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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: S6T-00069

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the allegation made by Jim McColl in The Herald on Sunday that £25 million of public money was wasted on the "forced" nationalisation of Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-00290

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place for individuals whose circumstances require them to receive the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccination in a different UK nation from where they received their first dose.

Those who change address from any part of the UK after a first vaccination are advised to register with a local General Practitioner (GP) as soon as possible at their new address in order that they become known to their local Health Board. A Community Health Index (CHI) number is generated for new permanent patients. When a clinical record becomes available an appointment will be scheduled and an invitation letter sent out to the patient in line with priority grouping.

Those registered as temporary patients with a GP in Scotland do not have a CHI number generated and records remain within their chosen local practice. In this case we are advise they contact the vaccination helpline on 0800 0308013 (available 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week), indicating in their call that they are from another UK country and are a temporary resident in Scotland. Helpline staff will ask the patient for the necessary information required to allow for Practitioner Service Division (PSD) to create a CHI number and in turn pass their details onto the patient’s local Health Board for an appointment to be scheduled and an invitation letter sent out to the patient.

The Scottish Government is clear that people should be able to be vaccinated where they are currently staying in the UK, even if they are registered with a GP elsewhere. Our understanding is that this reciprocal arrangement is reflected across the four nations. Officials are undertaking work with their four nations counterparts to ensure clear pathways for, and efficient vaccination of, eligible people regardless of their country of GP registration or ordinary residence.

Question reference: S6W-00262

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care will meet with student paramedics from the Pay Student Paramedics campaign in order to discuss the implementation of the student paramedic bursary.

Question reference: S6W-00261

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the bursary for student paramedics will be in place before the start of the next academic year in September.

Question reference: S6W-00219

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason NHS Dumfries and Galloway has no input or control over centrally-allocated COVID-19 appointments.

NHS Scotland Health Boards use the delivery model which is most suitable for their local circumstances, whilst maintaining a Covid-19 safe environment.

The NHS Dumfries and Galloway system schedules its own appointments using a booking algorithm, which works as follows:

•First checks for GP practices as a vaccination location;

•Then checks for nearest vaccination centre using estimated time to drive to location ( via google maps ) to find the closest centre, there is no upper limit for travel time;

•Repeats step 2 until it finds a vaccination centre with available appointments.

A person would potentially be asked to travel a large distance if there is no capacity at nearby centres. This is managed by NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish Government officials were instructed to contact NHS Dumfries and Galloway to ascertain if more local vaccination sites can be opened and if more are needed.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway responded that it is monitoring and addressing this. There is re-booking capacity to reduce the risk of appointing patients to venues that would require significant journey times. And NHS D&G continues to review uptake and "did not attend" rates across the region to determine if it is seeing any localities where there is a need to increase our provision to increase uptake rates.

Question reference: S6W-00247

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people did not attend their vaccine appointment in the last 10 weeks, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) age group.

Question reference: S6W-00190

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Sea Eagle Management Scheme payments are paid from the NatureScot budget and not from the Scottish Government's agriculture budget, in light of these payments being primarily to support farming.

The Sea Eagle Management Scheme is not an agricultural financial support scheme. It has historically been provided by NatureScot (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage) to provide practical support which includes advice, loan of scaring equipment and research for livestock farmers and crofters who suffer impacts across the sea eagle breeding range.

One of the objectives of the current White-tailed Eagle Action Plan is to consider whether support of farm and croft management relating to sea eagles should be included in future agri-environment programmes. This will help to develop the right conditions for the sustainable co-existence between sea eagles and sheep farming in ways which benefit the biodiversity, economic and social interests of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-00191

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Sea Eagle Management Scheme payments are not directed solely to farms and croft landholdings where there are independently verified livestock predation incidents established by veterinary post-mortem analysis.

The Sea Eagle Management Scheme is not a compensation scheme and therefore does not require verification of predation. It is not possible to retrieve all carcasses in suspected predation incidents as sea eagles generally take prey back to their nests. The aim is to support farmers and crofters to manage livestock in the presence of sea eagles and to minimise the risks of possible predation through that management. Applications to the scheme are accepted only where there is known sea eagle activity and after discussions between expert contractors and the applicant to assess the level of sea eagle activity and possible impacts.

Question reference: S6W-00193

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to accelerate the rate at which staff working in schools will be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-00457

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve work-related outcomes for referrals to the Fair Start Scotland service, and what its response is to reports that 89.8% of people referred to the service in South Ayrshire did not achieve a 26-week job outcome after their time in the programme.

The percentages quoted have been calculated using statistics published on the number of job outcomes, broken down by local authority area. These do not provide an accurate reflection of performance as they include participants who have not had time to reach outcomes.

Pre-employment support on Fair Start Scotland ordinarily lasts 12 months (it can last up to 18 months), and job outcomes will increase as more participants move through the service into, and sustain work over time. Job outcome rates can only be reported for those cohorts where enough time has passed in pre-employment support (12 months) and also for job outcomes to be achieved (6 months for the figures quoted).

The figures have also been calculated based on the number of referrals to the service. It is worth noting that Fair Start Scotland is completely voluntary, and not everyone who is referred will choose to participate.

As part of our continuous improvement activities and in line with our “test and learn” approach to employability support in Scotland, we continue to work with Providers to improve all aspects of the service.

Our key priority remains ensuring participants receive a quality service in their journey to finding and sustaining fair work, and we continue to work closely with local government, the third sector and other partners to ensure the right employment opportunities are sourced for participants.