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-13880

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in each local authority are working on processing short-term lets licensing and applications.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 requires local authorities to establish and run licensing schemes for short-term lets in their areas. Information on staffing levels dedicated to short-term let licensing within each local authority will be held by individual local authorities, and vary based on a number of factors, including volume of activity and approach to physical property inspections.

Question reference: S6W-13878

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications local authorities have received for short-term lets licences, and how many have been (a) approved and (b) rejected.

Question reference: S6W-13774

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government about the GREAT campaign, and what estimate has been made of the value of this initiative to Scotland’s (a) economy and (b) exports.

The Scottish Government has had recent conversations with the UK Government in relation to the GREAT Talent Campaign. During this conversation, we requested a final evaluation to be shared with specific Scotland demographics.

The GREAT campaign is funded and monitored by the UK Government and questions relating to it are best directed to them. The Scottish Government does work alongside a range of partners in the Brand Scotland collaboration, which seeks to build our global reputation and present Scotland as a dynamic, fair and inclusive country in which to live/work, study, visit and do business. The campaigns run by Brand Scotland are designed to raise awareness of Scotland and can often be the first interaction between overseas businesses that encourages them to engage with our agencies on investment and buying opportunities.

An example of this is the Brand Scotland business focused campaign called Think Scotland which from April 2021 to March 2022 led to over 94 million global impressions of Scotland specific content and over 28 Million views of video content which was served directly to SDI target customers. This was supplemented with a further 500k social engagements on Scotland specific social channels and over 2 million visitor sessions to the Scotland.org website and over 379 visitor sessions to the SDI website. All of this campaign activity resulted in 873 calls, leads, enquiries being generated for relevant Inward investment or Trade teams to follow up on and a further 53 engagements generated from this activity with an estimated 650 further jobs in the pipeline for SDI to take forward.

Question reference: S6W-13881

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the (a) short-term lets sector and (b) hospitality sector about whether 12 months is an excessive amount of time for local authorities to process short-term lets applications, and whether there are plans to reduce this timescale.

Our 2021 consultation included draft guidance explaining the rationale for licence application determination times. Licensing authorities only have 12 months to determine applications made by existing hosts (those operational before 1 October 2022) during the transitional period. This is to support licensing authorities to manage the initial volume of applications they receive. During this transitional period, existing hosts are able to continue operating whilst their application is being determined.

For new hosts (those commencing operation on or after 1 October 2022), the usual 9 month determination time set out in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 applies. We understand many local authorities are prioritising these applications to provide new hosts with a timely outcome. We have no plans to alter either timescale, however, as we have already indicated, we will conduct a review of the scheme in early 2024.

Question reference: S6W-13757

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will publish its annual report on the Victims’ Right to Review scheme for 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-13879

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the scheme to equip 18,000 police officers with body-worn cameras to improve their safety will not go ahead.

In November 2022, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Resources Committee approved Police Scotland's Initial Business Case for the introduction of National Body Worn Video, ahead of consideration by the SPA Board. Once approved by the Board, Police Scotland is expected to undertake a full procurement exercise this year which will provide more clarity on costs - both upfront purchase costs and ongoing costs.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to using the resources available to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland. We have invested over £11.6 billion in policing since Police Scotland was created in 2013 and we will invest a further £1.45 billion in 2023-24. Despite cuts to the Scottish Government capital budget, we have also continued to maintain the £45.5 million capital investment in the police asset base for buildings, vehicles and technology. Operational policing decisions on the introduction and use of body worn cameras and budgetary prioritisation remain matters for Police Scotland to decide, acting under the oversight of the SPA.

Question reference: S6W-13800

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures showing that 42 inmates died in Scottish prisons in 2022-23.

The safe treatment, health, and wellbeing of all those in custody is a key priority for this Government and it is vital that people who live in our prisons are supported. It is imperative that when problems do occur, individuals receive the necessary treatment, care and respect, in a timely manner.

When anyone arrives in custody, they will have a healthcare consultation with an NHS healthcare professional within 24 hours of arrival, to identify healthcare conditions, other vulnerabilities and medication requirements. Early assessment of health needs is vital and a range of related work is being progressed with partners to improve healthcare in custody and in relation to deaths in custody.

Preventing suicide and supporting people who self-harm are key areas of focus for the Scottish Prison Service in developing its Health and Wellbeing Strategy. We continue to work closely with NHS Boards, SPS and the National Prison Care Network to implement the healthcare recommendations from the Independent Review of Deaths in Custody, as well as the Suicide Prevention Strategy and Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan.

Question reference: S6W-13775

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to mark National Pothole Day 2023.

Question reference: S6F-01753

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what steps are being taken to tackle unethical and illegal dog breeding, in light of recent reports of high value extreme breeding programmes operating in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13628

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when its representatives last met with (a) representatives and (b) the Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and what was discussed.

There are regular meetings between Scottish Government officials and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) representatives, covering a wide range of subjects. The last such meeting took place on 10 January 2023 when the MHRA Cross-UK Partnership group met. The purpose of the MHRA Cross-UK Partnership group is to ensure that officials from the devolved administrations are kept updated on key MHRA issues that may affect or involve them. At the last meeting, the MHRA Corporate Plan, its Post Implementation Review of the Human Medicines Regulations, and safety issues were discussed.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is a member of the Sodium Valproate Implementation Working Group, which is supporting the safe introduction of new measures to further strengthen the safe prescribing of sodium valproate in clinical practice. The group last met on 6 January 2023.

A meeting took place on 9 December 2022 with the Chief Medical Officers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officers and the MHRA Chief Executive was invited as a guest. Dame June Raine attended briefly on 9 December and provided an informal update on sodium valproate.