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-07249

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with homelessness organisations in relation to its mental health strategy, and how the strategy will address concerns regarding the impact of homelessness and the rising use of temporary accommodation on the mental health of young people.

During our engagement on the next Mental Health Strategy, we invited written responses on an engagement paper outlining our proposed priorities, and received nearly 600 responses.

The responses were independently analysed and a full report published online, which can be viewed at:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/1634/0

One of the groups suggested as a priority by respondents was people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

All of the feedback we received has helped shape our thinking on the forthcoming Strategy, including the evidence that shows there is a strong link between poor mental health and people experiencing housing problems and homelessness.

We will publish the Strategy in the coming weeks.

Question reference: S5W-07235

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have presented as homeless in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-07239

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what approach it is taking to support children and young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

The Scottish Government has ensured strong legal rights to housing and support for homeless households with children. This is backed by statutory guidance for local authorities published by the Scottish Government on meeting the Best Interests of Children Facing Homelessness.

The Scottish Government has strengthened the Unsuitable Accommodation Order relating to the use of temporary accommodation for homeless households with children and pregnant women and we plan to strengthen this further.

Strong rights to housing also exist for young people (16-24) assessed as homeless, unlike the rest of the UK. The Scottish Government provides funding to a range of voluntary organisations that work with young people to prevent homelessness, including those supporting mediation services to address family breakdown, the main reason for homelessness amongst young people in Scotland.

We are also continuing to provide funding to local authorities to develop the housing options approach to prevention. This will be further strengthened by the development of a training toolkit for local authorities and their partners later this year, which will include addressing homelessness amongst families with children, looked after children and young people.

Question reference: S5W-06906

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report, State of Child Health, that it should develop a “child health in all policies” approach to decision-making to ensure that all public and economic policy is scrutinised in relation to its potential impact on child health.

The Scottish Government works across policy areas to raise the profile of child health and to ensure proper account of the needs of children and young people is represented in relevant developing policies.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is a national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of our children and young people by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. Wellbeing is at the heart of the Getting it right for every child approach to improving services for children and young people.

GIRFEC puts the rights and wellbeing of children and young people at the heart of the services that support them – such as early years services, schools and the NHS.

Question reference: S5W-06923

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the survey by Volunteer Scotland, Young People and Volunteering in Scotland, 2016, and what action it is taking to make volunteering more inclusive.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent survey findings showing that 52% of young people volunteer, that participation is inclusive across most and least deprived areas, when volunteering in school time, and higher amongst those with physical and mental health conditions.

However the survey also recognises that there is a more significant variation of participation for young people volunteering outside of school.

We are committed to ensuring everyone who wants to do so is able to volunteer and continue to work with our partners, including Volunteer Scotland, to explore the reasons for variation in participation rates and consider interventions designed to address this. For example, in 2016-17 we provided over £1m to Voluntary Action Fund to deliver the Volunteering Support Grant, which is aimed at supporting volunteers who are facing disadvantage.

We are also taking action through the Fairer Scotland for Disabled People plan and have committed to provide funding during the current parliamentary session to enable more disabled people to take up volunteering opportunities.

Question reference: S5W-06922

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to raise awareness among young people regarding the benefits of volunteering.

Our annual funding of £800,000 enables Volunteer Scotland to encourage, promote and support volunteers and volunteering to individuals, including all young people, across Scotland.

In addition, Young Scot are funded by the Scottish Government to work collaboratively with many organisations, such as Police Scotland, sportScotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Creative Scotland and YouthLink to create and promote volunteering opportunities for young people.

The National Youth Work Strategy for Scotland recognises the role that volunteering plays in enhancing young people’s engagement, leadership and creative skills. The £500,000 National Voluntary Organisations Support Fund supports national youth work organisations to build capacity and support volunteering locally.

The Scottish Government is also actively supporting the #iwill campaign which aims to increase the number of young people aged 10-20, involved in social action. There are now 15 Scottish #iwill young ambassadors appointed, who are visiting schools and communities inspiring others about the impact of volunteering.

Question reference: S5W-06710

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has spent in each year since 2011-12 on accommodation costs for people to receive treatment in a different board area from where they live.

Question reference: S5W-06743

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has spent in each year since 2011-12 on travel costs for people to receive treatment in a different board area from where they live, broken down by (a) personal mileage, (b) taxi, (c) rail, (d) flight and (e) other costs.

Question reference: S5W-06905

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 21 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05422 by Mark McDonald on 15 December 2016, what its response is to the findings and recommendations on breastfeeding in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report, State of Child Health.

Following the findings in the Royal College of Paediatric Child Health “ State of Child Health” report, I can confirm that the Scottish Government is committed to supporting breastfeeding. Since 2011 we have invested more than £11.2m to enable Health Boards to promote breastfeeding and to support women to breastfeed for as long as they wish to do so. It is for NHS boards to take responsibility for monitoring the local breastfeeding trends for their area.

Funding is also provided to several voluntary organisations and peer support programmes including the Breastfeeding Network which provides a National Breastfeeding Helpline

In addition, we directly fund a Scottish UNICEF post and the first stage UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation. Scotland was the first country in the UK to have 100% of its maternity units meeting the UNICEF Baby Friendly best practice standards. Over 80% of our Health and Social Care Partnerships, 50% of our Universities and three (20%) of the largest Scottish Neonatal units are at stage 2 of the accreditation process.

UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Accreditation in Scotland		Maternity		HSCPs		NNU		Uni
Full accreditation	27	100%	29	80.5%	0	-	4	50%
Stage 2 accreditation	0	-	0	-	3	20%	0	-
Stage 1 accreditation	0	-	7	19.5%	0	-	1	12.5%
Certificate of commitment	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-
Intent registered/No current information	0	-	0	-	12	80%	3	37.5%

As part of our 2016 Breastfeeding Awareness week activity we created the Feedgood.scot website to support women to initiate and continue breastfeeding. This was designed following detailed insight gathering with pregnant women and mothers of young children, and has already seen higher usage than the previous site.

To further strengthen our understanding of behaviours around breastfeeding, vitamin supplementation during pregnancy and early toddler diet we have commissioned a National Maternal and Infant Nutrition Survey for Scotland, following the withdrawal of the previous UK Infant Feeding Survey, and are the only UK country to do so.

Question reference: S5F-00882

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to recent NSPCC figures, which show that thousands of children with serious mental health problems turned to Childline last year.