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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: S5W-10244

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, according to the results of the recent Educational Institute of Scotland survey of its members, over half of school teachers have spent their own money providing food for pupils living in poverty.

No child should be going hungry and tackling poverty and inequality is a key priority for this Government. The devastating impact of the UK Government's policy of continued austerity is clear to see and it is entirely unacceptable that, in one of the richest societies in the world, so many children are relying on the goodwill of others to keep hunger at bay. In recognition of this, the Scottish Government laid its new Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill before parliament in February of this year. The Bill will set ambitious statutory income targets to be met by 2030 and will place a new duty on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to report regularly on their progress towards reducing child poverty.

The Scottish Government has a strong record of taking action to reduce poverty and support families.

The Scottish Government has already invested over £350 million in welfare mitigation measures, in addition to its £1 million Fair Food Fund which supports projects to promote dignity and harness the social potential of food to connect people and develop sustainable solutions to food poverty.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding for free school meals for all children in primaries 1 to 3 since January 2015 and provides funding for free school meals for children beyond primary 3 when their parents or guardians are in receipt of particular qualifying benefits.

Question reference: S5W-10241

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many abortions (a) between (i) 16 and 18 and (ii) 18 and 20 weeks and (b) after 20 weeks were provided in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Statistics relating to all abortions taking place in Scotland, and in regard to Scottish residents, are produced on an annual basis by Information Services Division (ISD).

You can access the most recent report using the link below and information on the gestational age at which abortions in Scotland are carried out can be found in table 8.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Sexual-Health/Publications/2017-05-30/2017-05-30-Terminations-2016-Report.pdf

Question reference: S5W-10238

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many women in Scotland had to travel to England for an abortion in each of the last five years.

Statistics relating to all abortions taking place in Scotland, and in regard to Scottish residents, are produced on an annual basis by Information Services Division (ISD).

Information on the number of Scottish women travelling to England in order to access abortion services is provided in table 6.

You can access the most recent report using the link below:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Sexual-Health/Publications/2017-05-30/2017-05-30-Terminations-2016-Report.pdf

Question reference: S5W-10243

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent survey of Educational Institute of Scotland members, which highlights that 77% of respondents noted increased signs of poverty-related mental ill health in school pupils, and what action it is taking on this issue.

The Scottish Government’s new 10-year Mental Health Strategy was published on 30 March, and sets out our vision to improve mental health in Scotland. A key section in the Strategy deals with prevention and early intervention. That section outlines our ambition that every child and young person should have appropriate access to emotional and mental well-being support in school.

A mental health link person is available to every school, this has been achieved using various models working to meet local needs. The link worker may be a CAMHS clinician or another speciality such as a primary care worker. However the named link person will be able to contact specialist CAMHS services for advice if they have any concerns about a pupil.

Through the Scottish Attainment Challenge we have committed £750 million over the course of this parliament to close the poverty related attainment gap for our pupils from the most deprived areas. The Scottish Attainment Challenge will focus and accelerate targeted improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. The Challenge will build on the range of initiatives and programmes already in place to raise attainment and reduce inequity for children across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-10237

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out a timetable for when the NHS in Scotland will provide free abortions for women from Northern Ireland.

Question reference: S5W-09996

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which of the recommendations of the expert group, tasked by it to look at alcohol marketing, will be incorporated within the next phase of Scotland’s alcohol strategy.

Question reference: S5F-01417

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2017

To ask the First Minister how the national roll-out of the baby box scheme will improve public health and reduce health inequalities.

Question reference: S5W-09517

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the cost of each baby box will be attributed to the (a) box, (b) mattress and (c) other contents.

The Unit Cost per box is £160. That covers the cost of all the contents of the box. Due to the imminent procurement exercise for year 2 of Scotland’s Baby Box, the itemised value/cost of any item is currently commercially sensitive. Once that exercise is concluded, we will review the efficacy and sensitivity of providing itemised costs and if appropriate, provide further information in due course.

Question reference: S5W-09516

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the Scottish Cot Death Trust since May 2016 regarding the baby box scheme, including during the course of the research into the scheme and the pilot studies.

The Scottish Government has regular contact with the Scottish Cot Death Trust (SCDT). Officials met with the Trust on a number of occasions during the past year, including a meeting at the offices of the SCDT in Glasgow, in October 2016, arranged specifically to discuss Scotland’s Baby Box. During this meeting, SCDT provided positive feedback on various aspects of the box, including the quality of the mattress itself, and the inclusion of cellular blankets and the room thermometer.

The SCDT also participated in a meeting of the expert Sudden unexpected death in infancy’ (SUDI) Group in December 2017, in advance of the SUDI Conference on
21 February 2017, which the Executive Director of the SCDT co-chaired.

Question reference: S5W-09523

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what role the Scottish Cot Death Trust has played in the development of the baby box scheme.