Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-17235

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it is encouraging schools to gain a Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Award.

Education Scotland encourages all schools and local authorities to have a rights based approach through the use of their ‘Recognising and Realising Children’s Rights’ professional learning resource and their ‘Learner Participation in educational settings 3-18’ resource. Both of these resources are freely available on the National Improvement Hub and implementation and delivery can be supported by Education Scotland where required. Last year’s Programme for Government announced a three year programme to raise awareness of children’s rights, including amongst children and young people themselves.

Question reference: S5W-17234

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools in Scotland have been recognised with a Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Award.

Question reference: S5W-17123

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16367 by Aileen Campbell on 18 May 2018, in light of it being the practice for women who travel to England for these services, and to reduce the need for overnight stays in hospital, whether it will reconsider its position on whether women from Northern Ireland who receive same-day abortion services in Scotland can be given misoprostol to take at home the next day, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Abortion Act 1967 (Place for Treatment for the Termination of Pregnancy)(Approval) 2017 permits women to take misoprostol at home where they are ordinarily resident in Scotland. Women resident in Northern Ireland can receive abortion services in Scotland free of charge, but in the case of medical abortion would need to take misoprostol in an abortion clinic or hospital. Abortion is unlawful in Northern Ireland, except in very limited circumstances.

Question reference: S5O-02292

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of care placement moves are for young people.

Question reference: S5W-16967

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on fracking, and what action it is taking to (a) reinforce and (b) publicise this.

The Scottish Government has taken a cautious, evidence-led approach to considering unconventional oil and gas in Scotland. On 28 January 2015, the Scottish Government put in place a moratorium on unconventional oil and gas development in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has undertaken one of the most far-reaching investigations into unconventional oil and gas of any government, including a programme of independent evidence-gathering, and a four-month public consultation, which concluded in May 2017 and received more than 60,000 responses.

In October 2017, the Scottish Government set out our preferred policy position – that the Scottish Government does not support the development of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland, subject to the completion of a statutory Strategic Environmental Assessment which is required to be completed before the policy is finalised. Parliament voted to back the preferred position in late October.

In the parliamentary statement on 03 October, it was therefore confirmed that a Strategic Environmental Assessment will be commissioned to assess the impact of the Scottish Government’s position prior to its finalisation. The work to complete the Strategic Environmental Assessment is now underway and will entail wide consultation on the preferred policy position and environmental report with opportunity for all to comment.

In the meantime, the directions giving effect to the moratorium that was announced in 2015 remain in place.

Question reference: S5W-17031

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that children with complex needs are given a guaranteed minimum of six weeks playscheme provision at a suitable venue each year.

Children’s services, including for disabled children, are planned and commissioned locally. There are a number of specialist services operating across local authorities providing play scheme provision and support for children with complex additional support needs and their families.

Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places a duty on each local authority and relevant health board to jointly prepare a children's services plan covering children’s services and related services over a 3 year period. A range of other relevant national and local bodies, including the third sector, are expected to be either consulted with, or obliged to participate, at various stages of the development of the plan.

Question reference: S5W-17032

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the financial support that is made available to families with disabled children.

When we take over responsibility for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) we will extend entitlement to age 18 from the current age 16, to support families of disabled children during a key transitional period.

We will also introduce additional Carer’s Allowance payments to those caring for more than one disabled child, increase Carer’s Allowance by 13% from the end of this summer, and extend Winter Heating Assistance to families with a severely disabled child.

We are currently consulting on a new resource which aims to provide clear, accessible information to disabled children, young people and their families on the support available to them, including financial support.

Question reference: S5W-17030

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that disabled children are not discriminated against when funding for non-statutory services is reduced to maintain statutory services.

Children’s services, including for disabled children, are planned and commissioned locally.

Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places a duty on each local authority and relevant health board to jointly prepare a children's services plan covering children’s services and related services over a 3 year period. A range of other relevant national and local bodies, including the third sector, are expected to be either consulted with, or obliged to participate, at various stages of the development of the plan.

Local authorities, health boards and a number of other public authorities are also required under Part 1 of the same 2014 Act to report every 3 years on what steps they have taken in that period to further give effect to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Furthermore, we have made the Scottish Government model for assessing the impact of policy and legislation on children’s rights and wellbeing, the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment, publicly available for use by the public sector and others.

Question reference: S5O-02239

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding GP services in Musselburgh.

Question reference: S5O-02216

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the report by NSPCC Scotland, The Right to Recover.

Chamber and committees