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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.

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Question reference: S6O-00528

Asked by: Neil Gray, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in NHS Lanarkshire.

Question reference: S6O-00544

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support the promotion of cultural assets connected to Robert Burns in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S6O-00542

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to creative industries in rural areas, including in relation to young people wishing to pursue a career in this sector.

Question reference: S6W-04662

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason chronic pain patients are reportedly having to wait longer than recommended to receive pain relief injections.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04313 on 3 December 2021. 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.

Further to this answer, I can update that the public consultation on the draft Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery is now available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-framework-chronic-pain-service-delivery.

Question reference: S6W-04691

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met with representatives of the British Lung Foundation to discuss (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) lung diseases similar to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Question reference: S6W-04610

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of requests made for legal aid funding, before an inquest, was successful, in each of the last 20 years.

There is no system of coroners' inquests in Scotland unlike England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The responsibility for the investigation of any death that requires further explanation rests with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Any sudden, suspicious, unexpected or unexplained death and any death which has occurred in circumstances which give rise to public concern, can result in a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) a public examination of the circumstances of that death conducted before a sheriff.

Legal aid is available for relatives participating in an FAI on the same basis as for civil proceedings and the same statutory tests must be met.

Civil legal aid has generous financial eligibility thresholds and those who are entitled to participate in an FAI, such as family, are assumed to have probable cause. In terms of assessing ‘reasonableness’ the Scottish Legal Aid Board expects that the Procurator Fiscal will usually be able to represent the interests of the relatives. However, where a relative of a person who died in prison or police custody applies, SLAB will look favourably on the application.

SLAB holds data in respect of applications from 2012 only. In respect of FAIs I can confirm that since 2012 there has been a total of 134 applications received, of which 111 were granted. That is a grant rate of approximately 83%.

In the financial year 2012-13 90% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2013-14 78% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2014-15 71% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2015-16 93% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2016-17 88% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2017-18 87% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2018-19 79% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2019-20 81% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2020-21 86% of applications received were granted.

Question reference: S6W-04591

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring is carried out by (a) GP practices and (b) pharmacists regarding cases of suspected addiction to painkillers.

GP practice records show lists of acute and repeat prescribed medication lists during consultations with quantities of medication prescribed. Over ordering of repeat medication (or repeated consultations for acute prescriptions) are therefore visible on the acute and repeat prescribing sections of the medical records. It is therefore possible to add minimum days before reordering of monthly repeat medications to help prevent medication being ordered early or alert future prescribers to the potential for suspected addiction. ‘Special notes’ can be added or alerts to the patient record in daytime practice to inform prescribers of previous medication seeking behaviour or suspected addiction to pain medication. This information can be added to the patients ‘Special notes’ to be visible to Out of Hours services. Scottish Government is developing tools to accurately display prescribing habits to clinicians during consultations in order to help identify medication (including analgesic) over/under use.

Question reference: S6W-04632

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what areas of activity of David MacBrayne Ltd and CalMac Ferries would typically be considered appropriate for an Island Communities Impact Assessment under the duties of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-04593

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to people with an addiction to painkillers in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S6W-04530

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of peatland have been restored in each year since 2003, and how this compares to the (a) relevant annual target and (b) overall target.

The Scottish Government first established firm annual peatland restoration targets in 2018 in its report Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) .

Based on a 1990 baseline, this set a commitment to restore 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2020 (including 10,000 hectares in 2017-18 and 20,000 hectares per year thereafter) as the first phase of a longer target to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

This implies a total restoration target of 70,000 hectares between 1990 and April 2021. Against this target, around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990 as shown in the following table. Annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot.

	1990-2013	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Restored (ha)	30,195 1	270 2	420 2	5570 2	2810 2	450 2	3,660 2	5,810 2	6,000 2	5,658 2
Target (ha)	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000

Data sources

1 Evans et al (2017) Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands , NEC05401, Issue number 1, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, Wales.

2 Peatland ACTION.

The Scottish Government has recently received the final report of work it commissioned from NatureScot in August 2021 on how to significantly increase annual peatland restoration rates. The Scottish Government will now review this work’s findings and recommendations and consider its next steps.