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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: S6T-01010

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the cyber-attack on 4 August 2022 which reportedly targeted NHS Scotland's patient management software.

Question reference: S6F-01565

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the emergency response to flooding in the north east of Scotland in recent days.

Question reference: S6W-11987

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many women aged 75 and over have self-referred for a breast screening appointment since the programme restarted on 29 August 2022, broken down by screening centre, and whether it plans to widen the eligibility criteria for this age group to self-refer to the breast screening programme.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as it is a matter for Regional Screening Centres.

Self-referral appointments have begun in a careful, phased manner. At present, women aged 71 to 74 (up to their 75 th birthday), and women over 75 with a history of breast cancer, who have completed their hospital follow-up, can ask for a screening appointment.

The screening programme recognises the desire for clarity around when eligibility will be widened. However, it is essential to understand the impact the initial re-instatement is having on both programme capacity and overall wait times before any decisions on additional eligibility are taken. The programme is monitoring impact on an on-going basis, and I will provide an update to Parliament once any further decisions on expansion are possible.

Question reference: S6W-11583

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to the Ready Scotland campaign in (a) each of the past three years and (b) 2022, and how much of this funding has been (i) spent on or (ii) allocated to (A) digital, (B) radio and (C) other forms of advertising.

The Scottish Government allocates a budget of £70,000 per annum to the Ready Scotland campaign, comprising a website, social media, radio and digital advertising. If required spend is likely to exceed this figure, facility exists within the relevant Scottish Government Directorate to increase the available funding.

This £70,000 budget has been in place each year since 2019-20. The actual amount spent on the Ready Scotland campaign in each financial year fluctuates markedly due to the variable number of Amber or Red weather warnings each year which require a campaign activation.

The costs in the table show the actual spend at financial year end. In the case of 2022-23 the total costs is shown as the actual spend at 31 October 2022.

Financial Year	Website	Severe Weather Activations		Other, e.g. design and printing	Total spend on Ready Scotland Campaign
Radio	Digital
2019-20	£16,176	£9,519	£11,824	£790	£38,309
2020-21	£18,343	£9,844.50	£30,141	£6,873	£59,441
2021-22	£3,011	£8,230	£40,201	£3,324	£54,766
2022-23	£14,119	£2,150	£11,906	£0	£28,175

Question reference: S6W-11581

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board will be extended beyond March 2023.

Question reference: S6F-01459

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland’s reported warning that the NHS winter resilience plan “will not be in place in time to prevent further harm to patients and staff this winter”.

Question reference: S6W-11246

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been provided to coastal local authorities for coastal change adaptation in (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, following the announcement in the Programme for Government 2020-21 that £12 million would be invested to help these areas adapt to the threat of sea level rise, broken down by local authority.

We announced the new capital budget of £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation in the 2020 Programme for Government. Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed a methodology to distribute the new budget for the first two years to coastal local authorities based on evidence from Dynamic Coast which identifies assets most at risk from erosion ( https://www.dynamiccoast.com/ ). The budget covers the four-year period from 2022-23 until 2025-26, split as follows:

2022-23 - £1.6 million

2023-24 - £2.6 million

2024-25 - £2.7 million

2025-26 - £5.0 million

Total - £11.7 million

The distribution for 2022-23 and intended distribution for 2023-24 are as follows:

Council	2022-23	2023-24
Argyll & Bute	£160,000
Dumfries & Galloway	£160,000
East Lothian	£160,000
Fife	£160,000
Highland	£160,000
Moray	£160,000
North Ayrshire	£160,000
Orkney Islands	£160,000
Shetland Islands	£160,000
South Ayrshire	£160,000
Aberdeen City		£150,000
Aberdeenshire		£150,000
Angus		£150,000
City of Edinburgh		£150,000
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar		£150,000
Dundee City		£150,000
Falkirk		£150,000
Inverclyde		£150,000
Scottish Borders		£150,000
Clackmannan		£100,000
Perth & Kinross		£100,000
Renfrewshire		£100,000
West Dunbartonshire		£100,000
West Lothian		£100,000
Case studies – to be allocated		£550,000
Total	£1.6 million	£2.4 million

Local authorities were informed by letter of their allocation in February and they will receive the funds in their general capital grant settlement.

We continue to work with councils and COSLA to agree a distribution methodology for the £550,000 unallocated from the 2023-24 budget as well as the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets.

Question reference: S6O-01465

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the actions that are being taken to recruit teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Question reference: S6W-10965

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the establishment of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care; whether it is on track to be operational by April 2023, and where the staff for the centre will be based, in light of it reportedly being envisaged that it will be a virtual, rather than a physical, centre.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre that could be operational in Spring 2023. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps. Decisions about operational matters, including where staff for the centre would be located, will be made in due course.

Question reference: S6W-10773

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the timeline for the introduction of its Public Health Bill.