Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-20980

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to review regulations relating to the conduct of religious bodies.

There are no current regulations specifically aimed at the conduct of religious bodies, however, a number of areas of regulation may apply to religious bodies.

The Scottish Government is currently running a collection of four public consultations on different aspects of regulation of the funeral sector in Scotland. This may be of interest to religious bodies.

The collection of four consultations cover regulations on the following topics: alkaline hydrolysis (‘water cremation’), burial, inspection of burial authorities, cremation authorities and funeral directors and licensing for funeral directors.

The consultations are all available on the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space and will be live from 25 August – 17 November 2023.

Some religious bodies are registered charities in Scotland, and charity trustee duties are set out in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has committed to work with the third sector and partners to develop the scope for a wider review of charity regulation. Charity trustee duties may be considered as part of this scoping work.

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Civil partnership (Scotland) Act 2020 contain provisions on qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies to meet before they can solemnise marriage (or register a

civil partnership). These provisions are not in force. The Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a full public consultation before making any regulations to introduce qualifying requirements. This consultation has not been a priority given other workload pressures.

Question reference: S6W-20979

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the Church of Scientology, and what the content was of any discussions.

Question reference: S6W-20722

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to tackle the reported rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Scotland following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A national STIs and Safer Sex awareness campaign led by Public Health Scotland launched in July.The first phase is focussed on condom use and knowing the signs and symptoms of STIs.A second phase planned for later in 2023 will focus on testing.

A national project to develop online STI testing has been underway since 2021. The Scottish Government provided £0.5 million for an initial pilot in NHS Lothian and scoping work is now being carried out for a national service.

In addition, we are currently developing a new Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus plan, which is due to be published by the end of Summer 2023 and will set out our priorities for the next three years. A key focus of the plan will be improving the accessibility of sexual health services, including STI testing.

Question reference: S6W-20723

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to reduce waiting times for sexual health services.

The Scottish Government is currently developing a new Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus plan, which is due to be published by the end of Summer 2023 and will set out our priorities for the next three years. A key focus will be improving the accessibility of sexual health services.

An additional £800,000 of funding has been awarded to projects which support progress against key aims to improve sexual health and blood borne virus outcomes and improve access to services.

A national project to develop online STI testing has been underway since 2021. The Scottish Government provided £0.5 million for an initial pilot in NHS Lothian and scoping work is now being carried out for a national service to improve access to testing.

Question reference: S6T-01525

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered undertaking a comprehensive review into the reach of any Chinese state surveillance in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-20632

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19677 by Shona Robison on 31 July 2023, when the scoping exercise will be completed.

Question reference: S6W-20631

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19778 by Graeme Dey on 25 July 2023, when the Scottish Funding Council guidance on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete will be delivered.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) wrote to all college and university principals on 8 August 2023 highlighting the issue of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and where they can find guidance on the identification and assessment of RAAC.

The SFC has asked all colleges and universities to provide information on the presence of RAAC in their estate buildings.

The Scottish Government and SFC are working closely together on this matter; and SFC will keep principals informed of further guidance and sources of information.

Question reference: S6W-20412

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to move towards a uniform IT and booking service for GP practices.

Under the GP Contract, GP practices are required to provide online services to patients such as appointment booking and repeat prescription ordering. We recognise, however, there have been limitations to the systems currently in use, which is why, through continued investment in the national ‘GP IT’ re-provisioning programme, Health Boards will have the ability to offer new and advanced, modernised systems for General Practice in Scotland.

The rollout of the new National GP IT system is now underway and provides a number of improvements for GPs and practices in relation to booking appointments, prescribing, connectivity to systems, shared community care and more robust centralised hosting. As the new GP IT system is rolled out, we expect more GP practices to offer a booking service for their patients, in line with the GP contract. More information is available in our refreshed delivery plan of the Digital Strategy: Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2023-24 (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-20827

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that local communities are aware of their rights in terms of community land ownership, and are better supported to access those rights.

Communities have a number of rights in terms of community ownership. There are four separate community rights to buy, most of which are compulsory purchase rights, as well as the right to request an asset transfer of an asset from a public body.

In addition, the Scottish Land Fund, which was increased to £11m this year, is available to community groups across Scotland, whether they are acquiring an asset through any of these rights, or entering into a negotiated sale with a willing seller. We have committed to increasing this to £20m by the end of 2026.

The Scottish Government Community Land Team regularly assist community groups with guidance on the rights to buy, whilst the Community Empowerment Team can help with asset transfer rights.

The Scottish Government also provides grants to Community Land Scotland to promote and educate community groups on all aspects of community ownership. This includes the annual Community Land Week which allows anyone to go along to a participating community group and see for themselves the benefits that ownership can bring.

Question reference: S6W-20828

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make land ownership in Scotland more transparent, particularly where land may be held by those currently under UK sanction or by other hostile parties.

The Scottish Government is committed to land reform and improving transparency of those who own and control land in Scotland is at the heart of our land reform objectives. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI). The policy intention of the RCI is to ensure there can no longer be categories of land owner or tenant where, intentionally or otherwise, control of decision-making is obscured.

As well as the RCI, we fully supported UK wide emergency legislation in the UK Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act, introduced following the invasion of Ukraine last year, to improve transparency of overseas entities who own land in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK through the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE).

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