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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-20458

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its report, Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: Final Report and Recommendations, what specific actions it will take with (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords to help increase the number of allocations to homeless households.

We are in discussions with the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, COSLA and Shelter Scotland to agree how to increase the number of allocations to homeless households in the next two to three years to support our commitment to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation. We welcome this positive engagement and we will report on the outcomes in due course.

Question reference: S6W-20322

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19595 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 July 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of the types of cyber attack to which Social Security Scotland has been subjected.

It is not possible to give specific details of the types of cyber-attack Social Security Scotland has been subjected to. Doing so may provide information on the defences which protect the Agency’s systems. This information could then be leveraged in future attacks.

The vast majority of the cyber events monitored consist of attackers scanning Internet-facing benefit systems to discover potential weaknesses in the defences. Should any be identified, this can lead to further activity from the attacker to leverage this weakness. To date, the security defences have prevented all attacks from succeeding.

Question reference: S6W-20569

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-19559

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any other part of the civil service made use of social media to advertise for the recruitment of paid patient panels to make recommendations on serious health conditions, and, if this is the case, what methods of verification were used, in light of reports that its Clinical Priorities Unit used paid volunteers to make recommendations on treatment pathways for chronic pain, rather than formally diagnosed representatives.

This is a matter for the relevant part of the civil service. The Scottish Government does not hold information for other parts of the civil service, for example those that serve UK Government ministers.

Regarding recruitment and verification for the Scottish Government Pain Panel, there are generally no preconditions specified, except for the requirement to acknowledge and honour an individual’s expressed willingness to contribute to a particular process based on their personal knowledge of the subject matter. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a range of people and organisations can contribute to collective means through a variety of ways. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17660 on 19 May 2023. 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: S6W-19586

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by ports charging an environmental levy for cruise ships in each year since 1999, broken down by port.

Question reference: S6W-19585

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by ports charging a passenger levy for cruise ships in each year since 1999, broken down by port.

Question reference: S6W-19593

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total level of repayment default on the SME Loan Scheme has been since its implementation.

Question reference: S6W-19598

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Social Security Scotland has ever been financially compromised or experienced any financial loss as a result of cyber attacks.

Question reference: S6W-19595

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) denial of service (DoS) attacks and (b) other forms of cyber attacks Social Security Scotland has been subject to in the last two years.

Question reference: S6W-19600

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with local authorities regarding powers and enforcement to deter businesses from selling vapes and e-cigarettes to underage children, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Enforcement of legislation around the sale and purchase of nicotine vapour products (NVPs) is carried out by Local Authorities as part of the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme (ETSEP). This is overseen by the Society for Trading Standards Officers in Scotland (SCOTSS) and funded by the Scottish Government.

SCOTSS membership includes representation from every Scottish local authority trading standards service. We regularly meet with SCOTSS, our last meeting took place on 21 June 2023, and our standing agenda includes enforcement in relation to NVPs and tobacco.

Through this engagement, we continue to support strong national and local alliances to tackle the availability and sale of tobacco and NVPs to under 18s.