Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-08080

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider establishing a national student homelessness duty as part of its planned student accommodation strategy.

Question reference: S6W-08154

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that women are able to remove contraceptive implants and devices, such as Essure, through the NHS when they wish to do so.

Question reference: S6W-08137

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support has been given to GP practices in the transition away from strict COVID-19 regulations to ensure that patients are not adversely affected by any problems associated with understaffing, overcrowding and a lack of in-person appointments.

We published our NHS Recovery Plan last August and continue to work with Public Health Scotland on updating guidance for Primary Care settings, covering key issues such as the removal of mandatory physical distancing requirements, access for patients and infection prevention and control.

We increased the Primary Care Improvement Fund to recruit multi-disciplinary teams from £110m in 2020-21 to £155 million in 2021-22, and this will increase again to £170m in 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-08139

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to consider local health needs alongside population growth and infrastructure expansion, to ensure that growing towns and cities have adequate coverage by GP surgeries.

Question reference: S6O-01071

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected timetable is for the Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education Programme to report.

Question reference: S6W-08079

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent student homelessness, including for care experienced students.

Local authorities are obliged by law to offer the minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to anyone at risk of homelessness. Anyone who is threatened with or experiencing homelessness should contact their local authority in the first instance.

We already have a national strategy to end homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland, which was updated in October 2020. Our Ending Homelessness Together action plan, backed by funding of £100 million between 2018-26, demonstrates our commitment to end homelessness in Scotland and we publish an annual report to show the progress being made to tackle these issues.

The Scottish Government is committed to bringing forward a Student Accommodation Strategy for Scotland which, in part, will be informed by a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation, now underway. We will look to develop and incorporate this alongside and within the Rented Sector Strategy. This will include issues such as supply, affordability and wider planning and regulatory issues.

Question reference: S6T-00671

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to ensure that Ukrainian families understand the conditions of its Super Sponsor Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-08126

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the creation of a new hate crime strategy as outlined in its Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan.

The Scottish Government has committed to developing a new hate crime strategy, for publication later this year, to help guide how we successfully tackle hatred and prejudice in Scotland.

On 28 April 2022, I chaired the inaugural meeting of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group (SPG), comprising a range of third sector organisations and public bodies. The representatives on the SPG each possess specific expertise in tackling hate crime and building community cohesion, and will provide a multi-agency approach to development of a new hate crime strategy for Scotland.

At the meeting, the SPG discussed draft Terms of Reference and I invited members to share their key priorities for tackling hate crime, to help shape development of the new strategy.

In the coming period we will publish relevant information relating to the SPG, including membership and an agreed Terms of Reference.

Question reference: S6W-07895

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government to ensure that Ukrainian refugees seeking to come to Scotland and who apply for a visa through the Ukraine Family Scheme can access up-to-date information about the status of their visa application.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to give people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

To alleviate confusion with the process, the UK Government should immediately implement automatic status updating for applications (on all routes) that have been outstanding for more than 5 days and an escalation process for applications that have been outstanding for more than one week.

Question reference: S6W-07896

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government to ensure that the application process for Ukrainian refugees seeking to come to Scotland, and who apply for a visa through the Ukraine Family Scheme, proceeds in a timely manner.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to grant people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

Many of these challenges are a direct consequence of the decision to use the immigration and visa system rather than properly fund a humanitarian resettlement scheme. The UK Government must put people, not processes, first.

Chamber and committees