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-00259

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-00263

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Swedish national system of collective rent bargaining through a national union of tenants would help to address any housing issues in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00261

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the problem of gulls in urban areas in the north east and Moray.

Question reference: S6O-00262

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the James Hutton Institute report on the impact on human health and the environment arising from the spreading of sewage sludge on land.

Question reference: S6O-00265

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is giving to maintain bus services in the Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency.

Question reference: S6O-00264

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent comments from Cancer Research UK regarding cancer survival rates in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00260

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the latest estimate is of the public cost of procuring the ferries MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802.

Question reference: S6W-03412

Asked by: Joe FitzPatrick, MSP for Dundee City West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ash Denham on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report and recommendations of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel.

I thank the members of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel for the careful consideration taken over the recommendations in its report.

We will carefully consider the recommendations in the Report and these will help shape future reform to the legal aid system.

In particular, I welcome the recommendation that further research is needed to ensure that fees are set at appropriate levels, therefore we will now begin the process of commissioning that research and will continue to engage with stakeholders throughout that process.

Legal Aid Payment Review Panel: report to the Minister for Community Safety

Question reference: S6W-03408

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS will continue on the emergency footing that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care previously extended to 30 September 2021.

Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. Whilst we are beginning to see a reduction in the numbers of new Covid cases, the last few weeks have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.

With the continued increased demands on services across health and social care, we must ensure that the vital services provided by our NHS are protected as we move into a challenging winter period. This means we must continue with a measured and consistent approach to remobilising and renewing across our system, learning from the pressures we were subjected to over the last year and maintaining the ability to quickly respond and intervene, where necessary. I am also mindful of the impact of these pressures on our excellent health and care staff, many of whom have been on the frontline of the Covid response for a considerable period.

It is clear that as we move into the winter period, we need to continue to balance the capacity of the NHS to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic against increasing demands of emergency, urgent and planned care and delayed discharges.

With this in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on an emergency footing until at least 31 March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-03227

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms, other than local authority byelaws, it would consider appropriate to create protest-free buffer zones outside clinics that provide abortion services.

All women in Scotland should have access to abortion services without feeling harassed or intimidated when accessing these services. Local authorities may wish to consider using their byelaw powers to put in place protest-free buffer zones outside clinics that provide abortion services where the specific circumstances justify imposing those measures. We have made a commitment in our Programme for Government to support any local authority who wishes to use bye-laws in this way.