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: S4W-23686

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis of pre-exposure prophylaxis will be carried out prior to its refresh of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework.

Development of the refreshed Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework is currently in its early stages and we are consulting with a variety of stakeholders. The refreshed framework will be published in summer 2015 but no decisions on any specific recommendations have yet been made.

Any decisions specifically relating to pre-exposure prophylaxis will be based on recommendations from the British HIV Association, British Association for Sexual Health and HIV and the UK Expert Advisory Group on AIDS.

Question reference: S4W-23685

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the interim results of the PROUD Study's report on pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Whilst the interim results of the PROUD study of pre-exposure prophylaxis are encouraging, we should await the full results before taking any decisions. Once the full results are available we will work with the NHS and other interested stakeholders to consider our approach to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as part of a package of HIV prevention interventions. Any decisions on PrEP will be informed by recommendations from the British HIV Association, British Association for Sexual Health and HIV and the UK Expert Advisory Group on AIDS.

Our current policy on PrEP reflects the joint position statement, issued by British HIV Association/British Association for Sexual Health and HIV on pre-exposure prophylaxis in the UK in 2012 which states that “ad hoc prescribing is avoided, and that PrEP is only prescribed in the context of a clinical research study in the UK”.

Question reference: S4W-23684

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its international development budget is spent on HIV treatment and education programmes.

The Scottish Government's international development budget does not provide funding for any projects whose sole function is to deliver HIV education/awareness raising. The budget does fund projects which contain an element of HIV education/awareness raising as part of their overall remit.

An example is the Karonga Girls and Boys Empowerment Project in Malawi, to which the Scottish Government is contributing nearly £400,000. The project addresses issues that can have a wide range of negative impacts, including exacerbation of problems related to HIV and AIDS. These include: harmful cultural practices; low household income; and increased exposure to HIV.

Funding for this and other projects is provided for the projects in their entirety and specific amounts are not allocated to the HIV education/awareness raising aspects. It is therefore not possible to calculate the spend on this element of each project.

Question reference: S4W-23601

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost to NHS Grampian has been of delayed discharges in the Aberdeen City Council area in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S4W-23602

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the current cost to NHS Grampian is of delayed discharges in the Aberdeen City Council area.

Question reference: S4F-02471

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2014

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will respond to the findings of the all-party UK parliamentary inquiry into hunger in the UK.

Question reference: S4W-23086

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if the appropriate powers were devolved, whether it would change the rules regarding the relationship between eligibility for the state pension and spouse or partner contributions.

The Scottish Government has submitted its proposals for further devolution to The Smith Commission, which are available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/10/2806/0

As this sets out, we believe that decisions on welfare, including pensions, are best made by the Scottish Parliament, in line with the needs of Scottish pensioners. If powers over the state pension are devolved, future Scottish governments will have the ability to look at how the system is designed, including eligibility rules, and the role of spouse or partner contributions.

Question reference: S4W-23085

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people in Scotland do not receive the full state pension and the reasons for this.

Office for National Statistics data suggest that, in September 2012 at UK level, 80% of men and 46% of women of pensionable age were in receipt of the full basic state pension. Scotland level data is not available. Women receive lower state pension payments than men in part because those with caring responsibilities were disadvantaged by the system pre-2002. There have been improvements since then, and the new single-tier pension is expected to improve state pension provision further for new female pensioners from 2016.

(Source: Office for National Statistics, Pension Trends Chapter 5: State Pensions, 2013.)

(Source: Scottish Government, Pensions in an Independent Scotland, 2013)

Question reference: S4W-23084

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to people who do not receive the full state pension because of the impact of divorce or separation on their contributions.

This is a reserved matter under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998. As such, the Scottish Government is currently unable to provide benefits to top up a partial state pension. Pension credit is available for pensioners on a low income.

However, the Scottish Government does support pensioners in a range of ways within its devolved competencies. We are protecting household resources through free personal care for the elderly, the scrapping of prescription charges, free eye examinations, as well as concessionary bus passes and much more.

Question reference: S4W-23083

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding how spouse or partner contributions can impact on eligibility for the state pension and the impact that this might have for people in Scotland.