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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: S6O-03576

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Communication Workers Union's call for housing standards to be updated to ensure that letterboxes are positioned at a suitably accessible height.

Question reference: S6W-27961

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for the award of the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract.

While good progress has been made on the due diligence related to a Teckal compliant direct award to CalMac and we have clarity on the remaining issues to be finalised, it is clear that we cannot conclude these by 30 September 2024, which is the end date of the current contract. We therefore propose to implement a contract extension of up to 12 months to enable this work and the assurance processes, to be concluded prior to a final decision. I will provide a further update to Parliament later this year.

Question reference: S6O-03532

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with senior management of West College Scotland to discuss the college's Greenock campus.

Question reference: S6W-27909

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received the pre-election propriety advice from the permanent secretary, which was referred to during First Minister’s Questions on 23 May 2024.

Pre-election guidance, informed by UK general election guidance and consistent with the devolved administrations, was published on the Scottish Government Website on 24 May: UK General Election 2024: guidance for civil servants - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

In addition, the Permanent Secretary wrote to me on 27 May outlining the impact of this guidance on the Scottish Government’s planned business: https://www.gov.scot/publications/pre-election-period-advice-letter-to-the-first-minister

This advice means that during the restricted period which extends until 4 July, strategic policies due for publication, including the Programme for Government, the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Scottish Government’s draft tax strategy and the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, should be deferred.

Question reference: S6W-27180

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the evaluation of the operation of the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 in practice.

During the initial passage of the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 (the EURO 2020 Act), the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee’s report included a recommendation, which the Scottish Government accepted, that a formal evaluation of the operation of the legislation’s provision in practice should be undertaken.

Any scope to report on, and evaluate, the EURO 2020 Act was severely limited due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s impact. The rescheduled event took place in 2021 with a limited number of spectators present. Public health considerations were of paramount importance and a number of mitigations were put in place for the event in order to reduce the risk of transmission. Glasgow City Council oversaw compliance with these measures.

The Scottish Government was unsuccessful in procuring an independent evaluation of the operation of the measures provided for by the EURO 2020 Act and associated regulations. However, feedback on operation of the legislation was gathered from event partners, including Glasgow City Council and UEFA.

A summary of feedback received from partners was as follows:

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have not received any reports under the EURO 2020 Act. As far as COPFS officials are able to identify, COPFS did not receive any reports in relation to ticket touting, illegal street trading or illegal advertising with offence dates between 11 June and 12 July 2021.
Glasgow City Council noted that the legislation was essential in ensuring restrictions could be put in place. However, it would have been useful for event partners to have agreed upon the requirement to implement legislation sooner, particularly had the original 2020 dates taken place. This would have allowed for a fuller public consultation and more notice to traders of the restrictions being implemented;
The Scottish Football Association echoed the point around the need for identifying a legislative solution sooner, in the context of the originally scheduled EURO 2020. However, the Scottish Football Association recognised that the Scottish Government successfully managed to expedite a process, timetable and resource base that provided considerable comfort and confidence to key project stakeholders – UEFA, the Scottish Football Association, and Glasgow City Council; and
UEFA noted that, despite the strong and clear wording of the legislation, implementation of the legislation was challenging. Whilst UEFA considers that Glasgow City Council Trading Standards’ level of resource and patrolling was sufficient, it has also observed that Glasgow City Council Trading Standards did not feel comfortable going above and beyond what they would do in normal circumstances against infringing activities.

The summary feedback set out above – along with the more detailed findings collated by officials as part of this exercise – will be used to inform the public consultation of EURO 2028: commercial rights protection which was launched on 2 May 2024.

Question reference: S6O-03416

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is working to increase the number of rapid charge EV points.

Question reference: S6W-26864

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to adding aplastic anaemia to the list of conditions and illnesses featured on the NHS Inform website.

The Scottish Government's approach to rare conditions and diseases is not condition-specific. As there are over 7,000 rare conditions it is unfortunately not feasible for NHS Inform to host and maintain individual pages for each condition.

We are absolutely committed to ensuring that people living with a rare condition like Aplastic Anaemia will benefit from our approach. Our Action Plan for Rare Disease (published December 2022) set out our wider priorities and actions, including raising awareness of rare conditions among healthcare professionals.

The current NHS Inform page for rare conditions, developed to improve awareness of rare conditions and signpost to sources of support, is by no means final. We will continue to listen to rare disease community feedback and shape our web content around the needs of all rare condition communities.

Question reference: S6O-03378

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the procurement process for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme.

Question reference: S6T-01937

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported statistics indicating that wet wipes contribute to up to 94% of sewer blockages, what assessment it has made of the potential impact on Scottish Water of the planned ban on wet wipes containing plastic, including whether water and sewerage charges will be reduced in the future as a result of the ban.

Question reference: S6W-26203

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to developing qualifications for those wishing to train as pet groomers, in light of reports that three new dog grooming qualifications, which have been developed in collaboration with providers in the animal care sector, have been introduced in England.

The Scottish Government has not given any consideration to developing qualifications for those wishing to train to become pet groomers as we do not consider it to be the role of Government to develop such courses.

There are already various organisations and individuals that offer specific training in dog grooming, with more formal providers delivering training which leads to the award of SQA or City and Guilds recognised qualifications in dog grooming. Other training of relevance to those offering dog grooming services is available through a number of colleges covering animal care, animal husbandry etc.