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: S6O-01879

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage business activity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-14216

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how alcohol-free products are defined in Scotland.

The descriptor for alcohol-free products as set out in current UK Government guidance, which applies in Scotland is:

this should only be applied to a drink from which the alcohol has been extracted if it contains no more than 0.05% ABV, and the products should also include the ABV (or state that they contain no alcohol) on the label in order to use the descriptor.

These can be found on the UK Government’s website https://www.gov.uk/

Question reference: S6W-14217

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how low alcohol products are defined in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-14219

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government about updating the definitions of (a) alcohol-free and (b) low alcohol products in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-14218

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Food Standards Scotland about updating the definitions of (a) alcohol-free and (b) low alcohol products in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has the lead for alcohol policy in Scotland. However, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has responsibility for the policies surrounding general food labelling in Scotland and work closely with policy officials across the four nations on these issues.

FSS launched a four-week consultation on 23 October 2018 to assess the current understanding and use of the descriptive terms ‘low alcohol’, ‘non-alcoholic’, ‘alcohol-free’ and ‘de alcoholised’ but unfortunately this work was paused due to matters relating to EU exit.

Question reference: S6O-01806

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on avian flu, including any measures it is taking to tackle its spread.

Since the start of October 2022 there have been 18 confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in poultry and captive birds and 81 findings in wild birds in Scotland.

The Scottish Government responded to the risk of avian influenza from wild birds through the introduction of an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in October 2022 requiring all bird keepers to follow strict biosecurity measures, and continues to remind keepers of these obligations. Scottish Government and its operational partners have a robust control strategy in place, and a proven track record in dealing effectively and rapidly with controlling outbreaks

Question reference: S6W-13644

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the £61.9 million increase in National Care Service and adult social care expenditure in its 2023-24 Budget will be allocated.

The published 2023-24 Stage 1 budget showed at level 4, a total investment of over £1.2 billion in Social Care support and NCS delivery. The £61.9m additional funding will help support a number of areas as noted in the response provided for S6W-13643 on 19 January 2023.

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

Question reference: S6W-13645

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the National Care Service and adult social care budget allocation in its 2023-24 Budget will be allocated to (a) the National Care Service and (b) adult social care.

The published 2023-24 Stage 1 budget showed at level 4, a total investment of over £1.2 billion in Social Care support and NCS delivery. Within the £1.2 billion, there is £60 million notionally earmarked for investment in Fair Work and specific NCS programme costs. While the work is taking place on revising the Financial Memorandum, this will remain flexible to meet priorities, as will other areas. Please see response to S6W-13643 on 19 January 2023 for a breakdown of the
‎ £1.2 billion in relation to social care support.

Question reference: S6W-13643

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the National Care Service and adult social care budget allocations under health and social care expenditure in its 2023-24 Budget.

The published 2023-24 Stage 1 budget showed at level 4, a total investment of over £1.2 billion in Social Care support and NCS delivery. This is made up of a number of areas including an additional £100 million for adult social care pay up to £10.90, on top of the £200 million in 2022-23 for £10.50 and £144 million for the £10.02 before that, £124 million for care at home investment,
‎ £60 million for the Carers Act and inflationary uplifts for Free Personal Nursing Care Rates and others. All of the areas above underpin increasing the sustainability of the social care sector ahead of implementation of the NCS. It is important therefore to look at all areas of spend rather than one in isolation.

Question reference: S6W-13642

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken an impact assessment on its proposals to move specialist mental health services to the remit of a National Care Service, and, if so, whether it will publish this information.

Impact assessments published in relation to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill cover the full range of current services proposed to be transferred to the National Care Service, including both health and social care services. These can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/collections/national-care-service/ .

Further impact assessments will be carried out as the detailed design of the National Care Service is developed and will be provided alongside the necessary secondary legislation. This includes any proposals to include specialist mental health services within the scope of the National Care Service.

The Scottish Government is engaging with stakeholders, the output of this engagement, alongside lessons from the current health and social care arrangements (which will be succeeded by the National Care Service) and further evidence gained during the co-design process, will be used to refine our proposals for the scope of mental health services. Collectively this evidence will inform the development of more detailed impact assessments as part of that process. A summary of the Scottish Government’s engagement on this matter will be published later this year.