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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-30130

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been on an NHS waiting list in each year since 1999.

This information is not held centrally by either Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS).

PHS does not capture waiting list information on all NHS services and where they are captured, many are sourced from aggregate returns submitted to PHS by NHS boards. It is therefore not possible to identify the number of individuals that ‘have been on an NHS waiting list’. In addition, the aggregate data supplied by NHS boards does not provide patient-level information and as such, age breakdown is not available.

Question reference: S6W-30135

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many (a) local authority-owned and (b) privately owned properties have been identified by local authorities as containing suspected reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

The Scottish Government encourages all building owners to be open and transparent about the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in their properties, including making information available on websites (although there is no duty on the part of local authorities to gather information on RAAC in privately owned buildings). Information on the presence of RAAC in the public sector can be found in a recently published Scottish Government report: https://www.gov.scot/publications/raac-in-the-public-sector/

Question reference: S6W-30134

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many developments have been identified by local authorities as containing suspected reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government encourages all building owners to be open and transparent about the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in their properties, including making information available on websites. Information on the presence of RAAC in the public sector can also be found in a recently published Scottish Government report: https://www.gov.scot/publications/raac-in-the-public-sector/

Question reference: S6W-30133

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 3 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it spent the £97.1 million of Barnett consequential funding that it received from the UK Government to fund cladding remediation work, broken down by allocation.

Under devolution, consequentials of this kind become part of the Scottish Government’s overall budget for that year. As part of the Scottish Budget process, it is for Scottish Ministers to propose funding levels for specific programmes in Scotland, and when the budget is required.

In the case of cladding remediation, we have said that we will spend whatever is necessary to address the problems created by unsafe cladding, that we will make provision for that at the appropriate time, and that we expect the cost of that in Scotland to be at least the quoted amount of consequentials – that is, £97.1 m.

We publish updated information on programme spend on a quarterly basis at https://www.gov.scot/publications/single-building-assessment-spending-information/.

Question reference: S6O-03818

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the proposed closure of Edinburgh's People's Story Museum.

Question reference: S6W-30294

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-28049

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many currently licensed short-term lets there are in the Lothian region; how many short-term lets in the Lothian region have been found to be in breach of the short-term let licensing regulations, either for not holding the appropriate license or another reason; for what reasons other than not holding the appropriate licence any such properties have been found to be in breach of regulations since the regulations came into force, including any civil and criminal citations, arrests and charges, and how many short-term lets have been visited or placed under investigation by Police Scotland in this period.

I have provided answers to the information you are seeking in previous parliamentary replies and refer you to these as follows:

how to access the Scottish Government’s official statistical publications on short-term let licensing application data (S6W-24548 responded to on 30 January 2024 and S6W-27007 responded to on 30 April 2024)
how to access information about short-term let licences on local authority public registers (S6W-23003 responded to on 4 December 2023)
what the Scottish Government holds about licence breaches and Police Scotland investigations (S6W-28008, S6W-28009 and S6W-28010 responded to on 11 June 2024 and S6W-28120 responded to on 18 June 2024, some of which also refer members to S6W-27902 answered on 11 June 2024).

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-27441

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many data breaches that contained private or personal information of UK citizens have occurred within Police Scotland since figures were last disclosed through a Freedom of Information request in 2023, and whether any such information was related to alleged or convicted crimes.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. It is for the Chief Constable to determine Police Scotland’s approach to data management and to ensure there are policies and controls in place to ensure the organisation complies with the wide range of obligations required to discharge its statutory and regulatory responsibilities regarding the processing of data, with oversight and scrutiny undertaken by the Scottish Police Authority Board.

Question reference: S6W-29226

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 25 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much support has been made available to support services for people who experienced historic forced adoption, in each year since 2021.

The Scottish Government continues to fund the charity, Health in Mind, to deliver a specialist peer service to those affected by historic forced adoption. This is in direct response to feedback from people with lived experience for this type of support.

Funding has totalled over £73,000 to date, (£23,389 in 2022-2023 and £49,276 in 2023-2024). Health in Mind continues to promote the service across Scotland and raise awareness of the impact of historic forced adoption practices. Further details of the service are available at: https://health-in-mind.org.uk/how-we-can-help/national-services/historic-adoption-trauma-support-service/

Question reference: S6W-29223

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions its ministers have had with Police Scotland regarding the wearing of safety helmets by delivery drivers.

The enforcement of traffic offences is an operational matter for Police Scotland, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority, who act independently of Scottish ministers.

The wearing of cycle helmets is covered by the Highway Code and is a matter reserved to the UK government. The Scottish government endorses the Highway Code, which states: You should wear a cycle helmet that conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened. Evidence suggests that a correctly fitted helmet will reduce your risk of sustaining a head injury in certain circumstances however this latter is not a legal requirement and remains a matter of personal choice.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government takes road safety seriously. Scotland’s Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2030 - Scotlands Road Safety Framework (RSF2030) was published in February 2021, with the goal of Scotland having the best road safety performance in the world. It adopts the Safe System approach to road safety which is recognised internationally as best practice in road safety delivery. It sets challenging targets for the years ahead, with a 50 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injuries and a 60 per cent reduction in child fatal and serious injuries by 2030.

Transport Scotland works in collaboration with our road safety partners, to deliver the Road Safety Framework through a three-tier governance structure. This includes Police Scotland, who are represented at each level of governance.