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-14440

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update its guidance, School design: optimising the internal environment: building our future: Scotland's school estate, which was published in 2007.

As part of a continual cycle of feedback and sharing lessons learned, Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published ‘Scotland’s Learning Estate Strategy - Connecting People, Places and Learning’ in 2019. This includes information from a findings report which draws out experiences from projects in the £1.8bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future (SSF) Programme.

Information is gathered via a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of each school constructed or refurbished through the SSF Programme, and this is a requirement of funding to ensure that lessons learned help inform future investment. A review of this feedback is currently being undertaken and will distil findings by summer 2023 to help identify any actions needed to review guidance or develop new methods for sharing best practice.

In addition, an ongoing series of shared learning events which will are open to all local authorities has also been established as a forum to work collaboratively. These will occur quarterly and include the annual Learning Places Scotland Conference.

Question reference: S6O-01829

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, including the latest discussions it has had with the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-11591

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in delivering equity of access to mental health support services for college and university students.

We have met the manifesto commitment to provide more than 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education over four years as set out in our 2018-19 Programme for Government and reiterated in our 2021-22 Programme for Government. The commitment was achieved ahead of time, with an investment of £11.5 million to date and a further £2 million committed in this Academic Year to March 2023. We are also committed to provide further funding for the remainder of the Academic Year (April to July 2023), which falls into the Government’s next financial year.

We have also invested in the NUS Think Positive Initiative which has led to the creation of institution led Student Mental Health Agreements to improve student mental health support in colleges and universities. In addition, the launch of the Think Positive hub, in spring 2022, provides students with extra clarity on how to access student mental health services in colleges and universities.

At the same time we have invested in a comprehensive package of support for mental wellbeing through NHS Scotland and in communities, including an investment of £21 million for adult community based initiatives.

Question reference: S6W-11589

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the full £20 million of funding to support the roll-out of counselling provision, as committed to in the 2018-19 Programme for Government, has been delivered, and, if this is not the case, for what reason.

This is the final year of our four year commitment to support over 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education which we set out in our Programme for Government in 2018 and reiterated in 2021. We have exceeded that target, with 89 additional counsellors now working to support students across our institutions.

This has been delivered with investment of £11.5 million to date, with a further £2 million provided to March 2023. We have also confirmed that we remain committed to provide further funding in the remainder of Academic Year 22-23 (April – July 2023), which falls into the first four months of our FY 23-24. Funds have been earmarked within the final 2023-24 Scottish Budget process and final allocations will be confirmed as soon as possible as part of the Scottish Government budget setting exercise.

Question reference: S6O-01717

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on BMA Scotland’s reported estimate that Scotland is approximately 1,000 short of the required number of whole time equivalent GPs.

Question reference: S6W-12498

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many assaults against high school teachers on school property have been recorded in each year since 2017.

Information on assaults against high school teachers on school property is not held centrally.

The biennial Attendance, Absence and Exclusions data collection gathers data on the number and reasons recorded for temporary or permanent exclusions from school. These data show that there were 779 cases of exclusion (temporary or permanent) from publicly funded schools in Scotland during 2020-21 where the reason recorded was either ‘physical assault using improvised weapon against staff’, ‘physical assault using weapon against staff’ or ‘physical assault with no weapon against staff’. This compares to 1,737 in 2018-19 and 1,960 in 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-12497

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many high school pupil-to-pupil fights on school property have been recorded in each year since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-12499

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many high school pupils have been suspended from school following a violent attack on a teacher or pupil in each year since 2017.

Question reference: S6O-01606

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what steps it is taking to improve safety for MSPs both within the Parliament and outwith the parliamentary estate.

Question reference: S6W-11564

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider the decision to end the provision of free COVID-19 lateral flow test kits for vulnerable adults.

Thanks to the progress we have made with widespread vaccination and new Covid treatments, which have reduced the severe health harms of the virus, the purpose of testing has changed from population-wide testing to reduce transmission to targeted testing to support clinical care. As a result, most people in Scotland no longer need to test for Covid.

Some people do remain at higher risk – primarily people who are immunosuppressed. These people should continue to follow the advice of their GP or specialist clinician, who best know their health condition and individual circumstances. Those that have a health condition which means they’re eligible for Covid treatments can continue to access testing.