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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: S5W-22891

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported recent incidents, including those involving pets being caught in snares, what its response is to claims that its legislation governing snaring is not fit for purpose and the calls for it to legislate to make the sale, use and manufacture of snares illegal.

A review into snaring every 5 years is required by Section 11F of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) undertook a review in 2016 and the outcome was published in 2017. This found that snaring-related incidents have reduced following snaring regulations introduced through the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 and the Snares (Scotland) Order 2010. The SNH review also made recommendations that will further improve snaring practices and components.

The Scottish Government is considering these recommendations.

Question reference: S5W-22651

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for (a) an adult carer support plan and (b) a young carer statement.

Information on the date adult carer support plans and young carer statements were offered and the date they were either completed or declined has been requested through the Carers Census. As this is the first year the Carers Census is being collected, the data will need to undergo further quality assurance before it is published. The second 6 months of data covering October 2018 – March 2019 are currently being collected.

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 requires each local authority to set out within their local carer strategy the intended timescales for preparing adult carer support plans and young carer statements. Local carer strategies must be published. The statutory guidance to accompany the Act states that adult carer support plans and young carer statements, “ought to be prepared within reasonable timescales taking into account the urgency of needs for support and any fluctuation in those needs”.

The Scottish Government has just consulted on proposals for regulations to set timescales for preparing adult carer support plans and young carer statements for carers of people who are terminally ill (with a life expectancy of up to 6 months). We will consider the responses with stakeholders and bring forward draft regulations later this year.

Question reference: S5O-03189

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns raised by young carer groups that the current proposals for the Young Carer Grant are unduly restrictive.

Question reference: S5F-03279

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2019

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-22484

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost is to Police Scotland of operating the firearms licensing system.

Question reference: S5W-22483

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when Police Scotland will publish a firearm certificates report for 2018.

Question reference: S5W-22482

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is to Police Scotland of issuing a firearms certificate.

Question reference: S5W-22282

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many species licenses were issued by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in 2018, broken down by species, and how much it cost SNH to carry out this exercise.

Question reference: S5W-22197

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of what the take-up will be for each form of disability assistance.

Measuring take-up accurately is not straightforward as it requires us to estimate the number of people who have not applied but may be eligible. DWP do not publish data on take-up rates for disability benefits at GB level and it is widely acknowledged that there are particular challenges in estimating take-up for disability benefits specifically. This is because eligibility for these benefits cannot be easily established for people who do not apply. The Scottish Government will publish benefit take-up strategies, setting out our best estimate of take-up for the benefits being delivered by Social Security Scotland at the time of preparation of each strategy, as required by the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S5W-22199

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide support for needs related to mobility as part of disability assistance for older people.

The Scottish Government is using feedback from the Experience Panels, the Disability Assistance consultation and the 2016 Social Security Consultation to consider in what ways it could meet the mobility needs of clients who will be eligible for Disability Assistance for Older People. This is set out in paragraph 51 of the partial Equality Impact Assessment in the Disability Assistance consultation document.