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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-20494

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of young people in the Glasgow region have received a card through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme as of May 2023, broken down by local authority area.

By the end of May 2023, there were 67,615 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in Glasgow City. This represents 67% of the estimated eligible population in the local authority area.

Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) and is provided by local authority. As such, data is not available by constituency area or larger parliamentary regions.

NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.

Question reference: S6W-20628

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 4 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many new (a) social and (b) affordable homes it plans to build in the Glasgow region by the end of the current parliamentary session.

A table showing the number of social and affordable completions by local authority area can be accessed using the following link. This provides the number of homes already built in Glasgow in the current parliamentary session:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-completions-updates/

In Glasgow, the Council is responsible for the management and delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) on behalf of Ministers through the Transfer of Management of Development Funding (TMDF) arrangement. The Council produces a Strategic Housing Investment Plan annually which details the plans for homes which will be built using the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in the Glasgow region. The latest plan, covering 2023-24 to 2027-28, details the completions planned by year and can be accessed using the following link:

Committee Information - View Committee Document (glasgow.gov.uk)

Homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme include social rent, mid-market rent and low cost home ownership. These include new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases.

Question reference: S6W-20324

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 28 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much water it estimates was lost due to burst pipes in the Glasgow region in December 2022.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their answer is:

Scottish Water does not report or evaluate leakage based on parliamentary constituency area and it normally reports leakage on an annual basis to account for the effect of seasonal variations. However, it has estimated that the total leakage in the Glasgow region was recorded at 77.3 Ml/d in December 2022, a 19% increase over the previous month as a result of the extreme weather conditions.

Leakage management and reduction is a priority for teams across Scottish Water - finding and fixing the wide variety and complexity of leaks; these can range from low level "weeps and seeps" to large-scale bursts on the pipe network. Nationally they are responsible for 30,516 miles of water pipes across both urban and rural communities on the mainland and islands.

Despite the challenges, at the end of 2022-23 Scottish Water achieved its lowest ever level of leakage across Scotland, continuing the trend of year on year reductions in leakage since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-20323

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the Home Energy Scotland grants scheme, which was announced on 2 December 2022, in the Glasgow region.

In March this year the Scottish Government ran a marketing campaign using TV, radio and digital media platforms to promote our newly launched Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grants & Loans scheme. There has been strong demand for the updated scheme – during the campaign we saw a 23% increase in applications compared to the previous month, with over 3000 grant and loans offered through the scheme across Scotland since launch.

We will continue to deliver an awareness raising campaign that builds on this early activity. Plans are in place for further national marketing activity to commence in January 2024 until mid-March 2024. This nationwide campaign intends to target those who currently have the highest propensity to take out a heat pump. Promotion will be bolstered by further activity under our Let’s Do Net Zero marketing campaign, which will highlight carbon emitting heating systems as being a major contributor to climate change.

The Energy Savings Trust, who manage the HES service on behalf of the Scottish Government, also regularly promote the Loans and Grants scheme through their own channels including digital promotion and work through the HES advice centre network.

Later this year we will publish our Heat in Buildings Public Engagement Strategy setting out how we will work with stakeholders to increase public awareness and understanding of zero emission heating systems, the different technological options available and how to access advice and support.

Question reference: S6W-19796

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

Scottish Government has made no recent assessment of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

However, there are policy initiatives to address the main risk factors associated with chronic liver disease, such as alcohol use, obesity and hepatitis C.

These policy initiatives include Minimum Unit Price for alcohol, Scotland’s diet and healthy weight delivery plan to address obesity and effective elimination of hepatitis C by 2024.

Question reference: S6W-19795

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding will be extended for the hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer pathway beyond March 2024.

Question reference: S6W-19282

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many link workers are employed in GP practices in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde board area.

The Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) funds Community Link Workers (CLWs) as part of primary care multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs).

As at March 2023, there were 97.7 WTE Community Links Workers working in NHS board provided services within Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. Within this, 94.9 FTE were funded through the Primary Care Improvement Fund and 2.8 FTE were funded through other sources.

Question reference: S6W-19281

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its new mental health strategy.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy has now been published and is available here:

Strategy - https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259275

Executive Summary - https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259282

Easy Read - https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259299

Having reviewed our progress on the accompanying Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan, we now intend to carry out further engagement over the summer period to develop these further. We now intend to publish these supporting documents in the Autumn.

Question reference: S6O-02366

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any modelling on the potential behavioural impact of the Scottish Green Party's proposal to introduce a new increased tax rate for those earning between £75,000 and £125,000.

Question reference: S6O-02214

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any analysis of the potential cost to the public purse of introducing a minimum income guarantee.