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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-08365

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what training teachers receive in synthetic phonics.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) accredit all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes leading to the award of the Standard for Provisional Registration in Scotland. The GTCS will agree content with the relevant ITE provider to ensure that the content will support student teachers to develop their knowledge, understanding and practice. As set out in the Standard for Professional Registration, teachers are expected to employ teaching strategies and resources to meet the needs and abilities of every learner.

Education Scotland offers support to practitioners in a number of areas, including literacy and synthetic phonics, through online platforms such as the Glow based National Literacy Professional Learning Community.

Question reference: S6W-08349

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects jury trials to resume in Dumfries.

Court programming is a matter for the senior judiciary, supported by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). SCTS advise that jury trials resumed in Dumfries Sheriff Court in April 2021. Under present arrangements, the jurors for these trials attend the remote jury centre in Ayr . However, from July the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service will begin decommissioning remote jury centres for most purposes. That process is due to be completed by October, and so on current planning assumptions jurors should be cited back to local courts - including Dumfries - by October.

Question reference: S6W-08338

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many vouchers from the ScotSpirit Holiday Voucher Scheme were available for issue between October and December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-08275

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support will be given to women who have alleged to have been physically and sexually abused while attending short-term respite or holiday care between the 1930s and 1960s.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting all survivors of childhood abuse. Through the Scottish Government’s Survivors of Childhood Abuse Support (SOCAS) Fund, 29 organisations across Scotland are funded to provide support to adult survivors of childhood abuse including (but not exclusive to) those who have been abused in care.

Future Pathways supports people who experienced childhood abuse or neglect while living in care in Scotland. Future Pathways is fully funded by Scottish Government as part of a wider strategy developed by the Scottish Government to address the legacy of historic abuse in Scotland. A diverse range of survivors are currently receiving support through Future Pathways, including those who attended Fornethy House residential school.

Question reference: S6W-08163

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that genetic testing is embedded as a standard of care in the treatment pathways for people with cancers.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the role of genomics in improving patient outcomes particularly for people with cancer. Our genetic laboratories across Scotland already provide a range of cancer genetic tests to support the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

We have committed £6.2 million of funding to genomics in 2022-23 which will support expanding our genomics capabilities in NHS Scotland.

Furthermore, we have provided funding to NSD to establish a Transformation Team led by a Lead Clinical Scientist alongside resource that specialises in transformative programme management and Data Analytics. The Team will be operational from June 2022.

This team will be responsible for delivering the rapid adoption of a number of genetic tests for cancer across the genetic laboratories as well as developing an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations from the Genetic Laboratory Major Service Review.

Over the coming months we will be expanding the membership of our Scottish Genomics Leadership Group (SGLG) and relevant work streams to include a wider pool of stakeholders than those currently on the SGLG. This expanded structure will consider the recommendations from the Major Services Review as well as considerations for further genomics expansion. The availability of genetic testing for the treatment of cancer as a standard of care will be a key consideration of the work taken forward.

Question reference: S6W-08301

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to ensure that visitors to parks and other areas for outdoor recreation are aware of the risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

Question reference: S6W-08011

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07097 by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022, and in light of the reported announcement by the UK Government and Northern Ireland Assembly not to include glass in their proposed Deposit Return Schemes, what its position is on whether a consistent approach should be taken across the UK, whether it has had any engagement with industry on this matter and, if this is not the case, whether it will consider doing so.

We remain committed to the inclusion of glass in our ambitious Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in view of the significant environmental benefits. Although the ambition of other nations’ schemes is a matter for their governments, we welcome the Welsh Government’s decision to follow our example and include glass in their scheme. We will work with all the other UK administrations to ensure interoperability of our schemes where this can be done without losing the ambition of our own.

Question reference: S6W-08012

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07097 by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022 and in light of the reported announcement by the UK Government and Northern Ireland Assembly not to include glass in their proposed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), what consideration it has given to any potential impact of including glass in its DRS on compliance with the UK Internal Market Act 2020 in the event that it results in higher costs (a) associated with three labelling regimes and (b) for businesses under the scheme in Scotland, including if any have to cease doing business in Scotland as a result.

Question reference: S6W-08080

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider establishing a national student homelessness duty as part of its planned student accommodation strategy.

Question reference: S6W-08010

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the proposed Deposit Return Scheme, what discussions it has had with Circularity Scotland on whether the company is planning to raise the producer fee in respect of glass from the level previously indicated.