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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-19383

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to maintain patient access to oncology services when oncologists move to another area or retire.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for workforce development with the NHS, it is up to the individual health boards on how to best undertake recruitment planning requirements.

Additionally, the National Oncology Coordination Group has been commissioned to support a coordinated and collaborative operational response to immediate service pressures, like retirees or moves.

Question reference: S6W-19377

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research carried out on behalf of The Open University in Scotland, which reportedly found that less than a third of businesses have heard of the Scottish Funding Council Upskilling Fund and the Part-time Fee Grant.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people can learn as flexibly as possible fitting in with individuals' life circumstances. That is why SG provide funding through Scottish Funding Council (SFC) for the Upskilling Fund and the Part-Time Fee Grant (PTFG) to provide this flexibility to learners looking to study shorter courses or study in their spare time.

We are seeing good evidence of employer engagement across the country on the Upskilling Fund, currently in its fourth year, in a range of curriculum areas. Institutions are working with a large number of employers, including: Scottish Power, FirstPort, NUF Scotland as well as with local authorities and NHS Scotland. The SFC are planning a full evaluation of the fund’s effectiveness and the report can be expected in Spring 2024.

As part of the support package provided by Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS), SAAS continue to actively promote this support through a combination of funding awareness sessions, online campaigns, and through both the Student Information Scotland website and the SAAS website.

Question reference: S6W-19288

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints it has received in each of the last 10 years, from people who rely on medical equipment at home, in relation to power outages.

Question reference: S6W-19279

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing in partnership across the UK to explore the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care.

Question reference: S6W-19751

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its paper, A Culture Strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide an update on how it is working with (a) Creative Scotland and (b) its international offices, to encourage international cultural exchange and collaboration in order to facilitate opportunities across the culture sector.

Question reference: S6W-19503

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress regarding the recommendations made in June 2021's National Review of Eating Disorder Services.

We published an update on our progress delivering the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services in April 2023. This can be found here: National Review of Eating Disorder Services Implementation Group: final report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We have made good progress responding to the short-term recommendations made by the National Review and will shortly establish the National Eating Disorder Network which will support us to deliver on the remaining long-term recommendations.

Since the Review published in 2021, we have:

Provided funding to NHS Boards, including £5 million in 2021/22 to respond to the rise in eating disorder referrals we saw during the pandemic, and £46 million in 2022/23 via the 2022-23 Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services, including eating disorder services.
Established the Eating Disorder Lived Experience Panel to support us to deliver the remaining recommendations from the National Review.
Initiated the development of Quality Standards for Eating Disorder Care and Treatment in Scotland (which we will be consulting on this summer).
Provided over £600,000 annually to Beat to provide a range of self-help and carer support programmes in Scotland.
Commissioned NHS Benchmarking to undertake a “deep dive” into Eating Disorders services and their data, to support us to target future funding appropriately.

Question reference: S6W-19513

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of food poverty rates in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Health Survey , which is commissioned by the Scottish Government, asked respondents whether they were worried about running out of food. The most recent data was published on 8 November 2022 and found that in Aberdeen City 10% of people were worried they would run out of food compared to a figure for Scotland as a whole of 9%. For Aberdeenshire Council a slightly lower figure of 8% of people reported they were worried they would run out of food.

Question reference: S6W-18681

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 5 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which current cabinet secretaries and ministers have not undertaken unconscious bias training since taking up their posts.

Question reference: S6W-19426

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will introduce the devolved Air Departure Tax to align aviation policy with Scotland’s climate change goals.

As outlined in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, the Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Air Departure Tax when a solution to the Highlands and Islands exemption issue has been found. The Scottish Government is carefully considering the implications for this of the UK subsidy control regime that was introduced by the UK Government in January 2023.

Until Air Departure Tax is introduced, the UK Government will maintain the application of Air Passenger Duty in Scotland.

We will review Air Passenger Duty rates and bands ahead of the introduction of the devolved Air Departure Tax to ensure that our policy aligns with our climate change goals, including the possibility of a higher tax for more polluting aircraft, while maintaining our commitment to retain the Highlands and Islands exemption.

Question reference: S6W-19128

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review and develop how individual carer support plans are used.

Local Authorities and Integration Authorities are responsible for adult carer support plans and young carer statements in line with the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and the associated statutory guidance.

The Care Inspectorate looked at practice and outcomes from adult carer support plans as part of its Inquiry into adult carers’ experiences of social work and social care services, published in December 2022. The annual Carers Census also collects information on support planning. The Scottish Government is using the results of both exercises, together with informal feedback from stakeholders to focus our actions to promote improvement and sharing of good practice, including those commitments set out in the National Carers Strategy.

Key activities include:

networks for local statutory carer leads and managers of local carer centres and young carer services;
training resources for front line staff;
improvement work with local organisations led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.