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-00944

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its global affairs framework.

Question reference: S6O-00938

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve audit procedures for local authorities.

Question reference: S6O-00926

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action it is taking to tackle the reported staffing shortages within the NHS.

Question reference: S6O-00947

Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support Ukrainian refugees will receive after arriving at a welcome hub in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00927

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the provision of community first responders in island communities.

Question reference: S6W-07391

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide clarification and further details of the Changing Places toilets funding in its Programme for Government, and when the investment of £10 million, over the current parliamentary session, will be available.

The Scottish Government has committed to invest £10 million over this parliamentary term in our Programme for Government. As part of our commitment to increasing opportunities for disabled people, this funding will increase the number of changing places toilets across the country and support mobile changing places to allow people easier access to outdoor venues and events across Scotland.

Funding will commence in FY 2022-2023 and will be delivered in phases over the course of the parliamentary term. The first phase of work, currently being undertaken, is to develop the plans for the Changing Places Toilets Fund to ensure that the toilets which are built are fit-for-purpose. Further information will be available in due course.

Question reference: S6W-07139

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when South Lanarkshire Council will receive confirmation of its total allocation from the planned £60 million play park renewal fund, in order to allow the local authority to make plans on how many and what play areas to refurbish.

The Scottish Government will invest £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. This funding is for public, free-to-access parks and will be distributed to local authorities over the course of this parliamentary term.

The renewal of play parks builds on our commitment to improve outdoor play opportunities for all children and families and to realise our ambition to make Scotland the best place to grow up.

Local authorities have an existing responsibility to maintain play parks that serve their communities and this investment provides a boost in funding to accelerate local plans and improve play experiences for all children in Scotland. We have already committed £10 million since May 2021 with a further £50 million to come in this parliamentary term.

South Lanarkshire Council received £298,000 funding in 2021-22 and will receive £296,000 in 2022-23. We have worked constructively with COSLA on the first two years of funding and will continue that work to agree the allocation of the remainder of the funding.

Question reference: S6W-07224

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many residential drug rehabilitation spaces will be provided in the Highlands and Islands region from the £100 million that is to be allocated over the next five years.

Over the course of this parliament, we are working to increase overall residential rehabilitation capacity by 50%, which is an increase from 425 beds to 650 beds. We aim to increase the number of publicly funded residential rehabilitation placements by more than 300 per cent so that, by 2026, at least 1,000 people every year are publicly funded for their rehab placement.

In addition to a £13.5 million uplift to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADP), we have provided £18 million so far over the next five years to support the development of several new residential rehab projects through the Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Programme. We recognise that there are structural differences around funding and availability of residential services in different parts of the country, but we are working to address this by exploring options around regional and national commissioning of residential rehabilitation placements.

While it is the role and responsibility of local ADPs to assess and allocate placements we are committed to increasing transparency and accountability for these services. This is why we have tasked Public Health Scotland with producing a quarterly report on funded placements. The next report will be published April 2022 and will cover the period of October to December 2021.

We recently published a suite of reports on the current pathways into, through and out of residential rehabilitation. We will be working closely with ADPs to aid the development of clear pathways into residential rehabilitation, which will facilitate an increase to publicly funded placements across the country.

Question reference: S6W-07096

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its proposed Deposit Return Scheme, what consideration (a) it and (b) Circularity Scotland has given to the potential impact on distributers and wholesalers in Scotland of a need for two separate SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units), in particular in relation to (i) cost and (ii) space implications, in light of the plans for separate labelling requirements for Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S6W-07342

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any (a) environmental, (b) financial and (c) other impact of ash dieback, and what (i) action it is taking and (ii) support it has offered to relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, to deal with ash dieback.

Ash dieback is impacting rural and urban landscapes and ecosystems. Current evidence indicates that at least 50% – 75% of Scotland’s approximately 11 million mature ash trees could be lost to this disease over the next two decades.

a) Environmental impacts: Ash trees play an important role in Scottish ecosystems, and support many other species such as invertebrates, birds and lichens. Ecosystem continuity is a key concern for the long-term recovery of affected landscapes.

b) Financial impacts: Current estimates suggest that ash dieback could potentially cost Scotland in the range of £4 million - £20 million per annum as the disease progresses.

c) Other impacts: The safety of arboricultural and forestry professionals as well as the public is a central emerging issue, as ash dieback and associated secondary pathogens can lead to tree brittleness, potential branch shedding and root weakness. Priority needs to be given to ash trees showing significant health issues in higher risk locations such as near public roads, paths, railways and utilities infrastructure.

i) Action Scottish Government is taking:

Scottish Forestry convened the Ash Dieback Risk Group in January 2020. The group, which brings together expertise from local authorities and sectors such as forestry, transport, utilities and nature conservation, was formed to provide a forum for sharing experience and coordinating actions, and to help advise the Scottish Government on policy development relating to the management of ash dieback.

ii) Support the Scottish Government has offered to relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, to deal with ash dieback:

Scottish Forestry has worked with The Tree Council to produce a Scottish Toolkit for Ash Dieback Action Plans to help Scottish local authorities, public bodies and other large-scale land owners and managers to prepare their own Ash Dieback Action Plans in response to the inevitable safety and environmental issues that affected trees will create.