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-05689

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what documents are required when making an application under the Young Persons' Free Bus Travel Scheme.

People applying for a Young Persons Free Bus Travel National Entitlement Card (NEC) card are asked to provide 'proof of person' (the young person's name and age) and proof of residence (where the young person lives). For those aged 11 and over a digital photograph is required.

Young people aged 16 and over apply for the new NEC card themselves, whilst parents or guardians apply on behalf of children aged 5-15.

Full details of the acceptable proofs for the Young Persons Free Bus Travel Scheme are listed on the NEC website at Proofs | National Entitlement Card (nec.scot).

Question reference: S6O-00701

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what oversight role it plans to take over the Clyde Metro project, in order to support its timely delivery.

Question reference: S6O-00665

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for legal services regulation reform.

Question reference: S6W-05029

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to deal with the reported rising number of homeless people who are being placed in temporary accommodation in the Glasgow area.

Question reference: S6O-00575

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scale of the problem of sexual assault faced by girls at school.

There is no place for harassment or abuse of any form, whether in the workplace, schools, in the home or in society. Through our Equally Safe delivery plan and review of Personal and Social Education, we are taking action aimed at preventing sexual harassment and gender-based violence, in order to develop positive relationships amongst children and young people.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education take matters of safeguarding very seriously. This is a well-established priority and approaches to safeguarding and child protection are evaluated in every school inspection.

We have committed to commissioning an independent review to establish positive practice and further areas for improvement, during this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-05034

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether people who are seeking asylum and living under immigration control will be included in the inquiry into the handling of COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-04786

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to manage the reported rising number of people experiencing homelessness being placed in temporary accommodation within the Glasgow area.

Temporary accommodation offers an important safety net for anyone who finds themselves homeless. However, it should only ever be temporary. Our commitment to invest £50 million over this parliamentary term to end homelessness builds on the £37.5 million we have already provided to local authorities to implement plans for rapid rehousing and Housing First and prioritise settled accommodation for all.

Both the pandemic and Brexit have created challenges for social landlords in repair, maintenance and allocation of stock which is leading to longer waits for new permanent homes. My officials are in regular contact with Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership who are working hard to address these challenges and move people as quickly as possible into appropriate settled accommodation.

We have established a working group to develop a legally enforceable temporary accommodation standards framework. The group will bring forward concrete proposals in 2022 which will help ensure that temporary accommodation is of a good standard and well regulated, and that time spent in it is limited.

Question reference: S6W-04575

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available to free advice and law centres, and for how long this funding will be available.

In 2021-22, over £14 million has been provided to welfare and debt advice services aligned to Social Justice priorities and to projects in the Justice Programme, including law centres. The value of funding in future financial years will form part of the setting of the overall budget for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government runs a number of funding programmes across all areas of its responsibility, some of which are open to applications from advice agencies and law centres. All funding streams have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme. Such a varied approach allows for targeted funding that responds to identified policy need. For example, the Investing in Communities Fund, which is anticipated to re-open for applications in April 2022, is a community-focused fund which supports community organisations based in the places they serve to deliver a holistic range of projects and services that help to tackle all forms of poverty and inequalities. Funding for these projects through these programmes is in addition to the figure of £14 million above.

In addition, advice services receive funding from multiple other sources, including Local Authorities, which remain the biggest funders of advice in Scotland. The Common Advice Performance Management Reporting Framework published on 28 January 2021 found that total Local Authority funding for money and welfare rights advice services was just over £28 million in 2019-20, of which £13 million was spent on externally delivered provision including free advice and law centres.

Question reference: S6W-04573

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the suitability of how it funds free advice and law centres, and what its position is on whether there is a more efficient way to do this that provides greater security for employees in these organisations.

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has consulted and reported on funding for advice services twice, publishing our review “Publicly-funded advice services in Scotland: review report” in 2018 and our “Debt Advice Routemap” in December 2019. Both reports identified changes to advice delivery and funding models that could improve the efficiency and sustainability of the advice sector and increase the impact and effectiveness of funding. The Scottish Government is taking forward actions to implement and build upon these changes taking account of the impact of the Covid pandemic on the advice sector.

The Scottish Government understands the impact of annual funding agreements on adviser wellbeing and job security, which is why we are undertaking work to support creating a more sustainable and effective model of funding in the future. This includes testing innovative approaches using digital technology and working with the Improvement Service to help us identify a model through which devolved debt advice levy funding can best be distributed in order to have the maximum impact, both locally and nationally. We also continue to fund Money Advice Scotland to develop and run a programme to support and improve adviser wellbeing.

Question reference: S6W-04574

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the process that free advice and law centres must undertake to apply for its funding, and what the reasons are for the process operating in this way.

The Scottish Government funds advice services through a combination of longstanding funding relationships that ensure continuity of services, such as those delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Citizens Advice Bureaux, or through a bidding process for funds aligned to specific policy objectives. All bid-in funds have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme, however all grant funding offered from the Scottish Government must adhere to the rules set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.