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-36217

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received a free bus pass since 2007-08, broken down by local authority area.

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme provides eligible applicants free bus travel through the National Entitlement Card (NEC).

The Improvement Service is responsible for the management of the NEC, the application process and provides overall governance for the data management of cardholders.

Therefore, Transport Scotland does not have access to the information requested but the Improvement Service should be able to provide it, and they can be contacted at [email protected]

Question reference: S5W-36214

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many students from Scotland have received free university tuition since 2007-08.

Analysis of data from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) shows that almost 600,000 higher education students have benefited from free tuition between 2007-08 and 2019-20.

Information on the number of students benefitting from free tuition each year can be found in the annual SAAS statistics publication – Higher Education Student Support in Scotland. A link to the relevant section of the SAAS website can be found here: National Statistics Publications (saas.gov.uk)

Question reference: S5O-05097

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to conserve and grow Scotland’s natural assets.

Question reference: S5W-35514

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking following the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) review of the use of UK plasma for fractionation.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has advised Ministers that, following its detailed review in 2020, the Commission on Human Medicines has recommended that UK plasma can be used for production of immunoglobulin medicines as they are satisfied that the risk of transmission of variant CJD (vCJD) via immunoglobulins manufactured from UK plasma is now negligible. The MHRA is now the sole regulator for medicines and the agency responsible for the licensing of medicinal products in the UK.

For this reason, Ministers across the UK have agreed to lift the current ban on using UK plasma for fractionation, which was introduced in 1998 as a vCJD risk mitigation measure. All other existing vCJD risk mitigation measures will remain in place.

This means plasma from donations given in the UK will now be able to be used to produce medicinal immunoglobulin products to treat patients in Scotland and the rest of the UK. This should improve the security of supplies of these medicines in future.

The Scottish Government will now work closely with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to review options for the collection and use of plasma from donors in Scotland in future.

Question reference: S5O-05087

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much the finance secretary has allocated to support outdoor education centres during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S5O-05022

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it gives to the development of new railway infrastructure.

Question reference: S5W-35110

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to further develop the Protect Scotland app.

Close to 2 million people have already downloaded Protect Scotland, and almost 40,000 users have been advised to self-isolate by the app. However, due to the anonymous nature of the app to date those who have only been asked to self-isolate via the app – and have not been identified via the traditional contact tracing process – have not been able to use the app to provide proof for any claim for self-isolation support payments. Following careful consideration from 10 February we will introduce a mechanism for unique self-isolation certificates to be generated. These can be sent to employers or to Local Authorities in support of an application for a Self-Isolation Support Grant.

The process being applied is already live in Northern Ireland, has been ratified by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and is designed to minimise the risk of fraud.

At the same time, following a previous announcement by Apple, we will make Protect Scotland available on older iPhones. Members will recall the frustration of many users of older iPhones who were unable to use the app. Apple have now made the Exposure Notification System available on these older phones, and from 10 February Protect Scotland will be available for download onto the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6.

Question reference: S5O-05003

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to coastal communities to mitigate the impact of climate change and reduce the risk of flooding.

Question reference: S5W-34822

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Clare Haughey on 28 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work being carried out to support the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s health and social care workforce at this time.

The Scottish Government is very grateful to all health and care staff for their hard work, commitment and professionalism over the Covid-19 response.

As we outlined on 22 January, the Scottish Government is pleased to be able to make £500,000 available to Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to fund additional practical support this financial year, in recognition of the support that health and social care staff may need at this time.

Today I have written to the Health and Sport Committee outlining the range of measures that the Scottish Government is taking to support the health and social care workforce.

This includes an update on the funding being allocated to Health Boards to enable them to recruit psychologists and other staff dedicated to supporting the mental health of the health and social care workforce. This funding will create up to 16 FTE posts to support the workforce over the next two financial years.

This funding to Boards is one component of a wider programme of work through the Health and Social Care Mental Health Network to support the wellbeing and mental health of the workforce, in line with the commitments made through the Programme for Government.

This includes the development of our National Wellbeing Hub and digital resources, a National Wellbeing Helpline and a new Workforce Specialist Service.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with partners across health and social care to respond to the emerging needs of the health and social care workforce.

Question reference: S5O-04914

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the design of new and innovative projects that can help to tackle climate change.