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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-29337

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 10 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16692 by Natalie Don on 27 April 2023, whether it will provide an update on how it has progressed towards its commitment to deliver free breakfasts for all (a) primary and (b) special school children.

The Scottish Government remains committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children.

The Scottish Government worked with AssistFM and the Improvement Service from September 2023 to June 2024 to map breakfast provision across Scotland at both local authority and school level. A survey of all primary and special schools showed that almost half are already delivering breakfast provision. We will use the information provided by this mapping exercise to develop plans to build on this provision in line with our commitment.

In addition, we are delivering free or subsidised school age childcare through our Early Adopter Communities and Scottish Football Association ‘Extra Time’ projects, many of which include free breakfast club places for children from families most at risk of living in poverty.

Question reference: S6W-28104

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current national school clothing grant level is for eligible (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils; when the most recent increase to the grants took place, and when the next increase to the grants is due to take place.

The national minimum school clothing grant is £120 per annum for primary pupils, and £150 for secondary pupils.

The Scottish Government has increased funding for local authorities to £13.9 million in the 2024-25 financial year. This includes an inflationary uplift of £0.9 million on the previous year’s funding. The purpose of this increase is to support local authorities to manage increases to the minimum amounts of school clothing grant paid to eligible families in the 2024-25 academic year.

It is for local authorities to determine their own eligibility criteria for school clothing grant and they also have the option to set their school clothing grant levels higher than the minimum if they wish to do so.

Decisions about funding to local authorities in respect of the school clothing grant in future financial years will be through the Budget process in the usual way.

Question reference: S6W-27843

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS representatives regarding the risks of choking during consensual sexual activity, including in relation to guidance issued to medical professionals.

The Scottish Government is aware of the guidelines issued by the Institute For Addressing Strangulation that have been endorsed by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV Non-Fatal-Strangulation-Guidelines_AcuteEmergency_Feb24.pdf (ifas.org.uk) . We will continue to work with key partners, including the Scottish Health Protection Network, to consider how this guidance can be promoted and shared.

Question reference: S6W-27845

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to raise awareness among the public of the risks of choking during consensual sexual activity.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans for specific public health awareness raising relating to the risks associated with choking during consensual sexual activity. Through our existing channels we will explore opportunities to discuss these matters and to identify possible areas for this to be highlighted, including the new sexual health website for Scotland, which is currently being developed.

Question reference: S6W-27844

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what data collection it is undertaking in relation to violence within consensual sexual activity, including on the prevalence of choking.

As outlined in the answer to question S6W-15943 on 21 March 2023, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) includes a module on sexual victimisation, which produces estimates of adults’ experiences of different types of sexual assault. At present this does not include any questions focused on specific acts of violence such as choking, during what began as consensual sexual activity. We are currently considering whether a question (or questions) on this topic could be added to the above module. Given the sensitivity of this subject, it requires careful consideration and testing prior to any rollout to ensure that such a question is understandable, accessible, and does not place undue stress on survey respondents. Analysts have recently conducted multiple evidence-gathering workshops with external organisations and charities dedicated to researching and preventing sexual violence. We will continue to engage with stakeholders as we consider options for changes to the 2025-26 survey sweep. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6O-03561

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Fife Council will be given assistance under the Bellwin Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-27816

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government within what radius of distance from an incident community first responders trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service are asked to assist.

Question reference: S6W-27814

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to the Scottish Ambulance Service on the objectives of its community first responders programme.

Question reference: S6W-27817

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many community first responders have been trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service, to date, broken down by parliamentary region.

The Scottish Ambulance Service currently has around 900 Community First Responders. The number of Community First Responders trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service by SAS Operational Areas between April 2021 - March 2024:

	Region
Period	North	East	West	Total
April 21 - March 22	34	2	5	41*
April 22 - March 23	33	30	19	82
April 23 - March 24	56	63	66	185
	123	95	90	308

*The focus in 2021-2022 was re-mobilisation of Community First Responders post Covid, therefore recruitment of new volunteers was limited.

Question reference: S6W-27813

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what role existing first responder groups have in assisting the Scottish Ambulance Service response in rural areas of the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Community First Responders (CFRs) are highly valued by the Scottish Ambulance Service and are a dedicated and valuable asset to the communities they serve across Scotland including Mid Scotland and Fife. They form an integral part of the Service’s response, especially but not solely, to Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA)

CFRs are community-based volunteers that, subject to their availability, work to a clinically assured scope of practice to enhance and complement, but not replace, the emergency ambulance response within an agreed geographical area.