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: S5W-25274

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people completed the Fair Start Scotland scheme in the last three months, and how many (a) went into and (b) remain in employment.

The Scottish Government publish statistics relating to Fair Start Scotland (FSS) on a quarterly basis. The most recent statistics can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-devolved-employment-services-statistical-summary-3/ . Data relating to the last three months (July to September) will be published on November 27 th 2019, as pre-announced on the forthcoming statistics publication timetable (www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs).

Question reference: S5O-03652

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that reductions in teacher numbers have impacted on the implementation of the curriculum for excellence.

Question reference: S5O-03613

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what co-ordination discussions it has had with the City of Edinburgh Council, bus companies and businesses regarding congestion during the Edinburgh festivals.

Question reference: S5W-25082

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People has declined to meet following requests made since 1 March 2018 to discuss issues relating to transgender people, gender recognition reform and sex-based women's rights, broken down by the (a) date of each request and (b) reason for the decision not to meet.

Question reference: S5W-25081

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People plans to meet following requests made since 1 March 2018 to discuss issues relating to transgender people, gender recognition reform and sex-based women's rights, broken down by the (a) date of each request and (b) expected date and location of each meeting, and what topics will be discussed.

Question reference: S5W-25078

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders will be responsible for compiling the equality impact assessments for the consultation on its proposed Gender Recognition Bill, and what the basis is for their selection.

Question reference: S5W-25077

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders will be consulted regarding the equality impact assessments of the consultation on its proposed Gender Recognition Bill, and what the basis is for their selection.

As I said in my statement to Parliament on gender recognition on 20 June 2019 http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=12196&mode=pdf the consultation on the Bill will include draft impact assessments, including a comprehensive updated equality impact assessment, to ensure that all rights are protected in a balanced way. his consultation will be a public consultation, open to all. It will be available on the Scottish Government's consultation hub at https://consult.gov.scot/ .

Question reference: S5W-25080

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People has met following requests made since 1 March 2018 to discuss issues relating to transgender people, gender recognition reform and sex-based women's rights, broken down by the (a) date of each request and (b) date, duration and location of each meeting; what topics were discussed, and what commitments the cabinet secretary made.

Information on Ministerial engagements is published on the Scottish Government’s website and is at https://www.gov.scot/search/?q=Ministerial+engagements The most recent published information is for April 2019.

Since then, I met on 13 June 2019 with Louise Macdonald, Chair of First Minister’s National Advisory Group on Women and Girls; on 25 June 2019 with LGBT organisations (Equality Network, Scottish Trans Alliance, Stonewall Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland, LGBT Health and Wellbeing); on 6 August 2019 with women’s organisations (Engender, Zero Tolerance, Scottish Women’s Aid, Close the Gap and Rape Crisis Scotland) and on 21 August 2019 with LGBT organisations (Equality Network, Scottish Trans Alliance, Stonewall Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland, LGBT Health and Wellbeing).

I have also met with MSPs from across the Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-25074

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders have been or will be consulted during the development of the evidence base for the consultation on its proposed Gender Recognition Bill, and what the basis is for their selection.

The Scottish Government will work on the evidence base for the consultation in-house, using published material where available. The Scottish Government will also draw on evidence and information provided in response to the consultation on general principles in relation to gender recognition. The analysis of the responses to this consultation is at: https://consult.gov.scot/family-law/review-of-the-gender-recognition-act-2004/ .

Question reference: S5W-25076

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders will be responsible for compiling the evidence base for the consultation on its proposed Gender Recognition Bill, and what the basis is for their selection.