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-00162

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it will address the backlog in NHS dentistry.

Question reference: S6W-02126

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to Historic Environment Scotland to enable historic sites to be made safe for reopening to members of the public, and what the timescales are for the reopening of these sites.

Historic Environment Scotland has responded to address the precautionary closures within the funding already available. The Scottish Government provided Historic Environment Scotland with £72.9m in 2020-21 and are providing £55.9m to support Historic Environment Scotland in 2021-22. We are also providing this financial year a further £20m in covid consequentials, taking our total support in 2021-22 to £75.9m, an increase of £3m from 2020-21.

The Scottish Government will continue to discuss the closures with Historic Environment Scotland, whose programme of prioritised inspections will inform a timescale for reopening.

Question reference: S6W-02125

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on carrying out inspections of the historic sites cited as being closed as a precautionary measure by Historic Environment Scotland on 7 June 2021.

Historic Environment Scotland is conducting inspections at present with an initial phase to be completed by the first week in September as per its inspection programme. A number of properties have been assessed to date and the next steps are currently being considered. Decisions will be taken by the appropriate technical specialists and with a primary focus on the health and safety of staff, contractors and visitors.

Question reference: S6O-00093

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to enshrining a rule in the National Planning Framework 4, where, for every new building, 1% of the cost is given to the arts.

Question reference: S6W-01918

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for supporting the hospitality sector following the end of furlough.

The Scottish Government has consistently called for the furlough scheme to remain in place for as long as it is needed to support businesses as we move through recovery. Whilst the figures show those on furlough are reducing, there is still a significant number of jobs which continue to be supported by this scheme. The Scottish Government is doing all it can to protect Scotland’s economy and ensure that as many people as possible on furlough keep their jobs.

We recognise that this is an extremely difficult time for businesses of all kinds across Scotland and we are doing everything we can with the limited powers available to us to support the hospitality sector.

More detailed information on the support that is available for Hospitality can be found here:

Financial Support for Tourism - COVID-19 | VisitScotland.org .

Question reference: S6W-01919

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help ensure that hospitality businesses in (a) Edinburgh and (b) nationally have sufficient staffing cover.

We recognise the serious and immediate recruitment issues being experienced by the sector. Tourism and hospitality businesses have been extremely hard hit by the pandemic and the ability to employ committed, talented and enthusiastic staff will be an important part of the recovery, not just in Edinburgh but throughout the whole of Scotland.

To address recruitment issues, we are working with key sector organisations in the public and private sector to support a recruitment marketing campaign. This was launched on the 5 th July. In the first three weeks of the campaign, there has been 12,223 new users on the Career Scope website, where we are signposting people to find available jobs.

The campaign will promote a range of roles within the industry and help people find a job that suits different skill sets. It will support businesses fill staff shortages that have occurred as a result of Brexit and encourage those aged 18-30 to play their part in helping businesses recover from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by applying their skills to the diverse job opportunities available now.

The campaign has been developed in conjunction with the sector, and lead partner the Scottish Tourism Alliance, and is supported by £100,000 of Scottish Government funding.

Question reference: S6W-01642

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the message from the director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations of 14 July 2021, whether it will take steps to ensure that the centre can continue its work, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the work done by the SCER to promote informed debate and produce high quality policy analysis since its establishment in 2017. In particular, the Government notes the SCER’s thoughtful work on the reception that an independent Scotland will receive on applying to rejoin the EU as an independent Member State. As the Director of the SCER noted in her statement of 14 July 2021, the SCER has operated as an independent think tank and has not received research funding from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is willing at all times to consider representations on ways in which the political debate in Scotland can be informed and further improved.

Question reference: S6W-01049

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to people who have (a) swallowing and (b) communication problems due to long-term illness.

The provision of speech and language therapy services is the responsibility of NHS Boards for children and adults with communication and swallowing difficulties and also Education Departments in Local Authorities for Children and Young people.

The Allied Health Professional (AHP) National Lead for Children and Young People at Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards across Scotland and speech and language therapy leads to support a joined up approach to service design and delivery.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) have continued to offer digital support, advice and interventions for adults, young people and children, their families and carers where possible through the use of NHS Near Me. SLTs have also prioritised promotion of resources and tools to support wellness and self-management where appropriate.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and SLT services have adapted their service delivery methods to ensure compliance with local and national restrictions while continuing to establish and maintain contact with those who need support, including children and adults. Digital services have been key to enabling person centred care and continuity of care in current circumstances. Where it has been safe to do so, face to face contact has remained in place guided by stringent risk assessment.

Question reference: S6W-01048

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to close the reported gap in the take-up of cervical cancer screening between women in the most and least affluent areas, as reported by Public Health Scotland.

The latest annual statistics from Public Health Scotland show that uptake of cervical screening is still lower in the most deprived areas of Scotland, compared to the least deprived areas. We recognise that there is further work required to tackle this issue, and that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the importance of this work. We have therefore committed £2 million over the next two years to build a programme of evidence-based, sustainable and scalable projects that tackle inequalities in a systemic way.

The Scottish Government is also supporting work to explore the potential introduction of self-sampling into the screening programme, which could be an important tool to widen access to the programme and tackle inequalities. Allowing people to take the test in their own home could overcome some of the barriers that prevent people taking up screening, such as accessibility issues, embarrassment or previous trauma. The UK National Screening Committee is evaluating research ahead of making a recommendation on its use, and we have established a working group to contribute evidence and plan for implementation so that we can act quickly following any recommendation.

Question reference: S6W-00493

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the speed for offering invites for initial and second COVID-19 vaccinations in the NHS Lothian area is reportedly slower than in other NHS board areas.

NHS Lothian is performing in-line with the rest of Scotland and within national timeframes. All NHS Boards have the same timeframe in which to complete each JCVI cohort. There will be slight local variations in time taken to reach targets dependant on population demographics within each NHS Board i.e Lothian has proportionally the highest constituency population of younger adults. NHS Lothian have reached these targets for each cohort, with the percentage coverage for over 50s in line with the Scottish average.

The vaccination data are updated daily and can be found here: COVID-19 Daily Dashboard | Tableau Public