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: S5W-26904

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made with plans to update and strengthen existing licensing legislation covering dog, cat and rabbit breeders, pet sellers, animal sanctuaries and rehoming activities.

Question reference: S5F-03847

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-03781

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2019

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-26443

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when its campaign to tackle sexual harassment in schools will begin.

The sexual harassment campaign is at an advanced stage of development. As part of this, we are in the formative stages of developing a National Approach guidance document, similar to the anti-bullying strategy, to ensure consistency in messages on sexual harassment and gender-based violence to everyone working with children and young people. This will be supported by appropriate teaching resources to help school staff deliver confident and meaningful learning to combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

Question reference: S5O-03861

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to reduce gear conflict in Scotland's fisheries.

Question reference: S5W-26369

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to raise awareness of the minor ailment scheme.

National campaigns to raise awareness of the Minor Ailment Service (MAS) run at regular intervals as part of the community pharmacy Public Health Service that requires all community pharmacies to display specific posters in their windows. Some health boards have supplemented this by undertaking local messaging and campaigns.

A patient leaflet is available in a range of languages online and hard copies are available on request by community pharmacies, GP practices and other Health and Social care settings. Information about MAS is also available on the NHS Inform website.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing and implementing a redesigned minor ailment and common conditions service available to all from April 2020. To support the launch of the redesigned service we will develop resources for patients, guidance for healthcare professionals and use national media opportunities, including social media, to raise awareness of the service.

Question reference: S5W-26345

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 25 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25540 by Aileen Campbell on 8 October 2019, whether the money referred to in the answer is the same £500,000 that has been allocated to the Healthier, Wealthier Children approach from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund.

Question reference: S5W-26336

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration is given to the environmental impact of pharmaceutical products as part of the NHS procurement process, and what its position is on making it a requirement for manufacturers to provide such information.

All public sector procurement is carried out in line with the Scottish Procurement Journey https://www.procurementjourney.scot/procurement-journey where consideration is given to all aspects of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) during the development and then tendering stage.

More specifically it is important that NHS Scotland demonstrates that the NHS is responding to the climate change emergency in an appropriate manner. It is proposed therefore that NHS Scotland make a series of initial high-level commitments that will form the basis of the NHS Scotland Sustainability Strategy which is expected to be published in March 2020. The Strategy is expected to include a commitment to review the NHS supply chain to determine the extent of associated greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts; this will include pharmaceutical products. Once the extent of environmental impacts is established, a programme of work will be undertaken to minimise these impacts.

Question reference: S5W-26370

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how the £250 million to be invested in direct support of general practice by 2021-22 will be spent.

Question reference: S5W-26224

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25781 by Jeane Freeman on 31 October 2019, whether it considers the recommendations made by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce to have replaced those made in the audit of rejected referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The Audit of Rejected Referrals recommendations are being delivered through the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board, as outlined in the answer to question S5W-25781.

We are taking forward a number of actions to implement the recommendations from the Audit. One of these actions is to develop a CAMHS Service Specification to ensure that all CAMH services in Scotland are providing a minimum standard of service. This is being developed by the Programme Board and is due to be published in the coming weeks.