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: S5O-03044

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the take up is of the credit union payroll deduction.

Question reference: S5O-02997

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that social housing is affordable to tenants.

Question reference: S5O-02919

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Social Security Scotland has a diverse workforce reflective of society.

Question reference: S5O-02734

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure inclusive growth in Ayrshire.

Question reference: S5W-20209

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when its new drug and alcohol strategy will be published.

I will be publishing the Scottish Government’s new drug and alcohol strategy Rights, Respect and Recovery, on Wednesday 28 November.

The document is the overarching strategy for prevention and treatment of alcohol and drugs and sets out how we intend to prevent and reduce alcohol and drug use, harm and related deaths.

Sitting alongside the Alcohol Framework for preventing harm which was published last week (20 November), this document describes how we will achieve our vision which is to have a country where individuals, families and communities:

Have the right to health and life – free from the harms of alcohol and drugs
Are treated with dignity and respect
And are fully supported within communities to find their own type of recovery

The strategy contains a number of high level commitments and we will work with partners to coproduce a clear action plan and review progress on a regular basis.

The strategy will be available at www.gov.scot/isbn/9781787810747.

Question reference: S5W-19772

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has with the UN regarding poverty and human rights.

Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visited Scotland on 8 and 9 November 2018 and held meetings with the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work, the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government and myself. He also held two roundtable meetings with Scottish Government officials, covering social security and the benefits system, and human rights and tackling poverty. Professor Alston’s wider programme included meetings with civil society representatives and members of the Scottish Parliament Equalities and Human Rights Committee.

Scotland’s record in implementing civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights is examined on a cyclical basis under the seven UN human rights treaties to which the UK is a party, as well as through the Universal Periodic Review process coordinated by the UN Human Rights Council. All human rights are interrelated and interdependent, and poverty is an important cross-cutting theme that is relevant across all human rights treaties. Recent Scottish Government position statements and further background information can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/policies/human-rights/our-international-obligations/ .

Question reference: S5O-02512

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its budget it has allocated for city deals.

Question reference: S5F-02679

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2018

To ask the First Minister what impact the Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse in Scotland has had since its introduction in 2015.

Question reference: S5O-02365

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Ayrshire Growth Deal.

I met with Ayrshire Growth Deal partners last month to reiterate the Scottish Government’s commitment to agreeing a deal, with the aim of supporting investments that will boost inclusive economic growth.

I recognise the hard work that partners have put into developing deal proposals. My officials continue to engage with Ayrshire and UK Government colleagues to maintain collective pace and focus on reaching a heads of terms agreement as soon as possible.

Question reference: S5W-18541

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to rape crisis centres.

In 2018-19, the Scottish Government will provide £50K each to 16 rape crisis centres across the country. Thanks to our support, a 17th centre will open later this month in Moray. We are also providing Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis Centre with one-off funding of £35K to support advocacy, encourage reporting and work with young people.

In addition Rape Crisis centres also receive funding for specific pieces of work through the Equally Safe (Violence against Women and Girls) Fund. These include projects such as the Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (RASAC) Perth and Kinross’ Pathways to Prevention or the Ruby Project by Greater Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis.

We provide £1.7 million in funding to 2018-20 the Rape Crisis Scotland’s National Advocacy Project, to provide advocacy workers in each local Rape Crisis centre.

On 4 September the First Minister announced that a further £2 million over three years to speed up access to support for those affected by rape or sexual assault. This includes £1.5 million for rape crisis centres, with that funding starting from October 2018 so it can start to make a difference immediately.