotels as contingency initial asylum accommodation in Scotland and understands that five hotels are currently in operation for this purpose in Scotland. We are also aware that Mears Group has retained use of a hotel in Glasgow as contingency accommodation to enable people who have presented in Glasgow to undertake Covid quarantine prior to moving into dispersal accommodation in the community.

Question reference: S6W-06638

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring processes it has in place to ensure that money allocated via the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund is adequately and efficiently spent.

It is a condition of grant under the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund that projects are developed in line with the Interim Site Design Guide, published by the Scottish Government in December 2021 to assist in the development of high quality accommodation. Grant offers are being phased, based on tendered costs, to help manage the risks attached to current supply chain issues. Local authorities will report regularly to the Scottish Government on progress and draw down funding in line with evidenced spend on their projects. Plans for learning from and evaluation of the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund include a comparative cost analysis, to improve our understanding of the costs of modern Gypsy/Traveller accommodation.

Question reference: S6W-06637

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of applications will open for the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund.

Question reference: S6W-06635

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government in which local authorities grants from the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund have been awarded since its launch.

Question reference: S6F-00918

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government anticipates meeting the interim targets set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

Question reference: S6W-07025

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to reduce waiting times for audiologist tests to obtain NHS hearing aids.

Excessively long waiting lists are not acceptable and we offer our sympathies to all patients waiting for treatment. Pausing of non-urgent activity has taken place across the health system and has inevitably led to a build-up of patients waiting for treatment, and the emergence of Omicron is continuing to have an impact on existing significant pressure.

Remaining covid restrictions and infection prevention control measures mean that Audiologists are working on reduced capacity and a reduced numbers of patients have access to the services.

Additionally, all services have seen a surge in referrals since restrictions have started to ease and GPs have become more accessible. Waiting lists have grown as a result and services have to balance ensuring that patients receive good quality, efficient and effective treatment with reducing waiting times.

We published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021 which sets out our plans for health and social care, including audiology services, over the next 5 years.

Backed by over £1 billion of funding, the Plan will support an increase in inpatient, daycase, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.

Question reference: S6W-06630

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding recruitment campaigns for Social Security Scotland, of those roles that are (a) being advertised and (b) at interview stage as of 18 February 2022, how many will be located in (i) Dundee and (ii) Glasgow.

In response to the question regarding the locations of recruitment campaigns for Social Security Scotland at advertisement and interview stage as of 18 February 2022, please find below a breakdown of current campaigns and roles by location. For the purposes of this response, we have interpreted the term roles to mean the number of full time equivalent posts we intend to fill through recruitment.

	Dundee		Glasgow		Dundee or Glasgow
	Number of Campaigns	Number of Roles	Number of Campaigns	Number of Roles	Number of Campaigns	Number of Roles
Advertisement Stage	1	4	1	4	23	58
Interview Stage	4	150	6	245	12	76
Total	5	154	7	249	35	134