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-13017

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, prior to announcing its decision to revise the licensing of misoprostol to allow it to be taken outside of a hospital or clinic, and in the absence of medical staff, for the purpose of carrying out an abortion, what assessment it made of the (a) scope for the drug not to be taken at home, including the safety aspects of this, and (b) action it can to ensure that it is taken at home only.

The Scottish Government has used powers under the 1967 Abortion Act to class a patient’s home as a place where abortion treatment can be carried out in specific circumstances, in order to enable women for whom it is appropriate to take misoprostol at home.

A range of safety issues were considered, in consultation with NHS specialists in abortion care, prior to this change being made including the possibility that a woman might take misoprostol in a location other than her own home.

It is the responsibility of the clinician caring for a woman to ensure that she understands the requirement to take misoprostol at home, and can make suitable arrangements to do this.

Question reference: S5W-13020

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it began consulting stakeholders regarding its decision to revise the licensing of misoprostol to allow it to be taken outside of a hospital or clinic, and in the absence of medical staff, for the purpose of carrying out an abortion; for what reason it did not carry out a public consultation on the decision, and what action it has taken to take account of public opinion on the matter.

The Scottish Government has used powers under the 1967 Abortion Act to class a patient’s home as a place where abortion treatment can be carried out in some circumstances, in order to enable women for whom it is clinically appropriate to take misoprostol at home.

The Scottish Government has no plans to consult on this decision.

As part of on-going work to support improvements to abortion services in Scotland, the Scottish Government regularly engages with NHS specialists in abortion care. This enables policy considerations to be informed by the expertise and experience of staff working directly with women accessing abortion services, thereby enabling the views of these women to be taken into account.

Question reference: S5W-13015

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted a pilot exercise to establish the safety of allowing misoprostol to be taken outside of a hospital or clinic, and in the absence of medical staff, for the purpose of carrying out an abortion and, if so, whether it will publish the results, and what other action it has taken to determine the safety of the practice.

Patient safety is a priority for the Scottish Government. Allowing women to take misoprostol outwith a hospital setting where clinically appropriate is standard practice in other countries, including France, Sweden and Portugal and is supported by research studies demonstrating both its safety and effectiveness, and its acceptability to women.

Prior to this approach being permitted in Scotland, many women undergoing an early medical abortion would have taken misoprostol in a clinical setting, and then immediately travelled home in order to pass the pregnancy at home. Allowing misoprostol to be taken at home removes the need for an additional journey to a clinic, and the risk of a woman starting to pass the pregnancy while travelling to her home.

Question reference: S5O-01588

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government's decision to do so, whether it will bring forward the linking of non-domestic rates poundage to CPI from 2020 to April 2018.

Question reference: S5O-01406

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on equality and human rights for older people.

Question reference: S5W-11898

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 31 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in response to the findings of the its reports, Evidence Assessment of the Impacts of the Criminalisation of the Purchase of Sex: A Review and Exploring available knowledge and evidence on prostitution in Scotland via practitioner-based interviews, and what plans it has to announce updated proposals for addressing prostitution.

19 responses were received which are currently being considered.

The Scottish Government believes it is important and necessary to listen to the views and understand the experiences of those with direct experience. We have engaged with a number of individuals who either are or have been engaged in prostitution to understand their real life experiences. Full consideration of these discussions as well as the outcome of research reports and the feedback thereto will help inform consideration of future prostitution policy in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-11744

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Lothian receives less funding than it should expect under the NRAC allocation formula and, if so, for what reason.

As part of the Scottish Government’s 2017-18 Budget, NHS Territorial Boards have received inflationary uplifts of £136 million (1.5%) and NRAC parity funding of £50 million. This delivers increased funding of 2.1% and takes all Boards to within 1% of NRAC parity.

Given year-to-year movements in the NRAC target allocations, it would not have been appropriate or possible to move NHS Lothian (or any other Board below parity) to absolute parity as this would require an equivalent reduction in funding for those Boards, such as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, that are above parity. Given the potentially detrimental immediate impact that such a move would cause, this is not an option that the Scottish Government would pursue.

Since 2015-16 NHS Lothian has received additional funding of £40 million in order to accelerate funding parity in line with the NRAC formula. Any future NRAC parity funding will be directed to those Boards that are below parity. To support Boards in their planning assumptions, three year forecasts for NRAC shares are now published.

Question reference: S5W-11105

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many press releases it has issued since 1 June 2016 on the nine protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010, broken down by characteristic.

Question reference: S5W-10960

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10389 by Kevin Stewart on 9 August 2017, what action it is taking to tackle anti-Catholic prejudice specifically.

Our Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities action plan contains a number of actions around tackling hate crime, including the establishment of a multi-agency delivery group and expert advisory panel to progress the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion; a national hate crime awareness raising campaign which will be launched in the autumn; and consideration of the findings of Lord Bracadale's independent review of hate crime legislation.

The role of education is recognised as critical in this regard, and we are committed to progressing the implementation of our new relationships and behaviour policy; publishing a refreshed approach to anti-bullying, including prejudice-based bullying; considering learning from evaluation of the education inspection indicator relating to inclusion, working with Education Scotland to ensure that best practice is disseminated; and exploring further the potential of youth work (as a model of peer-led intervention) to contribute to tackling hate crime and prejudice.

We will continue to work closely with representatives of the Catholic Church and other key stakeholders as we implement these actions.

For information, a full list of action commitments in this area can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/1336/5.

Question reference: S5O-01288

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will review its guidance on mobile phone use in primary schools.