Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-06487

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05454 by Kevin Stewart on 27 January 2022, how many NHS boards are receiving "enhanced support" to meet the standard that 90% of children and young people begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Question reference: S6W-06485

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current percentage is of children and young people who are starting treatment from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) within 18 weeks of referral.

Question reference: S6O-00810

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that farms are at the cutting edge of innovation and technology.

Question reference: S6W-06244

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many bikes have been repaired through the Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme in each year since 2020.

Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) originally targeted to deliver 20,000 cycle repairs or services to people in Scotland, focusing on those that need the support the most. Repairs and servicing are provided through a network of over 300 shops, retailers, community organisations and sole traders. There have been two iterations of the scheme and the number of bikes repaired during each is as follows;

First iteration of Aug 2020 – May 2021: 31,562 bikes were repaired

Second iteration of Nov 2021 – May 2022: 8,153 bikes have been repaired so far.

Question reference: S6W-06245

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many free bikes have been given to school pupils since May 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06238

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05456 by Patrick Harvie on 31 January 2022, what the phrase, “where technically feasible and cost-effective to do so", means in practice.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy confirms our intention to introduce – subject to consultation later this year – regulations requiring Scotland’s homes and other buildings to meet EPC Band C equivalent by 2033, where that is technically feasible and cost effective.

We have previously consulted, in December 2019, on proposals to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards in owner occupied housing, which included potential options for defining cost effectiveness and technical feasibility. We are further developing these definitions ahead of the planned consultation later this year, and in light of comments received to the 2019 consultation, the findings of which were published in February 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06488

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of secondary schools currently have access to a mental health counsellor.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.

The commitment to invest in school counselling ensures that every secondary school has access to counselling services, whilst also improving the ability of local primary and special schools to access counselling. Our local authority partners have confirmed this is now in place across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-06490

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many prison deaths there were in 2021.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05574 on 20 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-06239

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many free laptops, Chromebooks or tablets have been given to schoolchildren since May 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device by the end of this parliament. This is a highly complex and ambitious commitment that requires careful partnership planning. Since May 2021, we have been working with local authorities to prepare the system and the people in it for a wider rollout of devices.

Local authorities across Scotland also have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those local approaches. COSLA have reported that 122,000 devices (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government) have now been distributed. However, it is our view that this is an underestimation.

Question reference: S6W-06243

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates it will cost to "replace when needed and upgrade as technology improves" the laptops, Chromebooks and tablets given to every school child in Scotland.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean