Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 39920 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-03827

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of patients per GP is in each NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-04204

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure there are opportunities for all young people to access positive post-school destinations, in light of reported concerns by teachers and social workers that such opportunities do not exist for young people with the most difficult and complex needs.

The Scottish Government are undertaking a range of measures to support disabled young people to access positive post-school destinations, including introducing Scotland’s first National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy in this Parliamentary Term. The Strategy is jointly led by the Minister for Equalities & Older People and the Minister for Children and Young People, to focus on supporting our disabled young people. As part of our commitment to improving transitions for young people, the Scottish Government has been working in partnership with ARC (Association for Real Change) Scotland to develop and deliver the Principles into Practice trial programme, a trial of ARC’s transitions framework.

In addition, we are implementing the independent Morgan Review recommendations for Additional Support for Learning, to ensure improvements are being made to effectively implement legislation and policy across Scotland. On 1 November we launched the Getting It Right For Every Child guidance refresh consultation, which includes the role of the Lead Professional. This refresh will include developing practice guidance on planning for children.

The Young Person’s Guarantee also has an important role in supporting young disabled people into education, training and employment, including supported employment. Since the Guarantee’s launch in November 2020 we have provided additional funding of up to £130 million, with the aim of supporting at least 24,000 new and enhanced opportunities. This includes over 11,000 employability and training opportunities for young people through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs).

LEPs are prioritising support for disabled young people through employer recruitment incentives and specialist programmes, with some offering targeted support for those with complex additional support needs. Many partnerships are working with specialist organisations such as Project Search and Penumbra.

Through Developing the Young Workforce and Enable Works, Young Person’s Guarantee funding is also connecting over 1,000 disabled young people to fair work, education and opportunities designed to ensure a successful transition into adult life and work.

The Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland recognise that disabled people can face additional challenges in their career journeys, therefore enhanced contribution rates are available for Modern Apprentices up to the age of 29 who self-identify as disabled. SAAS administer the Disabled Students’ Allowance to support disabled students and those with additional learning needs and may have extra costs because of their impairment. Furthermore, many colleges and universities provide support to disabled young people while they are studying.

The Young Person’s Guarantee is part of a basket of interventions designed to support disabled young people that will contribute to the refresh of A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People – Employment Action Plan , due for publication next Spring.

Question reference: S6W-04246

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent, directly or indirectly, via its agencies and intermediaries, on government public awareness campaigns on traditional or non-traditional media, broadcast or social media, in each of the last 10 financial years, broken down by (a) directorate, (b) cabinet portfolio and (c) campaign.

Detail on Scottish Government marketing spend between the years 2004-2005 and 2013-2014 can be found here: https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20170402085259/http:/www.gov.scot/About/People/Directorates/Communications/advertising-marketing/spend

Detail on Scottish Government marketing spend between the years 2013-2014 and 2020-2021 can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/marketing-spend

This information is broken down by campaign and by channel, though not by directorate or cabinet portfolio.

We do not hold details of marketing spend by Scottish Government agencies. This would need to be sourced directly from the specific agencies themselves.

Question reference: S6W-03932

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported survivability bias in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey to ensure that experiences of patients with a less survivable cancer are captured, and whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care plans to make a statement on the issue.

Question reference: S6W-03891

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group has met since the start of 2021, and on what dates.

Question reference: S6W-03931

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to join the National Pancreatic Cancer Audit.

Question reference: S6W-04325

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-03230

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many times an ambulance has been dispatched single-crewed in each year since 2019, broken down by (a) Scottish Ambulance Service division and (b) NHS board area.

Ambulances are not single-crewed other than in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice unplanned staff absences, and every effort is made to double crew ambulances through rostered and relief staff, overtime or our bank staff. Ambulance Technicians are able to deliver high quality care to patients, but where a paramedic skill set is required, paramedics will be tasked to calls.

Unfortunately as a result of COVID-19 there has been occasions where single crewing has had to be used as a result of late notice staff abstractions, however we are continuing to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service to reduce this where possible.

The following table outlines the number of ambulance that have been dispatched single-crewed in each year since 2019, broken down by (a) Scottish Ambulance Service division and (b) NHS board area, as requested.

Financial Year	Qtr	East	West	North	Scotland
Financial Year	Qtr	% Single Crewed Shifts	% Single Crewed Shifts	% Single Crewed Shifts	% Single Crewed Shifts
2019-20	Q1	1.23%	1.30%	1.99%	1.43%
2019-20	Q2	1.44%	1.94%	2.85%	1.99%
2019-20	Q3	1.63%	1.70%	3.25%	2.03%
2019-20	Q4	1.58%	1.52%	2.93%	1.86%
2020-21	Q1	0.71%	1.18%	0.59%	0.90%
2020-21	Q2	1.13%	1.28%	2.60%	1.53%
2020-21	Q3	1.18%	1.26%	2.36%	1.48%
2020-21	Q4	0.87%	0.95%	1.81%	1.12%
2021-22	Q1	1.29%	1.16%	2.23%	1.44%

* 2021-22 Q1 figures are reference to April - June.

Question reference: S6W-02661

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01641 by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021, whether it can confirm that there is no opposition from Transport Scotland to the application from the Ferymuir Gait site developer to secure planning permission for the access arrangements to the Ferrymuir Gait housing development to be amended, to allow for unrestricted access.

Question reference: S6W-04076

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the interoperability of any future deposit return schemes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35206 on 23 February 2021. Scottish Government officials engage regularly with representatives of the other UK administrations to understand their intentions regarding the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). We are open to working with the other administrations to ensure our schemes are compatible, but this must be on the basis of this not diluting the ambition of our own scheme.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .