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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-17903

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, what progress it has made towards fulfilling its ambition that "at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spending will be invested in preventative whole family support measures by 2030".

The Scottish Government remains committed to the ambition. We are working with partners to explore how we can enable the transformational change required to ensure that by 2030 at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend across Scotland is invested in preventative whole family support measures.

This includes providing £32m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding on an annual basis to Children's Services Planning Partnerships to shift investment towards timely and sustainable early intervention and prevention activities that are flexible, responsive and proportionate to ensure families can access the support they need, when they need it and where they need it, before they reach crisis point.

Question reference: S6W-17963

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the short-life working group on widening access data, which is working towards ensuring that a wider range of indicators, including indicators of individual disadvantage, are used to set targets and measure progress on widening access to university, will report.

Question reference: S6O-02293

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to boost the Scottish salmon industry.

Question reference: S6W-17976

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid to farmers and crofters as part of the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme so far in 2023, broken down by month.

Payments under the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) 2022 commenced in March 2023, as set out in the Rural Payments Strategy for 2022. Approximately 99.36% of anticipated expenditure for this scheme has been paid to date. The breakdown of expenditure per month is listed in the following table.

Month	SSBSS Value Paid
March 2023	£38,194,577.05
April 2023	£841,181.51
May 2023 (figure at 18 May 2023)	£810,860.47
Total:	£39,846,619.03

Question reference: S6O-02276

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve transport options in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-17784

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been killed in accidents on roads in the Mid Scotland and Fife region in each month since May 2016, broken down by road.

The following table shows the number of people killed in injury road collisions in the Mid Scotland and Fife region by year, month and road between May 2016 and December 2021. The statistics cover Clackmannanshire, Fife, Perth and Kinross and Stirling local authority areas. Road casualty figures for 2022 will be published on 24 May 2023.

Road casualties killed in collisions in the mid-Scotland and Fife region by year, month and road May 2016 to December 2021

		Motorway	A(m)	A	B	C	Unclassified	Total
2016	May	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	June	1	-	2	1	-	-	4
	July	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	August	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	September	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
	October	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	November	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	December	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	Total	1	-	11	1	-	1	14

2017	January	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	February	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	March	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	April	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	May	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	June	-	-	2	-	1	-	3
	July	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	August	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
	September	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	October	-	-	2	-	-	2	4
	November	-	-	3	-	1	-	4
	December	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	Total	-	-	17	1	3	2	23

2018	January	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	February	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	March	2	-	1	-	-	-	3
	April	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	May	-	-	1	-	-	1	2
	June	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	July	-	-	5	-	-	-	5
	August	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	September	-	-	1	1	1	-	3
	October	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	November	-	-	3	1	-	-	4
	December	-	-	3	2	-	-	5
	Total	2	-	19	6	1	1	29

2019	January	-	-	2	1	-	-	3
	February	-	1	-	-	-	-	1
	March	1	-	-	-	1	-	2
	April	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	May	1	-	-	1	-	-	2
	June	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	July	-	-	5	-	-	-	5
	August	-	-	2	1	-	-	3
	September	-	-	5	-	-	-	5
	October	-	-	1	2	-	-	3
	November	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	December	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	Total	2	1	18	8	1	-	30

2020	January	1	-	1	-	-	-	2
	February	-	-	1	1	-	2	4
	March	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
	April	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	May	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	June	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	July	-	-	5	-	-	1	6
	August	1	-	2	-	-	1	4
	September	-	-	2	-	-	1	3
	October	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	November	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	December	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	Total	2	-	17	2	-	6	27

2021	January	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	February	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	March	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	April	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	May	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	June	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	July	-	-	1	1	-	-	2
	August	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
	September	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
	October	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	November	1	1	1	-	-	-	3
	December
	Total	1	1	8	2	-	1	13

Question reference: S6O-02155

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement of the Scottish Funding Council's indicative budget allocations for 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-16694

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many digital devices were distributed to school pupils through digital inclusion funding in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

The Scottish Government provided £25 million of funding in 2020-21 to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning.

Individual local authorities across Scotland have also undertaken their own digital inclusion schemes and have invested in devices from their own budgets. Information from them indicates that up to 280,000 devices have been distributed to learners across Scotland (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government).

Question reference: S6W-16408

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the mental health impact has been on pupils as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

We know that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing will have been affected during lockdown, and schools have a key role to play in supporting children’s and young people’s mental health. The Health and Wellbeing Census reported that across most of the measures, positive perceptions of life satisfaction, confidence and loneliness decrease up to S4, but the analysis shows small improvements (or no further decreases) for those in S5 and S6.

We continue to prioritise support for mental health and wellbeing in schools. We support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services support delivery of the commitment. We also published a Whole School Approach Framework and a professional learning resource to assist school staff in supporting children and young people’s mental health in schools.

Question reference: S6W-16452

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent work it has undertaken to increase the number of English and Mathematics teachers.

We are committed to supporting the recruitment of more teachers and my predecessor recently set out measures to Parliament making it clear that we will provide £145.5 million in next year's budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff.

In addition, in 2022-23 we offered 150 bursaries of £20,000 for career changers wishing to undertake a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in STEM subjects - Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Home Economics and Chemistry. These are the secondary school subjects with the greatest demand for teachers. Our STEM bursary scheme will continue in this financial year.

With these interventions, STEM teacher numbers are at their highest level since 2011. We are also continuing to work with universities and local authorities to look at innovative and creative ways to encourage more teachers into STEM subjects.