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-01122

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of mental health education or training are provided to student teachers during each course provide by each of the 11 education institutions.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is the independent, regulatory body for the teaching profession and are responsible for the accreditation and approval of all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. They will only approve programmes which meet the requirements in their Guidelines for Accreditation of ITE Programmes. The Framework specifically asks how student teachers are supported to develop an understanding of a range of pedagogy approaches in a number of key areas. One of the key areas is health and wellbeing education with mental health education being included in this theme.

ITE providers regularly meet to discuss the quality of their provision and, on 8 June, held a symposium covering health and wellbeing. The learning from this symposium will inform future revisions to programmes.

Question reference: S6W-01220

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish revised wedding guidance in advance of future changes to COVID-19 restrictions in order to allow the industry and couples to better plan the day.

Question reference: S6W-01170

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the performance recorded for 2020 against the Employee Voice indicator in the National Performance Framework includes workers across all sectors of the transport industry.

The Employee Voice indicator in the National Performance Framework draws on data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is run by the Office for National Statistics. This is the largest household study in the UK and provides the official measures of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity.

Performance of the Employee Voice indicator is determined by a change of ±1.5 percentage points between the current year’s headline (i.e. all of Scotland) figure and the previous year’s headline figure.

The system of sampling used for the LFS provides a representative sample of the population at a regional level, but provides no guarantee of adequate coverage of any individual industry (as the survey is not industrially stratified). Industry category is self-reported by respondents participating in the survey and questions relating to collective agreements on pay are asked in the October to December survey period.

As a result, the Employee Voice indicator is based on a sample that is representative for Scotland as a whole, but may or may not be representative for any particular industry within Scotland.

Therefore, the Employee Voice indicator will have sampled workers from the transport industry, but those included in the sample may not cover all the sectors within that industry.

Question reference: S6W-01289

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress is being made with abolishing non-residential care charges.

Question reference: S6W-01473

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-01476

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-00919

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the research studies and clinical trials that have taken place in a number of countries to determine whether ivermectin could be used to treat COVID-19.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK agency responsible for the approval of both clinical trials in the UK and of marketing authorisations (licences) for new medicinal products.

The MHRA is aware that ivermectin, administered orally, is being studied for safety and efficacy in numerous clinical trials worldwide. This includes an exploratory study being conducted within the UK: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04632706 . Potential new therapeutic approaches to COVID-19 are being tested through the UK-wide platform trials, including RECOVERY, PRINCIPLE and REMAP CAP. These trials are active in Scotland. The PRINCIPLE study is a UK-wide clinical trial led by the University of Oxford, evaluating potential treatments for COVID-19 including ivermectin.

The Scottish Government is closely monitoring all emerging evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments and their clinical effectiveness in particular patient groups to ensure medicines with the greatest impact in treating COVID-19 are available for patients in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-00708

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) bodies it has met and (b) discussions it has had regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacies and their future operating practices.

The Scottish Government continue to meet and work collaboratively with the recognised representative body for community pharmacy contractors in Scotland, Community Pharmacy Scotland.

Discussions have included the pharmacy networks response to the COVID-19 pandemic, additional support provided to the community pharmacy teams in providing a safe working environment and access to mental health and wellbeing support. The delivery of current and development of future pharmaceutical care service to support the NHS recovery from the pandemic and the impact of the pandemic to the financial sustainability of pharmacy network and the Scottish Drug Tariff.

Officials have also met with NHS Board Directors of Pharmacy to discuss the provision of pharmaceutical care services.

Question reference: S6W-00813

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its review of funding arrangements for student allied health professionals.

Question reference: S6W-00809

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to preserve and increase the stock of grey partridge.

Work to preserve and increase the stock of grey partridge has traditionally been led by shooting interests such as the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

GWCT lead on the PARTRIDGE project in the UK, supported by the EU via the Interreg North Sea Region programme. It show-cases how new and improved management solutions can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services at 10 demonstration sites across the region. There are two demonstration sites in Scotland at Balgonie Farm in Fife and Whitburgh Farms in East Lothian promoting land management techniques specifically to benefit grey partridge https://northsearegion.eu/partridge/ .

More widely, the protection of Scotland’s biodiversity is a key priority for the Scottish Government, and we are committed to doing more to safeguard our species and habitats. Our high level Statement of Intent on biodiversity, published in December 2020, signalled our ambitions for biodiversity in Scotland, and the development of a new post-2020 biodiversity strategy. We have committed £7 million to date to the Biodiversity Challenge Fund and recently launched a new £10 million Nature Restoration Fund to help finance projects that support nature recovery and address climate change. Action to restore biodiversity is also central to our Green Recovery from Covid-19.