Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-27421

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it still plans to add the data from 134,000 children gathered in the Health and Wellbeing Census to the Administrative Data Research Scotland system; what its position is on whether the data was captured ethically and legally, and whether it will implement measures to mitigate any risks of being able to link the data back to the respondents, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to making best use its data, including making this available for further statistical analysis and research, subject to data protection legislation. The 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census data was added to Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR-S) in May 2024. Further information on ADR-S can be found here: ADR Scotland - ADR UK

The HWB Census underwent an Ethics Peer Review in line with the Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance. Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Data provided into the ADR-S infrastructure does not include the Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). The SCN is replaced with a pseudonym for this purpose.

In light of the ICO's recommendations, the Scottish Government is introducing enhanced technical and organisational measures to ensure that any data which contains the SCN and is processed for statistical and research purposes will have a pseudonym created. The SCN and the method of pseudonymisation will be held separately. These enhanced measures have been agreed with the ICO.

Question reference: S6W-27375

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to (a) reviewing and (b) deleting, if found to be infringing UK GDPR and/or ethical standards for health research, the data gathered from 134,000 children who participated in the Health and Wellbeing Census survey in 2022 reportedly without being informed of what the Information Commissioner’s Office has described as the "serious risks" of being able to identify individuals by using their Scottish Candidate Numbers as part of their email addresses.

The HWB Census underwent an Ethics Peer Review in line with the Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance. Scottish Government social research: protocols and guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In light of the ICO's recommendations, the Scottish Government is introducing enhanced technical and organisational measures to ensure that any data which contains the SCN and is processed for statistical and research purposes will have a pseudonym created. The SCN and the method of pseudonymisation will be held separately. These enhanced measures have been agreed with the ICO.

Question reference: S6W-28005

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement a Scottish version of the UK Government's national school breakfast club programme, specifically with a view to tackling child poverty.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children.

Breakfasts are being provided across Scotland by a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We are working with Local Authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map existing provision. This work is ongoing and alongside learning from other approaches across the UK, will inform the development of a delivery strategy for breakfast provision, including how a future offer can support the Government's mission to eradicate child poverty.

Question reference: S6W-27420

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what date its Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP) reportedly granted a request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered from 134,0000 children in the Health and Wellbeing Census, and whether it will provide any documentation that shows for what reason any such request was granted, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default, which created "serious risks" and put children at risk of "potential harms".

The Scottish Government has a robust process in place when it receives access requests to its data for statistics and research purposes: Scottish Government statistics: request our data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This web page includes a list of projects that have been approved by the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP).

The request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered in the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census did not progress to final approval and as such this data access request does not feature in the list of approved projects.

Question reference: S6O-03589

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to mitigate against crop damage over the coming months.

Question reference: S6O-03494

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to restart the GP Sustainability Loan Scheme, including by what date it expects to restart the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-27067

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to reopening a Scottish Development International office in Taiwan.

Question reference: S6W-26879

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use the Medium Term Financial Strategy to provide clarity on its commitment to introduce multi-year funding for the voluntary sector in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26880

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it will utilise the Medium Term Financial Strategy to progress its commitment to Fairer Funding by 2026, beyond multi-year funding.

Question reference: S6W-26878

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use the Medium Term Financial Strategy to ensure greater certainty and security for the voluntary sector in Scotland.

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