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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 287 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-22753

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement of NHS Scotland's menopause and menstrual health workplace policy, what action it is taking with stakeholders across the (a) public, (b) private and (c) third sector to improve employers' awareness of menopause and menstrual health.

The NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy launched on 31 October 2023. Whilst the policy was written specifically for NHS Scotland, the supporting resources, including line managers guidance and workplace adjustment guidance, are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub which is accessible to the public.

With the publication of the Policy and Supporting Documents having recently taken place, work can now commence on promoting the policy more widely amongst employers across all sectors.

Question reference: S6T-01635

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being three weeks since Storm Babet, whether it will provide an update on the support that it is making available to the affected communities in Angus, Aberdeenshire and Dundee.

Question reference: S6W-22197

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to announce the long-term formal governance structure to replace the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board, which disbanded in March 2023.

Following the planned conclusion of two previous governance structures, the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed to progress this work through a new combined strategic board. This new strategic board will retain a strong focus on perinatal and infant needs and ensure that there is good integration with provision for older children, young adults and families. Embedding an equity led approach is also a key part of this work. We are currently working with key partners to agree membership.

The first meeting of the new strategic board is planned for later this year. Further information will be available on the Scottish Government website in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22234

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland showing that in 60% of cases where someone is detained for compulsory mental health care and treatment, there was no mental health officer consent, in light of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 requiring that both a doctor and a mental health officer should be responsible for emergency detentions.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provides for rigorous safeguards in respect of individuals’ human rights. Sometimes compulsory treatment needs to be carried out on an emergency basis and consent from a Mental Health Officer (MHO), in addition to authorisation from a medical practitioner, plays an important safeguarding role in these cases.

However, the 2003 Act also recognises that there may be occasions where the urgency of the situation is so great that it would not be practicable for such consultation to take place. In such cases, the practitioner must inform hospital managers who must then inform the Mental Welfare Commission and notify the relevant authority of the reasons why it was impracticable to consult and seek the consent of an MHO.

Whilst we acknowledge that for some of the 60% of cases mentioned the urgency of the case will explain the lack of MHO consent, we also recognise that MHO capacity is a contributing factor. While it is the responsibility of Local Authorities to ensure they have the appropriate levels of MHOs in place, the Scottish Government felt it was necessary to intervene, and since 2019, we have provided additional funding, as well as working with COSLA and other partners to progress a range of actions to improve workforce capacity and MHO training.

In this financial year we have made available an additional £3.71 million to local authorities to build additional MHO capacity. This will help reduce the number of emergency detentions taking place without the additional safeguard of MHO consent.

The Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme considers how we can update and modernise mental health and capacity legislation to better reflect international human rights standards regarding safeguards. We will continue to work closely with the Mental Welfare Commission on this.

Question reference: S6W-22130

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the report from NHS National Services Scotland on the options appraisal process on mother and baby unit provision in Scotland is still anticipated to be delivered in October 2023, and when the findings will be made publicly available.

Question reference: S6W-22131

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on establishing a Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme.

Over the summer we have started work to design the Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme. We intend to publish an initial implementation plan in early 2024. This will include information about the activities that will be taken forward during the first 18 months (from October 2023 - April 2025) to help to achieve the programme aims.

By summer 2024 we will have developed our programme ‘blueprint’ and ‘route-map’ to reform. This will set out in more detail how we will deliver the programme, as well as how we will monitor progress over the longer term.

Question reference: S6W-22134

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many drones have been detected at HMP & YPI Grampian in each of the last three years, and what measures the Scottish Prison Service is taking to prevent drones from being used to smuggle drugs and weapons onto the prison estate.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

There have been no drones detected at HMP & YOI Grampian in each of the last three years.

The Scottish Prison Service recognises the negative impact of drones being used to introduce illicit items (including drugs and weapons) into the prison estate and are currently considering a technological solution to support the identification of drones within SPS airspace.

Question reference: S6W-22133

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many recorded incidents of prisoners at HMP & YOI Grampian taking synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances, including the reported "street" benzodiazepines, there have been in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S6W-22198

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that dementia is the leading cause of death among women in Scotland, what work the Women's Health Champion is doing to address the (a) cause, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment of the illness in women, and whether further iterations of the Women's Health Plan will include dementia going forward.

Professor Anna Glasier is Scotland’s independent Women’s Health Champion, and her remit encompasses all of the aims of the Women’s Health Plan.

There are many other issues and conditions that are important to women and their health, and there is a range of work under way to help women affected by dementia.

This includes the Scottish Government’s New Dementia Strategy, published in May 2023. The Scottish Government is also working together with COSLA and a lived experience panel, which includes women with a diagnosis of dementia, to agree priorities for the first delivery plan for the strategy, which will be published in January 2024.

The priorities for any future Women’s Health Plan are not yet determined. Consideration for future areas of focus and priorities will be informed by evidence and developed in collaboration with women and girls, a women’s health lived experience group, clinical experts and relevant stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-22199

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported increase in retail crime, what support it is providing to the retail sector as it deals with this, and whether any data will be made available on convictions under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021.

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption and harm that retail crime does to both businesses and the individuals who work there. We support the work of our Justice partners to tackle this, including through the innovative Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime strategy. This strategy is led by Police Scotland, together with other organisations, including retailers, and outlines a partnership approach to the prevention, deterrence and enforcement of a range of crimes including shoplifting.

The Criminal Proceedings National Statistics for 2021-22 were published on the 24th October 2023. These include the first partial year of activity for the earliest opening period under the Act (from August 2021 to March 2022). Due to this, some caution should be exercised in interpreting the figures. Over August 2021 to March 2022, 26 individuals were convicted in court where the main charge was a crime or offence under the Retail Workers Act. The type of sentences received included custodial (13 individuals), community-based (9), a financial penalty (3) or another sentence type (1).

The Criminal Proceedings National Statistics for 2022-23, which will represent the first full reporting year of activity under the Act (from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023) will be published in 2024. Separate to this, data about the number of charges (not people) resulting in a conviction has been extracted from the management information used to publish the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard (Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard ). This shows there were 543 charges under the Retail Workers Act that received a criminal conviction in court from August 2021 up to March 2023.