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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-17592

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to pensioners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

We have allocated £350m to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures this year, including £119m targeted at fuel poor households.

Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS), our national fuel poverty scheme, is designed to help those living in fuel poverty or at risk of fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures in to individual properties. Individuals over 60 who had no working heating system or who are in receipt of certain benefits have been eligible for support through the scheme.

WHS is now closed to new applicants but a successor to WHS will launch in October 2023. Home Energy Scotland are currently taking applications for this scheme.

The eligibility criteria for the Warmer Homes Scotland Successor scheme includes anyone in receipt of a passport benefit, including pension credit guarantee and anyone over the age of 75 with no working heating.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme provides support for all owner occupied households to install energy efficiency measures. All domestic owner occupiers in Scotland can apply to the scheme. Grant funding of up to 75% of the combined costs of measures up to a maximum £7,500 is available, with an additional £7,500 of funding available as an interest free loan. A rural uplift of £1,500 applies to the energy efficiency grant, this uplift increases the maximum limit of the grant to £9,000.

Funding is available via the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund for Social Landlords to apply for projects which will install energy efficiency measures across their housing stock. Pensioners who live in social housing will benefit from this investment, which also includes sheltered accommodation.

We are maintaining our £64 million investment in energy efficiency improvements this year, targeting areas with high levels of fuel poverty through our Area Based Schemes.

Question reference: S6F-02119

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will reintroduce the Social Care Staff Support Fund, or take other action to improve sick pay provision for social care workers, in light of reports of a survey by GMB Scotland stating that 80% of social care workers in the private sector have considered quitting, and wider warnings that the care sector is on the brink of collapse.

Question reference: S6W-17549

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will publish the updated Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-17594

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the reported practice of calling on firefighters to cover other fire stations does not have a negative impact on those with caring responsibilities.

The deployment of firefighters and the welfare of its staff is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)

As an emergency service, SFRS has a statutory duty to ensure that fire and rescue cover is always maintained across all communities in Scotland. This sometimes means that firefighters are called upon to work from a different fire station to ensure a full crew is available to safely allow a fire appliance to attend emergency incidents.

SFRS has a Detached Duty Policy to ensure that staff welfare, including consideration of caring responsibilities, is taken into account in reaching decisions on the deployment of staff.

Question reference: S6W-17595

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to firefighters with caring responsibilities.

Staff welfare, including consideration of caring responsibilities, is a matter for SFRS as the employer.

One of the key priorities in the Fire and Rescue Framework 2022 is that SFRS continues to promote a culture that values inclusion, promotes fairness, equality and respect for all. This is reflected in the current SFRS Strategic Plan and in the HR policies SFRS has in place to support staff with caring responsibilities.

Question reference: S6W-17653

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of any savings that NHS Scotland makes per patient from kidney patients choosing to perform dialysis at home instead of in-centre.

Question reference: S6W-17652

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with chronic kidney disease are currently receiving dialysis at home in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S6W-17732

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an updated list of the names of the (a) charities, (b) groups, (c) individuals and (d) office bearers appointed to the Third Sector Interface (TSI) Scotland Network.

The TSI Scotland Network is not a formally constituted group; it is a grouping of organisations with a shared purpose namely the TSIs. It does not have Office Bearers.

Some TSIs are partnerships where the role is shared across two or more organisations, others are single entities. Most of the organisations which form TSIs are registered charities, and often they are also registered companies. More information about the Network can be found at www.tsi.scot .

A list of the organisations which make up the TSI Network is given in the following table.

TSI locality	Type	CO Name	TSI legal name	Charity number
Aberdeen	Single	Maggie Hepburn	Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO)	SC036845
Aberdeenshire	Single	Dan Shaw	Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA)	SC014223
Angus	Single	Hayley Mearns	Voluntary Action Angus	SC032830
Argyll and Bute	Single	Takki Sulaiman	Argyll & Bute Third Sector Interface	SC029947
Clackmannanshire	Single	Anthea Coulter	Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface Ltd	SC042543
Dumfries and Galloway	Single	Norma Austin Hart	Dumfries and Galloway Third Sector Interface	SC043832
Dundee	Partnership	Christina Cooper	Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action	SC000487
		Fergus Storrier	Dundee Social Enterprise Network	SC043943
East Ayrshire	Single	Fiona Fawdry	Council Of Voluntary Organisations (East Ayrshire)	SC024931
East Dunbartonshire	Single	Anne Innes	East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action	SC042983
East Lothian	Partnership	Maureen Allan	Volunteer Development, East Lothian	SC029045
		Maureen Allan	Volunteer Centre East Lothian	SC029045
East Renfrewshire	Single	Ruth Gallagher	Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire SCIO	SC028103
Edinburgh	Partnership	Bridie Ashrowan	Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council	SC009944
		Claire Patullo	Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network	SC044030
		Paul Wilson	Volunteer Edinburgh	SC029681
Falkirk	Single	Victoria McRae	CVS Falkirk & District	SC000312
Fife	Single	Kenny Murphy	Fife Voluntary Action	SC028457
Glasgow	Partnership	Ian Bruce	Glasgow Council For The Voluntary Sector	SC006923
		Jennifer Robertson	Glasgow Social Enterprise Network	SC047282
		David Maxwell	Volunteer Glasgow	SC005462
Highland	Single	Mhairi Wylie	Highland Third Sector Interface	SC043521
Inverclyde	Single	Charlene Elliot	CVS Inverclyde	SC024376
Midlothian	Partnership	Lesley Kelly	Midlothian Voluntary Action	SC008286
		Lesley Kelly	Volunteer Centre Midlothian	SC027578
		n/a	The Social Enterprise Alliance for Midlothian	n/a
Moray	Single	Fabio Villani and Jackie McLaren	Third Sector Interface Moray	SC042954
North Ayrshire	Partnership	Vicki Yuill	Arran Community And Voluntary Service	SC004057
		Kaileigh Brown	The Ayrshire Community Trust	SC028874
North Lanarkshire	Single	Maddy Halliday	Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire	SC041224
Orkney	Single	Morven Brooks	Voluntary Action Orkney	SC010691
Perth	Single	Caroline McKenna (interim)	Perth And Kinross Association Of Voluntary Service Limited	SC005561
Renfrewshire	Single	Alan McNiven	Engage Renfrewshire	SC018453
Scottish Borders	Single	Juliana Amaral	Borders Third Sector Interface known as Borders Community Action	New organisation seeking charitable status. Company number is SC758752
Shetland	Single	Lynn Tulloch	Voluntary Action Shetland	SC017286
South Ayrshire	Single	Marie Oliver	Voluntary Action South Ayrshire	SC028234
South Lanarkshire	Single	Steven Sweeney	Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire	SC037696
Stirling	Single	Natalie Masterson	Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise Ltd	SC041875
West Dunbartonshire	Single		West Dunbartonshire Council For Voluntary Services	SC032003
Western Isles	Partnership	Contact for TSI WI is Eoin MacNeil	Third Sector Interface Western Isles C/O Volunteer Centre Western Isles	Volunteer Centre Western Isles, SC027472
			Voluntary Action Barra & Vatersay	SC015602
			UCVO known as Uist Council of Voluntary Organisations	SC045715
			Volunteering Hebrides	SC041459
			Harris Voluntary Service	SC000788
			Outer Hebrides Social Economy Partnership CIC	Company number SC380816
West Lothian	Single	Alan McCloskey	Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian	SC027612

The lead organisation for partnership TSIs is highlighted.

Question reference: S6W-17730

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to meet with (a) Hospice UK and (b) other representatives of the hospice industry, regarding the reported financial challenges facing hospices.

Question reference: S6W-17731

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to granting hospices extra funding to enable them to match the NHS pay uplift.