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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: S5O-04741

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce harmful emissions in densely populated urban areas.

Question reference: S5O-04714

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to tackle food poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S5F-04473

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2020

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on discussions with the UK Government regarding support for sporting organisations most affected by a delay to the return of spectators.

Question reference: S5O-04621

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has put in place for NHS dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S5W-31437

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is considering regarding testing school pupils for COVID-19 quickly and in their own locality and, in light of the similarities that symptoms of the virus can have with cold and flu strains, what plans it has to introduce less invasive tests.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all school pupils, as well creating a safe environment for children to go to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. If anyone, including school pupils, have symptoms of the virus, they should immediately isolate and arrange test via a drive through centre, through ordering a home testing kit or via a walk-in testing if one is close to their home.

We are continually developing, and working with partners on, testing innovations that could enable us to provide testing in new and improved ways. Reducing the invasiveness of testing is one of the areas that we are looking to improve and we will seek to use less invasive testing techniques if they become available.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of school pupil’s education and will continue to work hard to ensure all our children and young people are able to attend school.

Question reference: S5O-04507

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest engagement has been with the UK Government about proposals for a UK internal market.

Question reference: S5W-29593

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with North Lanarkshire Council regarding increasing and improving cycle and walking routes to promote active travel (a) in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency and (b) across the local authority area.

The Scottish Government grant funds Sustrans Scotland to deliver cycling and walking infrastructure in partnership with local authorities mainly through the Places for Everyone programme. This programme is currently paused due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, £30 million of grant funding for Places for Everyone has been repurposed into a programme for temporary active travel infrastructure: Spaces for People. This programme supports active travel whilst physical distancing and staying safe from traffic.

Sustrans has recently engaged with North Lanarkshire Council on the refresh of their active travel strategy, as well as during the process of awarding Places for Everyone project funding. Projects in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency have received funding of nearly £109,000 over 2018-19-2020-21. Across the wider local authority areas, funding allocations have been made totalling nearly £950,000 over 2018-19-2020-21.

In addition, North Lanarkshire Council have been awarded Spaces for People funding of £567,000, which includes project works in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency.

Question reference: S5W-29493

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 16 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the football authorities regarding restarting training for the grassroots game in accordance with social distancing and other appropriate safety measures.

Training for grassroots football clubs was able to resume from 29 May 2020 in line with the Phase 1 restrictions – including physical distancing and no more than two households meeting – in place for the general population.

We are continuing to liaise with the Scottish FA to ensure member clubs have access to appropriate advice and support, and we will continue to work with the football authorities to consider what future Phases will mean for all levels of football – including the grassroots game – and will provide guidance in due course.

Question reference: S5W-29648

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the University of Strathclyde Department of Work, Employment and Organisation paper, Covid-19 and Call/Contact Centre Workers: Intermediate Report.

The Scottish Government notes the concerns raised in the report and the conclusions reached.

All employers have a duty to ensure that employees are able to work safely. All workplaces are covered by provisions under the Health and Safety and Work Act 1974 and under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

Local authorities have, through the emergency regulations, powers to tackle failure to maintain safe distancing in the workplace. Workers can raise enquiries about working safely with the Health and Safety Executive and with Local Authority Environmental Health Officers. If workers think their working conditions are unsafe, they also have rights under Section 44 of the Employment Regulations Act (1996). For workers who are members of trade unions, they may wish to speak to their trade union representative.

The Scottish Government has issued a joint statement with the STUC General Secretary on COVID-19 Fair Work Principles that underpin shared commitment to fair work practices in Scotland. This calls on employers, trades unions and workers to work together to reach the right decisions on all workplace issues that arise throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure workers are treated fairly.

We are taking a partnership approach to developing sectoral guidance in order to create the conditions for business, trades unions and regulators to share expertise and work together to create safer workplaces. As part of this process a working group will be established to take forward the development of call/contact centre workplace guidance.

Question reference: S5W-28932

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when guidelines for reporting on the use of emergency powers under the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus Act 2020 will be published, and whether they will recommend that data is collected and disaggregated by protected characteristics wherever appropriate and possible.

The reporting requirements set out in Section 15 of the Scottish Act specify a range of detail that must be covered as part of this process. In developing our approach we are considering how we focus and prioritise reporting towards matters of significant interest or implications – including impacts on vulnerable groups and human rights - and identify those areas in which more detailed reporting may be needed. Section 9 of the Scottish Act makes a commitment to the advancement of equality and non-discrimination, and equality impacts and implications for individuals and groups with protected characteristics will be an important aspect of the reporting mechanisms adopted.

In my recent statement to Parliament I outlined the principles of the approach we are developing for reporting on the Acts, and I will shortly be setting out further detail on the terms and structure of these reports and the supporting process for engagement and scrutiny.