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-09127

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 27 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to make accessible toilets only for use by disabled people, and not for general use by non-disabled people as a gender-neutral toilet.

The Scottish Government is developing a new Disability Equality Strategy, working in collaboration with Disabled People’s Organisations. The development process provides the opportunity to consider the priority issues affecting disabled people in Scotland, including accessibility.

Everyone should have access to the toilet facilities they need. Under the Equality Act 2010, individual businesses and organisations are responsible for ensuring that they make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of disabled people. Responsibility for oversight of compliance with the 2010 Act rests with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

In 2019 we revised Scottish building standards and introduced a requirement for Changing Places Toilets (CPTs) to be installed in certain types of large new non-domestic buildings (for example large retail buildings; secondary schools providing community facilities; hospitals; and passenger stations for air, rail, road, or sea travel). CPTs are facilities suitable for use by people whose care needs are more complex. In addition to standard facilities, they provide additional space for assistants, an adult-sized changing bench, and a hoist.

The Scottish Government committed in our 2021-2022 Programme for Government to invest £10 million in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term. This will increase the number of Changing Places Toilets across the country, and support mobile changing places to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues around the country.

These facilities will make a real difference to disabled people and their families. The first phase of this work is underway to establish the application and assessment criteria, to ensure the Changing Places Toilets which are delivered are fit for purpose.

Question reference: S6O-01257

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on police pay negotiations.

Question reference: S6O-01223

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to promote the creation of mid-market rental accommodation in the Lothians.

Question reference: S6O-01129

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of Social Security Scotland’s efficiency in delivering benefits.

Question reference: S6W-08470

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, how many (a) emergency calls and (b) ambulance call-outs recorded in the Scottish Ambulance Service call log have included the field search "abortion", in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-08035

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 13 May 2022

To ask the Government how it plans to mitigate fuel poverty among social housing tenants, in light of the recent energy price cap increase and the data from the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce showing that over one third of social tenants already experience fuel poverty.

We recognise the importance of upgrading the energy efficiency of homes in order to make them more affordable to heat. Regulation of energy efficiency in the social housing sector has already ensured that it has the most energy efficient housing stock of any tenure, and this will continue to improve as the sector works to comply with EESSH2. This requires that all social housing meets, or can be treated as meeting, EPC Band B (Energy Efficiency rating), or is as energy efficient as practically possible, by the end of December 2032, within the limits of cost, technology and necessary consent.

In addition our Social Housing Net Zero Head Fund is making at least £200 million available to registered social landlords to help install zero emission heating systems and improve energy efficiency in social housing during this parliamentary session.

We also recognise that social housing tenants are more likely to experience fuel poverty than the general population. That is why we have been working in partnership with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to ensure a proportion of our Fuel Insecurity Fund can be distributed through social landlords directly to their tenants who are struggling with their energy bills. £4.4 million has been delivered in this way since 2020-21 and we have recently allocated a further £10 million to the Fuel Insecurity Fund to allow it to continue during the current financial year.

Question reference: S6O-01106

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to remote and rural communities in the Lothian region.

Question reference: S6W-08038

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement SQA psychologists had in the development of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic advice and guidance that the SQA provided to schools regarding the examinations diet.

Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), established under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. It operates at arm’s length to Ministers and is responsible for making its own evidentially based operational decisions.

I have asked the SQA to reply.

SQA has advised that it does not employ psychologists and their guidance draws on a range of teams and specialisms.

Question reference: S6W-08039

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is no statistical data available from the SQA that could be used to asses whether there are any differences in pass rates for exams taken (a) pre-COVID-19 pandemic and (b) during the pandemic for those (i) with a neuro-divergent diagnosis and (ii) without such a diagnosis.

I have asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to reply.

While information is available for children and young people with additional support needs, neither Scottish Government nor SQA collect specific data on candidates who may have a neuro-divergent diagnosis. The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) requires education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. The provision of additional support is based on need for educational support rather than a diagnosis alone.

Where a school is presenting a candidate with additional support needs for examination, if appropriate, a request can be made to SQA for a reasonable adjustment, such as additional time or a scribe. The requests from centres do not require or provide any detail on the range of additional support needs or disabilities that learners have.

Question reference: S6W-08136

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 6 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some Scottish Child Payments and Child Disability Payments were not made on time in the week beginning 11 April 2022, and whether it will confirm how many individuals did not receive their payments on time.

Due to an unexpected system error 19,881 Scottish Child Payment clients and 1,284 Child Disability Payment clients who were due to receive their regular payment throughout week commencing Monday 18 April experienced a delay of one working day. Social Security Scotland contacted those impacted to let them know in advance. For clarity, they have received all of their payments.

Implementing our improved social security system and work to continually improve this - for example further uprating benefits to help tackle the cost of living crisis - is not without its technical challenges. There are processes in place to mitigate risk and when issues do arise our priority is ensuring people get the money they are due as quickly as possible and protecting those who are the most vulnerable. The unexpected cause of this delay has been identified and rectified.