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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: S6O-01821

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what guidance it gives to landlords in all sectors to help prevent and deal with damp, condensation and mould in their properties, including when this was last revised.

Question reference: S6O-01824

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted on the effect of the rent cap on the number of homes available for rent in the private sector.

Question reference: S6O-01815

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last spoke to NHS Lothian and NHS Borders.

Question reference: S6W-13200

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any delays in the delivery of homecare medications.

National Procurement (NP), part of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), with representation from Health Boards, have regular performance management meetings with homecare providers to review key performance metrics and to agree and track progress against recovery plans.

Where a particular provider is experiencing service disruption, Health Boards will seek to register patients, where feasible, with alternative providers to help reduce demand on the affected provider. A challenge over the past year has been that multiple providers have experienced staffing issues which has created market-wide capacity constraints.

Question reference: S6W-13794

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13291 by Mairi McAllan on 10 January 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of how many trees it has planted in each year since 2007 in the (a) East Lothian and (b) Midlothian local authority areas.

Question reference: S6W-13825

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what key performance indicators it has in place for its international offices.

The Scottish Government’s international offices use five shared strategic objectives to inform the activity and evaluation of their work. These are:

Scotland's international reputation is improved;
Scottish businesses are trading internationally more effectively;
Scottish research and innovation capability is promoted and further partnerships and funding secured;
Investment to Scotland has increased
Scotland's interests in the EU and beyond are protected and enhanced.

When reporting against these outcomes, offices use a range of both qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure their performance, monitor their effectiveness; ensure they are achieving their strategic objectives and that they are providing value for money.

Question reference: S6W-13648

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what priorities it has to support the long-term sustainability of Channel 4’s operations in Scotland.

While broadcasting is reserved, the Scottish Government wholeheartedly supports public service broadcasting and Channel 4’s important and distinctive role in that system. Channel 4 continues to deliver high quality outcomes for people in Scotland and we are committed to ensuring its ongoing sustainability.

I welcomed the recent announcement that the UK Government has reversed its unnecessary and ill-conceived proposals to privatise Channel 4. I will write to the Secretary of State to request further detail on the UK Government’s plans for Channel 4, and to press the importance of Channel 4’s place in the sector, delivering programmes in the public interest and driving creative innovation in Scotland. We will continue to closely monitor and argue for the strengthening and long-term sustainability of Channel 4’s operations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government supported the creation of a Channel 4 creative hub in Glasgow, bringing network commissioning responsibility to Scotland. We will continue to do everything we can, including through our engagement with the UK Government and Ofcom, to support an increasing presence of Channel 4 commissioners in Scotland, and to maintain and enhance Channel 4’s nations quotas to help improve local representation, develop our creative industries, and grow new Scottish talent.

Question reference: S6W-13652

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what data is collected on the number of students who die by suicide each year in Scotland.

Death registration data collated by National Records of Scotland contains information on the occupation of the deceased. Public Health Scotland (PHS) include this information in the Scottish Suicide Information Database.

In 2021, PHS published a thematic analysis of probable suicides by occupation group, which includes students. This can be accessed here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/8047/2021-scotsid-report.pdf

Question reference: S6W-13651

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with universities regarding (a) institutional duty of care for students and (b) risk assessment for students.

Question reference: S6W-13655

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many registered apprenticeships there have been in each year since 1999.

Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are publicly available on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland .

Registered starts by year are detailed in the table below . Figures for 2022-23 are available until the end of Quarter 2, with year-end statistics expected to be published in May 2023.

Year	Total
2005-06	20,196*
2006-07	16,913*
2007-08	15,803*
2008-09	10,579
2009-10	20,216
2010-11	21,561
2011-12	26,427
2012-13	25,691
2013-14	25,284
2014-15	25,247
2015-16	25,818
2016-17	26,262
2017-18	27,145
2018-19	28,190**
2019-20	29,035**
2020-21	19,824**
2021-22	26,567**
2022-23 Quarter 2	12,593

*To note, prior to the creation of Skills Development Scotland in April 2008, MA data was held by Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), however SDS do hold data from 2005/06 onwards. Prior historical statistics are not published by SE or HIE.

**Since 2018/19, Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) starts have been included in the year-end apprenticeship total and contribute towards Scottish Government commitments. To note, the GA figures included have been sourced from the Graduate Apprenticeship Annual Report 2022, which may differ from the year-end figures originally reported due to a delay in data from learning providers.