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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-19449

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many parents who currently access the Parental Employability Support Fund are under the age of 25.

Since April 2019, a range of Scottish Government funding has been made available to Local Government partners as the scope of delivery under No One Left Behind expands over time. This includes funding for the initial phase of No One Left Behind (April 2019), the Parental Employability Support Fund (February 2020) and the Young Person's Guarantee (November 2020).

The Scottish Government publishes summary information on Scotland's devolved employability services covering both Fair Start Scotland and No One Left Behind on a quarterly basis. Data for No One Left Behind is presented in its totality and not broken down by funding type. The most recent statistics published on 22 February 2023 covering the reporting period April 2020 to September 2022 show that 5,944 parents have started receiving support through No One Left Behind, 1,006 (17%) of whom are under the age of 25.

More information can be found at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-19448

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many parents or carers who are in receipt of Scottish Child Payment are under the age of 25, and whether it will publish this data.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Scottish Child Payment applications, payments and an estimate of the number of children actively in receipt of the payment.

While Social Security Scotland has not published the number of parents or carers in receipt of Scottish Child Payment to date, development is currently underway to do so in the next edition of the Scottish Child Payment Official Statistics publication. This will also include the number of parents or carers actively in receipt of Scottish Child Payment by age group. This next edition will cover the period to the end of June 2023 and is due to be published on 29 August 2023.

As of March 2023, around 12% (37,560) of applications for Scottish Child Payment were made by parents or carers aged under 25. It is important to note that these statistics relate to applications, not receipts of Scottish Child Payment. This information can be found in the latest Scottish Child Payment Official Statistics publication:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications

Question reference: S6O-02430

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its latest Building a New Scotland paper, what its position is on how a written constitution could protect democracy, the sovereignty of the people, freedom and the rule of law in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02391

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what action it takes to ensure that children and young people from across Scotland can visit their Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6O-02333

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how forthcoming legislation will advance the rights of child victims of crime.

Question reference: S6W-17863

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes in Scotland are currently heated by energy recovered from incineration plants.

Over 1,000 homes are currently heated by heat networks where a significant proportion of the heat provided is from an Energy from Waste plant.

Two further heat networks are currently being built to use heat from Energy from Waste plants which are already in operation or commissioning and situated in Midlothian and Aberdeen. These projects are expected to connect approximately 2,000 homes by 2026, with the capacity to heat significantly more with further extensions of these networks.

All the heat networks (existing or being developed) referred to above are, or will be, connected to existing Energy from Waste plant.

Across all heat sources, approximately 30,000 homes are connected to heat network(s) in Scotland, based on the 2018 Heat Network Metering and Billing Regulation data.

Question reference: S6W-17777

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle fuel poverty in the Cunninghame South constituency.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty, with £119 million allocated this year to provide heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures to fuel poor households throughout Scotland.

This incudes funding for our Area Based Schemes (ABS) delivered in partnership with local authorities. This year North Ayrshire council has been allocated £1.8 million to help fuel poor households living in `hard to treat’ properties (typically requiring external wall insulation).

Since the start of our ABS programme in 2013, we have invested £13.2 million in improvements benefitting over 2,800 fuel poor households in the North Ayrshire council area.

More than £210 million has been invested through our national Warmer Homes Scotland scheme since its launch in September 2015. This has helped over 32,000 households throughout Scotland to achieve an estimated average saving of £160 per year on their energy bills.

The Scottish Government has also established our Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF), working with trusted third sector partners to deliver direct emergency funds to people struggling to pay their energy bills, and who were at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing their energy use as a result. We have increased our overall funding to £30 million this financial year.

Question reference: S6O-02274

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.

Question reference: S6O-02232

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting culture and the arts in the Cunninghame South constituency.

Question reference: S6O-02209

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the GP workforce.