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: S5O-04541

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Race Equality Framework.

Question reference: S5W-31192

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the Scottish Bowel Screening programme to resume.

Bowel screening colonoscopies have now resumed in all NHS Boards and work is underway by the Bowel Screening Programme Board to assess readiness to resume the Scottish Bowel Screening programme. New home testing kits will begin to be posted once NHS Scotland has caught up with screening colonoscopy appointments affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, it is important for people to be aware of the symptoms or signs of bowel cancer, and to contact their GP if they have any concerns about these. Further information can be found on the NHS Inform website at https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/screening/bowel/bowel-screening .

Question reference: S5O-04485

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how the recently announced £63 million fund for the bus sector will help to support bus operators with maintaining and increasing services.

Question reference: S5O-04430

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how issues relating to racism are addressed within the Scottish education system.

Question reference: S5O-04393

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the coach holiday industry regarding support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S5W-29069

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support and guidance it is providing to ensure contact between children in care and their parents and siblings continues throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure relationships are sustained and nurtured.

Relationships between looked after children and their siblings, parents and wider families are essential and should continue to be promoted, wherever it is safe to do so in line with existing social work risk assessments.

Where face to face contact cannot be maintained, alternative options have been introduced, including telephone calls, video contact, or, if appropriate, the use of social media platforms to ensure that children and young people can maintain contact with the people who matter to them most.

As part of our £30m commitment to support digital inclusion for children and young people we are working closely with local authority partners across Scotland to ensure that vulnerable children have access to the devices, connectivity and support they need to maintain contact with learning, their peers and their wider support networks.

The Scottish Government is also working with the Family Rights Group to produce a digital advice leaflet for parents and relatives who have children in care. The leaflet will include advice for maintaining contact with their children, and direct readers to the latest national advice and support available. Wider advice is also available for parents and carers from Parent Club Scotland, Parentzone as well as through organisations such as the Fostering Network and CELCIS.

Question reference: S5W-29068

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 28 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support and guidance it is providing to ensure that contact between children and any parent they are not resident with is being maintained throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure relationships are sustained and nurtured.

The Scottish Government appreciates that it can be difficult during the current situation for a child to maintain contact with both parents if they do not live in the same household.

SSI 2020/103 (The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020) lists continuing existing arrangements for contact between parents and children as one of the reasonable excuses for people being outside their home.

The Scottish Government maintains the view that both parents should be fully involved in their child’s upbringing as long as it is in the best interests of the child. If face to face contact cannot be maintained then the Scottish Government would expect parents to encourage contact through technology such as Skype, face time, Whatsapp or by phone.

The Lord President has issued guidance on compliance with contact orders during the Coronavirus crisis. The Scottish Government has also published information on the parent club website on shared parenting at this time.

Question reference: S5W-28671

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 7 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether, as part of the economic recovery phase from the COVID-19 outbreak, it will consider an approach similar to that being planned by Bavaria regarding the temporary re-purposing of some public sector jobs, in consultation with the trade unions, and the creation of new job opportunities arising from contact tracing or other similar initiatives.

The Scottish Government and other public bodies, in consultation with the trade unions, have already temporarily repurposed many public sector jobs to address the issues arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

Health Boards are currently looking at where they can use existing staff to undertake contact tracing, which will provide an indication of how many additional staff require to be recruited to undertake that role. As set out in our Test, Trace, Isolate, Support Strategy, published on 4 May 2020, we anticipate that up to an additional 2,000 staff will be required to support contact tracing across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-28673

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 5 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in Clackmannanshire are in receipt of the Small Business Bonus.

Question reference: S5W-28672

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, what flexibility will be given to local authorities regarding the submission of their annual accounts.