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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.

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Question reference: S5W-29482

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet its commitment to ensure that every secondary school has counselling services by September 2020.

It is expected that the commitment to ensure access to a counsellor in every secondary school from September 2020 will be met. The mental health and wellbeing support being put in place by local authorities, including providing access to counsellors, is a crucial aspect for supporting children and young people’s mental health, both in the current period of closures and as we seek to recover from COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-29486

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many school nurses are currently in place, and how many new school nursing posts have been filled in each of the last three academic years.

NHSScotland Workforce statistics, including school nurses, are published on a quarterly basis and can be found on the NHS Education for Scotland Nursing and Midwifery dashboard here: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/nhsscotland-workforce/publications/02-june-2020/dashboards/nursing-and-midwifery/

Information on school nursing posts filled is not held centrally, but by individual NHS Boards. The quarterly workforce publication includes vacancy information.

Question reference: S5W-29504

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the evidence given by Richard Lochhead to the Education and Skills Committee on 20 May 2020 regarding the take-up of student hardship funding following the COVID-19 outbreak (Official Report, c. 31), in light of the minister’s comment that “I hope that, by the end of this week or early next week, we will have a report on the take-up so far of the hardship funds at institutional level, and on what the institutions are finding are the reasons why people are asking for hardship funding”, whether this report has been received and, if so, whether it will publish the findings.

As of 15 May, £837K of the additional £2.2M Higher Education Discretionary Funds issued to colleges and universities in April, had been spent.

The information provided by institutions focused on the spend on the funds rather than the reasons students were requesting support. However, anecdotal evidence from Student Awards Agency Scotland shows that the demand is centred on a number of reasons, including:

- Childcare costs

- Lack of availability of student employment because of Covid-19

- Financial impact of Covid-19 on households

- Digital poverty impact on increased remote learning

While there are no plans to publish details of the individual spending by institutions, officials will seek to undertake similar exercises throughout the rest of the year to continue to monitor spending patterns across the sector.

Question reference: S5W-29455

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement by the First Minister on 21 May 2020 that £30 million in funding is to be used to provide laptops for disadvantaged children and young people, to enable them to study online, whether any of this funding will be used to provide broadband to families without a connection.

Scottish Government officials are working closely with local authorities to clearly establish which children and young people are suffering from digital exclusion, be that through lack of access to a suitable device, lack of access to the internet or both.

To fully support digital inclusion and to ensure that as many pupils as possible can stay connected with their schools, teachers and learning, the Scottish Government has committed to investing £30m in the provision of digital devices and mobile connectivity for those who need it.

Question reference: S5W-29414

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to permitting maritime activities such as recreational (a) boating, (b) fishing and (c) sailing to resume, given COVID-19 restrictions.

The Scottish Government and sport scotland have been working with partners on how sporting activities can safely re-start as restrictions are eased. As on Friday 29 May 2020, we have now entered phase 1 which allows some outdoor activities to start. Activities such as boating, fishing and sailing are now permitted providing participants follow physical distancing guidelines, adhere to the travel guidance of 5 miles and follow the clear guidance in place from the Governing Bodies of those activities.

Sea angling from the shore is allowed as is sea angling from private boats with members of the same household. However, because of challenges with physical distancing rules in a confined space, this does not extend to fishing from charterboats.

Question reference: S5O-04390

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Shetland’s rural economy.

Question reference: S5O-04341

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group.

Question reference: S5W-28526

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been identified as vulnerable in each local authority area, and what percentage on average have been attending childcare hubs each week.

Question reference: S5W-28527

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it is gathering on the provision of care for (a) vulnerable children and (b) children of key workers.

From the outset of the COVID-19 lockdown, the Scottish Government has been gathering data on a daily basis from local authorities on the number of vulnerable children and children of keyworkers attending ELC provision and education hubs. There is also daily collection of data regarding the provision of free school meals.

There is daily contact between Education Scotland and local authorities on these matters, as well as regular discussion between Government officials, SOLACE, COSLA and ADES.

Further, because many vulnerable children are being supported at home, Government and SOLACE have agreed a new data set that includes contact with these children.

Question reference: S5W-28524

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to (a) monitor and (b) support the wellbeing of children who have been identified as vulnerable but are not attending childcare hubs.

From the outset of the COVID-19 lockdown, Government has worked closely with partners in local authorities, health boards, the 3rd sector and with other stakeholders, to monitor and ensure support to vulnerable children who are not attending the hubs. This has taken account of the fact that most parents, supported by most practitioners, have not considered the hubs to be appropriate for many of the children who might be considered as vulnerable. Accordingly, these children are being supported with online learning and other services at home.

The Scottish Government and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) have established a leadership group of senior leaders from across the sector, to oversee how risk for children and families is managed and mitigated during the lockdown and subsequent recovery phases. As part of this, a new data set has been established, which will be collected on a regular basis, and reported to Ministers.

The Scottish Government has published a commentary about the impact of COVID-19 on children and families in the initial weeks of the lockdown, and on the way that services are responding. This is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/supporting-vulnerable-children-young-people-data-intelligence-report/