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-08130

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS boards will have any future role and responsibility for vaccination and immunisation services once the deadline has passed for them to complete the Vaccination Transformation Programme (VTP).

The Vaccination Transformation Programme covers all routine immunisations that are delivered in Scotland. From the 1 st of April, NHS territorial Health Boards have responsibility for the delivery of vaccination programmes, with models varying across Scotland to align with local requirements. This allows Health Boards the flexibility to arrange vaccination centres at community venues, delivering through existing health teams (such as Midwives or Community Pharmacies), or establish new clinics to meet local needs. Some Health Boards may continue to utilise GP practices to provide vaccination services by local arrangement.

Question reference: S6O-01069

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address reported shortages in the labour market.

Question reference: S6W-07861

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the completion rate has been to date of Scotland's Census 2022, and whether it is taking any further action to increase uptake.

As of 4 May, 2,108,468 households in Scotland have successfully submitted their response to Scotland's Census 2022.

It is essential we maximise participation and ensure that everyone is heard and their needs captured. That is why the census online completion site remains open and support through both the free helpline (0800 030 8308) and field teams will remain in place.

National Records of Scotland will also continue to accept paper returns for this short extension period - until end May.

Question reference: S6O-00991

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its cross-government co-ordination of Covid Recovery policies will address the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the population.

Question reference: S6O-00974

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-06930

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much COVID-19-related funding from the UK Government it (a) received in 2020-21 and (b) has received in 2021-22, broken down by how much (i) has been allocated to (A) COVID-19-specific spending, (B) non-COVID-19-specific spending and (ii) remains unallocated.

The Scottish Government has received £14.564 billion in Covid-19 related funding from the UK Government. Amounts received for 2020-21 were £9.752 billion and for 2021-22 are £4.812 billion. Details of the timing and split of funding received are included in the following table:

UK Government COVID Allocations to Scottish Government (£m)	Resource	Capital & FTs	Total
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Barnett Guarantee	8,600		8,600
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates	874	278	1,152
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2020	1,328		1,328
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Budget	1,206		1,206
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Main Estimates	1,000		1,000
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2021	516		516
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates	707	55	762
Total	14,231	333	14,564

Following completion of the 2021-22 Spring Budget Revision exercise total Covid-19 funding allocations are £14.855 billion, £291 million more than the total UK funding received.

The timeline and split of Scottish Government Covid-19 funding allocations is detailed in the table below. Note that the £1.152 billion received at Supplementary Estimate 2020-21 was deferred into 2021-22.

Deployment of funds to support Covid response by Scottish Government (£m)	Resource	Capital & FTs	Total
2020-21 Budget Revisions	8,677	11	8,688
2021-22 Scottish Budget Bill as Amended	3,593	278	3,871
2021-22 Autumn Budget Revision	1,050		1,050
2021-22 Spring Budget Revision	1,162	84	1,246
Total	14,482	373	14,855

There are challenges when attempting to directly compare funding received and Scottish Government deployment on Covid 19. For example the £707 million received at 2021-22 Supplementary Estimates includes £143 million of "Budget Cover transfers" in relation to Test and Trace/vaccination. The UK Government does not classify this as a Covid-19 Barnett Consequential but has been included in the total Covid-19 funding received.

Despite the complications with timing, classification and judgement, the Scottish Government has deployed all of the Covid-19 funding it has received over the course of the pandemic to directly support Covid-19 response measures.

Question reference: S6O-00798

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase bus usage across the country.

Question reference: S6F-00815

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the reported view from Common Weal that action is needed to address weaknesses in social care provision due to it being in a critical state, not fit for purpose, underfunded, rationed, fragmented, centralised and risk averse.

Question reference: S6O-00770

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that financial support to assist with the rising cost of living reaches those most in need.

Question reference: S6W-05862

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether reducing opening hours at rail ticket offices will increase or reduce services to assist (a) (i) disabled, (ii) women, (iii) visually impaired and (iv) digitally excluded passengers and (b) passengers with mobility problems.

ScotRail's review, the first of its kind in over 30 years, proposes changes to contribute to the modernisation of Scotland’s stations and offer passengers a more efficient and cost effective service for the future.

The consultation has enabled rail users including (a) (i) disabled, (ii) women, (iii) visually impaired and (iv) digitally excluded passengers and (b) passengers with mobility concerns to get involved in the process where all contributions will be considered before a final decision is made.

ScotRail has commenced a Diversity Impact Assessment (DIA) regarding the ticket office opening hours consultation, the DIA process will reflect all feedback received and takes account a range of potentially impacted groups.

The purpose of the public consultation is to enable passengers and stakeholders to provide specific feedback on how the proposals impact their journey compared to ScotRail’s current ticket office opening hours. It is worth highlighting Abellio ScotRail do not plan to reduce current staffing levels and have committed to improve staff visibility and customer assistance.

Following the completion of the ticket office consultation and analysis, I will consider its recommendations, including those from the Diversity Impact Assessment.