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-10073

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in (a) Perth and Kinross and (b) Fife have received a free bicycle since the commitment was made to offer free bicycles to children who cannot afford them.

In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout.

The total number of bikes issued to date is 2067. We expect to have issued 3000 bikes by the end of the pilot period. The bikes include adapted and non-standard bikes to cater for a range of needs.

We do not record data on bike numbers at local authority level. However, considering bikes issued and associated training and promotion sessions, free bikes activities have taken place in 20 of 32 local authority areas. The 9 pilots are running across a range of locations including in urban, rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6W-10074

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme in (a) Perth and Kinross and (b) Fife since it was announced by both local authorities.

The following table shows the number of valid card holders in the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme as of close of business 1 August 2022 in the Perth and Kinross and Fife local authorities. This information is based on live data as of 1 August 2022 and will exclude those who have turned 22 or exited the scheme since its launch.

This information was supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

Perth and Kinross	11,345
Fife	39,062

Question reference: S6W-09348

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons were for its decision that school children in Scotland would not automatically receive the commemorative book for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Scottish education system is set up in such a way that decision making is devolved to the most appropriate level, enabling local education authorities to make choices that meet their local circumstances and needs. It is for this reason that the Scottish Government does not prescribe the specific resources to be used in schools. Head teachers are empowered to make these decisions for themselves in liaison with their local authority.

As a result, it was Scottish Ministers' view that Scottish schools should be given the choice on whether their pupils should receive this book and have therefore advised UK Ministers that an ‘opt-in’ process for Scottish schools should be implemented. This is consistent with the approach being taken in Wales.

Question reference: S6W-09347

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps were taken to promote the offer of a free commemorative book on Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee to school children in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-09350

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether parents or carers of children can request a copy of the commemorative book for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee directly and, if this is possible, how they do so.

Question reference: S6W-09349

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools requested copies of the commemorative book for Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee for their pupils, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-09220

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many mental health patients from Scotland have been admitted as inpatients to hospitals and other settings in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6O-01265

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the reported proposed real-terms cuts to the budget of Audit Scotland could impact on its work.

Question reference: S6O-01241

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards its commitment to deliver a free laptop or tablet to every school child in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-01165

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to address the reported potential spending gap of £3.5 billion in its budget by 2026-27.