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: S6O-01792

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 will improve rail infrastructure, journey times and rail connectivity across the South Scotland region.

Question reference: S6W-13387

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the National Carers Strategy.

The Scottish Government has published the National Carers Strategy today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253037

The National Carers Strategy sets out actions on COVID-19 recovery, the cost crisis and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy focuses on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

The Scottish Government will deliver a statement to parliament in the new year, subject to the agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau.

Question reference: S6W-13366

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in developing health and social care workforce demand projections, in line with the National Workforce Strategy published in March 2022.

Extensive work has already taken place to develop projections for the health and social care workforce, including engagement with stakeholders to understand different user needs, and actively including these in the specification for the Projections.

Early conclusions from the developing projections model indicate:

Further workforce growth, from current record staffing levels in Health and Social Care, will be required between now and 2030, across the health and social care workforce, to successfully respond to known demographic trends within Scotland’s population.
The relationship between service demand and workforce demand is heavily influenced by other factors including the development of new roles and the reform of existing job roles, alongside evolutions in service models, investment in technology and, artificial intelligence and new skills.

Projected workforce demand in the short-medium term will continue to be managed through a portfolio approach to operational workforce planning, in accordance with the framework set out in the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

Through this approach we continue to invest, at historically high levels, in the education and training of pre-registration healthcare professionals, continue to invest in widening access, apprenticeships, role diversification and role reform, and continue to invest in ethical and proportionate international recruitment of qualified health and care staff, to supplement domestic supply routes, in line with projected needs.

We aim to set out high level conclusions from projections in the coming months. Clearly, these projections are iterative and will respond to and change depending on emerging evidence and data.

Question reference: S6W-13038

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been allocated for the construction of Changing Places toilets in the South Scotland region since the creation of its £10 million Changing Places toilet fund.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the South Scotland Region and country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

Funding for the construction of Changing Places Toilets has not yet been allocated. We are progressing the first phase of work in order to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose. Further information about this fund will be available next year. We have recently published our Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide and an accompanying easy read for people who are planning to develop Changing Places Toilets now.

Question reference: S6W-13353

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the commitments that it made jointly with COSLA in its Statement of Intent, published in March 2021, and when it will set out further joint commitments with COSLA to continue to bring about improvements to the social care sector.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have today jointly published a new Statement of Intent. It is available on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253778 .

This new Statement of Intent will report on the progress of the commitments made in our joint Statement of Intent published in March 2021, and sets out additional actions we will take across the next 12 – 18 months to bring about improvements to the delivery of social care support.

Question reference: S6W-12183

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angela Constance on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the supply and distribution of naloxone.

Today the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has issued a Caution in Use Notice alert, reporting that a number of injectable naloxone kits have been supplied across the UK, including Scotland, which may have missing needles.

The product, Prenoxad ® , is an injectable form of naloxone. A pack normally contains two needles. The problem emerged when it was reported that a very limited number of Prenoxad ® packs in a batch marketed in France were missing needles. This was the case in three packs out of a batch of 9,000.

Although I have received no reports of UK packs with missing needles to date, the potential for packs to contain fewer than two needles in all distributed batches cannot be ruled out. We do know, however, that kits from batches that could potentially be affected have been distributed in Scotland and we are therefore advising people to check their kits and to replace any that are incomplete.

In response to the Caution in Use Notice, the Scottish Government has taken immediate action to advise healthcare professionals on how to identify and replace kits which may have been supplied without needles.

In addition, we have issued guidance on this to third sector partners who have been distributing kits to individuals. We are also working with stakeholders to produce clear, illustrated guidance on how people can check their kits, for third sector partners and others to share with people who carry their own naloxone kits.

I am acting quickly to ensure that kits are complete, because the wide supply and carriage of naloxone is a key part of our National Mission to improve and save lives. Naloxone remains a safe medication to use in response to a life-threatening overdose and I am determined that this potential defect should not disrupt its use in Scotland or reduce public confidence in the naloxone programme.

Question reference: S6O-01507

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government regarding any impact in Scotland of a potential veterinary agreement between the UK and the European Union to enable regulatory alignment of sanitary and phytosanitary products moving between the UK and the EU.

To date, there has been no constructive engagement from the UK Government on a Veterinary Agreement based on regulatory alignment. It is Scottish Government policy to continue to align with EU standards. If the UK Government were to engage and agree to this, it would make a UK-EU veterinary agreement straightforward and eliminate many trade barriers. Unfortunately the UK Government’s refusal to engage prevents this from happening. We continue to urge the UK Government to explore the possibility of such an agreement at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S6O-01455

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the provision of community policing, including community safety patrols, in the South Scotland region.

Question reference: S6W-11316

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to introduce a statutory obligation on Scottish public sector bodies to procure, where possible, from Scottish manufacturers and suppliers.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 places a Sustainable Procurement Duty on public bodies to consider how procurement processes can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area, and facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector bodies and supported businesses. This might, for example, mean designing a tender in such a way as to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to local firms bidding.

The World Trade Organisation Agreement on Government Procurement, and other international agreements, require bidders from other countries party to those agreements to be afforded equal treatment in covered procurement exercises. It would not therefore be possible to oblige public bodies to procure from Scottish manufacturers and suppliers.

Question reference: S6W-11315

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Maree Todd on 30 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the further investigations into the increase of neonatal deaths in March 2022.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to lead a national review to understand any contributing factors to the increase in neonatal mortality during 2021-22. The review will cover reported neonatal deaths across Scotland between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 and be informed by relevant data and clinical expertise. It will assess and determine whether there are any themes, underlying causes or safety factors that have contributed to the increased neonatal mortality rate, from both a clinical and system perspective. Key learning points will be identified and recommendations for improvements in the quality of care should be made.

Families affected by this review can seek support from a number of organisations, should they wish to do so. Further information on help available can be found at: www.mygov.scot/child-baby-death and on the National Bereavement Care Pathways Scotland website at: www.nbcpscotland.org.uk/covid-19/signposting-support/