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: S6F-03280

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2024

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the Scottish Government’s work to roll out the Carer Support Payment.

Question reference: S6O-03626

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how citizens' assemblies can help ensure that the views of people in rural communities are taken into account in decision-making on matters of importance to rural Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27895

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase access to diabetes technologies.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies.

I am delighted to confirm that this financial year, up to £8.8 million of funding will be made available to expand access to diabetes technologies in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on providing access to all children that want Closed Loop Systems, but will also allow us to continue increasing access to adults.

This investment will allow us to continue developing innovative care models for diabetes in Scotland that have a focus on digital pathways and peer support.

Question reference: S6W-27770

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 22 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified during the course of its ongoing investigation any other public sector organisations that have been impacted by the cyber attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway infrastructure.

As part of the on-going forensic analysis, NHS Dumfries & Galloway identified that files belonging to National Records of Scotland, that were stored on the NHS D&G IT infrastructure, have been stolen as part of the cyber-attack. As National Records of Scotland are the data controller for those files, they are now considered a second victim in this incident. As such a crime report has been made to Police Scotland.

National Records of Scotland have undertaken a risk assessment and are taking appropriate actions to notify individuals that have been affected. National Records of Scotland will issue a news release later today to provide further information to members of the public.

Question reference: S6W-26990

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) the uptake and (b) any assessment that it has made of the effectiveness of the Small Producers Pilot Fund, since it was launched.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched the Small Producer Pilot Fund in December 2023 with £180,000 of funding in financial year 2023-2024 for two small-scale abattoir projects, a new information resource webpage for small producers, to develop a framework to assess small producer data, and to procure a service to deliver training courses for small producers. We are currently assessing the outcomes of the abattoir work and the website will launch shortly. This Government remains fully committed to supporting economically active small producers with £1 million in 2024-25 through the Small Producer Pilot Fund.

Question reference: S6W-26657

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported announcement from DADDS dental practice in Dumfries that it is to close, which will reportedly lead to the deregistration of 4,000 NHS patients, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to support access to dental care for people residing within the Dumfries and Galloway Council area.

We introduced major NHS dental payment reform on 1 November 2023 which includes a new fee structure designed to make it more attractive for dentists to provide NHS services, and this has generally been well received by the sector.

I acknowledge that access remains challenging in certain areas, including Dumfries and Galloway - which is why we have made tailored funding available, including grants of up to £100,000 for opening a new or extending an existing practice in the area, as well as ‘golden hello’ payments of up to £37,500 for new trainee dentists practising in the area.

Scottish Government continues to work closely with NHS Boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, to ensure they have the necessary support to offer continuity of NHS care to patients.

Question reference: S6O-03332

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist the Scottish Prison Service in the recruitment of new officers, in light of reported concerns regarding an ageing prison officer workforce.

Question reference: S6O-03293

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to reiterate the harms caused to both livestock and farmers by livestock worrying.

Question reference: S6O-03188

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with the health secretary regarding implementing the commitments contained within the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022.

Question reference: S6W-25486

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure early and consistent diagnosis of severe asthma across the NHS.

The Scottish Government’s Respiratory care - action plan: 2021 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) sets out our priorities and commitments for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions such as severe asthma.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also developing a person-centred, once for Scotland severe asthma pathway which will streamline access to advanced therapies and specialist care. This will identify people with severe asthma in the community who are struggling to manage their condition and at high risk of a poor outcome; provide a clear referral pathway through to severe asthma specialists; and provide an evidence-based framework to aid specialists in their decision-making.