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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: S6W-15441

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to the local authority’s decision not to approve plans for a housing development on Sibbald’s Brae in Bathgate on three occasions, prior to it granting planning permission.

Independent reporters have decided three planning appeals relating to housing development on Sibbald’s Brae in Bathgate. In 2014 a reporter refused planning permission; in 2020 a reporter granted planning permission; and in 2022 a reporter amended the planning conditions attached to the 2020 permission. All three decisions were made on the planning merits of the cases and in overall accordance with the development plan. The reporters took full account of all submissions made by parties on the appeals, including those from West Lothian Council and also from members of the local community.

Question reference: S6F-01864

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2023

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking, in light of reports that individuals are unable to be discharged from hospital due to a lack of available spaces in care homes.

Question reference: S6W-14558

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure adequate availability of rented accommodation for students, in light of reports that a lack of available and affordable housing is having an adverse impact on students' mental health and wellbeing.

Scotland has led the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK with 115,558 affordable homes having been delivered since 2007, over 81,000 of which were for social rent, including 20,250 council homes. The Scottish Government's per capita spending on affordable housing is more than three times higher than the UK Government's.

In addition, our Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation, which is looking at a number of accommodation issues including supply and affordability, will soon be concluded. I look forward to receiving the recommendations of the expert group who have overseen the review in due course.

Question reference: S6O-01926

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding it will provide to local authorities in response to reported concerns about swimming pool closures.

Question reference: S6W-13836

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS 24 calls have been abandoned before the caller was able to speak to an operator in the period between 1 October 2022 and 10 January 2023.

Question reference: S6O-01858

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to increase the recruitment of pupil support assistants, including ensuring they receive fair pay.

Question reference: S6W-13174

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any proposals for a compensation, settlement and pension scheme for key workers seriously impacted by long COVID as a result of their work.

Adult Disability Payment provides financial assistance for the additional costs experienced by disabled people and people with long term health conditions. Individuals with ongoing daily living or mobility difficulties due to having had Covid-19 can apply for Scottish disability assistance.

More widely the Scottish Government has set out in its Covid Recovery Strategy over 70 actions that will support people by: increasing financial security for low-income households; enhancing the wellbeing of children and young people; and creating good, green jobs and fair work. In support of the Scottish Government’s overarching aims, this will focus on reducing systemic inequalities, tackling poverty, and supporting people most affected during the pandemic.

The administration of pensions is reserved to the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-13176

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had to encourage employers to offer part-time work and flexibility to people with long COVID.

Although the legal powers governing flexible working are currently reserved to Westminster, Scottish Government is committed to working with employers directly and through their representative bodies to explore ways of promoting and encouraging flexible, agile and inclusive workplaces that benefit all employees.

Improving access to flexible working is an important means to help people balance work and manage a range of health conditions as well as other commitments such as care without dropping out of the workplace with the loss of income, experience and skills that this entails.

In 2022-23 we are providing a total of £222,000 in funding to flexible working experts Flexibility Works to promote and support employers across Scotland to adopt flexible and family friendly workplaces.

Since 2019 we have also funded Timewise to deliver ‘A Fair, Flexible Work Programme for Scotland’ which focused on training a network of 70 Change Agents, both employment professionals and employability advisers on how to promote flexible working to employers and individuals.

In October 2021 our flagship Fair Work First approach to public sector spend included new criteria that asked employers to offer flexible working from day one of employment.

We continue to encourage employers to engage with all employees to consider flexible and hybrid working models where feasible and appropriate. However we recognise that employers are best placed to understand how their operations work most effectively and their employees’ and requests for flexible working, based on consultation with staff and unions.

Question reference: S6W-13175

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist any key workers affected by long COVID who are threatened with losing their homes due to their condition.

Within the financial year 2022-23, we’ve made available an initial £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund to provide NHS boards and partners with additional resource to deliver the best local models of care for assessment, and support for the treatment or management of symptoms.

Anyone who is at risk of homelessness as a result of long-COVID or any other reason can contact their local authority for advice and support. Additionally home owners with a mortgage are encouraged to engage with their lenders at an early stage to discuss their options and tenants should contact their landlord. Other organisations such as Shelter Scotland and Citizen Advice Scotland are also able to provide advice and support.

Supported by Scottish Government funding, the Money Talk Team service is delivered by the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland and provides an income maximisation service, including advice on welfare reform and debt to help clients save money, access benefits and grants they are entitled to and deal with debt problems.

Question reference: S6W-13035

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Scotland’s richest areas have nearly 10 times as many public defibrillators as the most deprived areas.

Scottish Government is a key partner in the Save a Life for Scotland partnership which is delivering the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Strategy 2021 to 2026 .

The strategy includes an aim of increasing the percentage of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) which have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrive from 8% to 20%. Our focus is to ensure that defibrillators are publicly accessible, registered and to take a data driven approach to supporting their placement in areas where they are most likely to be used.

Scotland’s Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Report 2019-2022 underpins the data driven approach. This shows minor differences in availability or usage of public access defibrillators (PAD) between SIMD quintiles.

However, it remains the case that there are inequalities in OHCA outcomes for people living in more deprived areas. That is why the OHCA strategy includes an aim of targeting work to address known inequalities across the delivery of all actions.