- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 23 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of drugs deaths in the Lothian region in each year since 2018 have been linked to fentanyl or other synthetic opioids such as Captagon.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The annual National Records of Scotland publication on drug-misuse deaths does include data on the geographic split of drug deaths by substance, but the categories only include ‘any opioid’, ‘heroin/morphine’, ‘OST’, and a few medicinal opioids (such as codeine). There is not any information provided specifically on fentanyl, or any other synthetic opioids, broken down by geographical area.
Across Scotland the number of deaths where fentanyl was implicated since 2018 are as follows:
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ascertain for what reason excess deaths in Scotland are reportedly far higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, at 3,255 to date in 2023, and what information it has that may explain any such increase.
Answer
The Scottish Government closely monitor excess deaths statistics and work closely with our analytical partners Public Health Scotland (PHS) and National Records of Scotland (NRS) to understand the causes of excess deaths.
NRS are responsible for publishing Scotland’s excess deaths statistics, which includes breakdowns by cause of death.
A British Medical Journal editorial from the four UK Chief Medical Officers acknowledged that the UK, like many other European countries is currently experiencing substantial excess mortality. This editorial highlights the reasons behind this excess mortality are likely to be multifactorial, including persisting direct and indirect effects of COVID-19, surges in flu and respiratory infections, significant pressures on NHS acute services, and reductions in secondary prevention as an inevitable part of the response to COVID-19.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy raised any concerns in relation to human rights during his visit to the United Arab Emirates in October 2023.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to upholding its robust standards when it comes to Human Rights. I visited the UAE between 24-27 October and met senior government and business leaders to promote Scotland’s planned COP28 business programme and advance our bilateral trade and investment relationship with the UAE. I took the opportunity to raise Human Rights as part of the discussions around the Scottish Government’s commitment to creating a wellbeing economy to drive not just a wealthy society but a fair and just society. It was agreed to share further insight and intelligence about this work in Scotland and also to learn more about the measures the UAE has taken to tackle issues in their own society.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will carry out a risk assessment of any investment from China in Scottish universities, to determine what the impact on (a) universities and (b) university cities would be in the event that any such investment stopped.
Answer
Our universities are autonomous and responsible for ensuring their alliances and partnerships are safe and appropriate. The alliances that our further and higher education institutions forge across global academic networks are a matter for them and their governing bodies.
We expect all universities to understand and manage the reputational, ethical and security risks associated with international partnerships.
This includes conducting due diligence, complying with relevant legal requirements already in place and carefully considering guidance published by Universities UK to support them in managing risks of international partnerships.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2023
To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2023
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the current regulation for enforcement of taxi bays.
Answer
Taxis and private hire cars are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 ("the 1982 Act"). While the Scottish Government has responsibility for the overarching legislation, the day to day administration of the licensing regime is devolved to independent licensing authorities – in effect the 32 Scottish local authorities. The 1982 Act authorises a licensing authority to appoint, after consultation, stances for taxis.
There are no current plans to review the taxi licensing regime, as set out in the 1982 Act. If there are any issues with any specific taxi stances/bays this will be a matter for the relevant licensing authority to consider and address where appropriate.
Earlier this year the Scottish Government published updated ‘Best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi and private hire car operators on the licensing of taxis and private hire cars and their drivers’.
This guidance offers best practice advice to licensing authorities on a range of issues relating to the licensing of taxis, private hire cars and their drivers and was revised with the assistance of a working group including representatives from the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, local licensing authorities, taxi and private hire car trade representatives and UNITE the Union.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support the work of Police Scotland in light of a reported decline in policing numbers.
Answer
The Scottish Government continue to invest in policing, investing £1.45 billion in policing in 2023/24, increasing the resource budget of Police Scotland by an additional £80m.
Police Scotland have utilised this additional funding to invest in their workforce - recruiting around 600 new officers this year alone and around 1,480 since the beginning of 2022. A 7% pay increase for 23/24 recognises the hard work and valuable contribution that officers and staff make each day and means that our officers remain the best paid in the UK, with the minimum and maximum salary higher for all ranks compared to their counterparts in England and Wales.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many times Scottish Water has been fined by SEPA for sewage spills in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has a number of options in its enforcement toolkit, ranging from informal advice and guidance to the use of formal enforcement measures including final warning letters, statutory notices, monetary penalties, and reports to the Procurator Fiscal recommending prosecution.
SEPA’s licences set out actions operators are required to take and SEPA’s enforcement action is designed to secure compliance using the most appropriate and effective method. Scottish Water has received one fine in the last five years for a sewage spill.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what NHS Grampian's (a) (i) NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula target and (ii) actual funding allocation and (b) distance from NRAC parity has been in each year since 2016-17.
Answer
The Scottish Budget provides additional funding of £730 million for frontline NHS Boards in 2023-24 and continues to ensure that no Board is further than 0.6% from its target funding allocation.
In 2023-24, NHS Grampian will receive additional investment of £57.7 million, and this will take the Board’s overall funding in excess of £1.1 billion for the fourth consecutive year. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £56.2 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has met (a) the Marine Conservation Society, (b) Keep Britain Tidy, (c) Friends of the Earth and (d) Surfers Against Sewage in the last two years.
Answer
The Scottish Government engages regularly with relevant stakeholders. Their work and input to our policies is valued greatly. We have met the Marine Conservation Society, and Surfers Against Sewage several times in the last two years. We have met them to discuss a wide range of topics including single-use plastics, the Circular Economy Bill, our Marine Litter Strategy and Aquaculture policy.
