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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-21049

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support rural hospitality businesses to locate or supply accommodation for their staff, in light of reports that a lack of staff accommodation is having an impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in this sector.

This issue affects a range of sectors, including hospitality. We recognise that delivering affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges. We are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities, and are making available £3.5 billion this Parliament for affordable housing across Scotland. We will publish a Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan this autumn to help retain and attract people in rural and island communities – making available up to £25 million through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme over the period 2023-2028 to deliver homes for key workers in rural communities.

Our short-term lets regulations, including control areas, give local authorities the powers to manage high numbers of short-term lets, and our consultation on second and empty homes invites views on local taxation and existing housing to inform policy development to ensure sufficient, safe and secure housing stock.

We are also working to explore solutions to staff shortages in collaboration with the sector, through our Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group.

Question reference: S6O-02522

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Question reference: S6O-02517

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Fraser of Allander survey that found that only 9% of businesses felt that the Scottish Government understands the business landscape in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19503

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress regarding the recommendations made in June 2021's National Review of Eating Disorder Services.

We published an update on our progress delivering the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services in April 2023. This can be found here: National Review of Eating Disorder Services Implementation Group: final report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We have made good progress responding to the short-term recommendations made by the National Review and will shortly establish the National Eating Disorder Network which will support us to deliver on the remaining long-term recommendations.

Since the Review published in 2021, we have:

Provided funding to NHS Boards, including £5 million in 2021/22 to respond to the rise in eating disorder referrals we saw during the pandemic, and £46 million in 2022/23 via the 2022-23 Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services, including eating disorder services.
Established the Eating Disorder Lived Experience Panel to support us to deliver the remaining recommendations from the National Review.
Initiated the development of Quality Standards for Eating Disorder Care and Treatment in Scotland (which we will be consulting on this summer).
Provided over £600,000 annually to Beat to provide a range of self-help and carer support programmes in Scotland.
Commissioned NHS Benchmarking to undertake a “deep dive” into Eating Disorders services and their data, to support us to target future funding appropriately.

Question reference: S6W-19302

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to assure stroke stakeholders that (a) the updated national clinical guideline for stroke is embedded into the care provided by NHS Boards and (b) those who experience a stroke are gaining optimal benefit from this new published knowledge.

Question reference: S6W-19301

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether all patients who have a stroke will now receive a standard of stroke care as described by the updated national clinical guideline for stroke.

Question reference: S6W-19304

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what date eligible stroke patients in the NHS Forth Valley area will routinely gain access to a thrombectomy service.

Question reference: S6W-19303

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what savings have been made to date as a result of Scotland’s thrombectomy provision; how any such savings have been used, and what any additional anticipated savings are once (a) the thrombectomy hubs become fully utilised and (b) thrombectomy is available across the whole of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19104

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the development of its refreshed tobacco action plan, which is due to be published in autumn 2023, whether it will consider including the introduction of regulations similar to those recently announced in Canada, which require health warnings to be printed directly onto individual cigarettes, in order to encourage adults who smoke to quit, to protect young people and non-tobacco users from nicotine addiction, and to further reduce the appeal of tobacco.

Our refreshed Tobacco Action plan will be published in autumn in this year, which renews our focus on meeting our ambitious target of a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034.

We are considering a range of evidence, including the latest international evidence, and are working closely with stakeholders, including Smoking Cessation Co-ordinators, ASH Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, Trading Standards and PHS to deliver actions that will further reduce the smoking rates.

Question reference: S6W-19000

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support any businesses that have invested in improving broadband connections and the customers who rely on them, in light of reports that the fibre broadband infrastructure provider, Broadway Partners, has entered into administration due to rising interest rates and the freezing of R100 funding pending a timeline review.

The Scottish Government is supporting a wider range of broadband providers through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS). We are also supporting full fibre providers by enabling access to rates relief on newly laid and lit fibre up until March 2034 – the longest period of fibre rates relief anywhere in the UK.

The R100 programme has not frozen funding, with the R100 SBVS continuing to offer vouchers for up to £5,000 per premises to deliver connections to eligible properties. While the Scottish Government is using the levers available in order to support suppliers, as telecoms is a matter wholly reserved to Westminster, it is for the UK Government to ensure that a supplier of last resort mechanism is in place to protect customers affected by any financial issues a supplier may face.

Of course, our substantial investment in the R100 and S4GI digital infrastructure programmes, as well as the UK Government’s Project Gigabit and the cross-administration Shared Rural Network programme will also ensure that those affected by such issues in future remain able to access high-quality digital connectivity.