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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-08298

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings the First Minister undertook on the commissioning of vessels 801 and 802 for the Clyde and Hebrides prior to the contract being awarded to Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6W-08299

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what related meetings the First Minister undertook prior to the nationalisation of Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6W-08370

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Rural Payments and Services area offices are open for face-to-face appointments.

15 of the 16 Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) Area Offices are currently open for face to face appointments. The exception is the Area Office based in Galashiels, which is currently closed due to building works. The RPID Area Offices have other customer support offers including phone calls, MS Teams calls, web chat or emails. Officials in Galashiels have also offered, in a very small number of specific of cases, to support the customer face to face in a location outwith the Galashiels Area Office.

Question reference: S6W-05925

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking as part of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses (SHBBV) services Recovery Plan to ensure that adequate numbers of staff are available for finding and treating new cases of hepatitis C, and collecting and analysing data on levels of blood borne virus infection.

Individual health boards are responsible for allocating staff, in recognition that they best understand local priorities and needs. The Scottish Government understands that many NHS staff have been unavoidably redeployed since 2020 to support the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that as the pandemic subsides, staff will begin to revert to their pre-Covid duties.

The Scottish Government welcomes this, but remains committed to working closely with Health boards to support recovery of sexual health and blood borne virus services, including those focused on Hepatitis C, through on-going engagement with the Scottish Health Protection Network and development of the next iteration of the sexual health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework.

Question reference: S6O-01084

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress on delivering the Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021.

We are creating a broad, co-ordinated package of policies and support programmes to deliver the change required. We have widened the scope of our capital and advice programmes and have several live funding calls for large scale projects. Further work over the coming year includes:

consulting on regulations for zero emissions heat
establishing a virtual National Public Energy Agency to coordinate delivery and build public understanding
co-producing, with industry, a Heat in Buildings supply chain delivery plan
collaborating with a range of partner organisations, through the Green Heat Finance Taskforce, on innovative heat decarbonisation finance mechanisms.

Question reference: S6O-01085

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress to remove NHS dental charges for everyone.

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-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-08208

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the decision to put in place a recruitment freeze in its health and social care directorate was made by the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care.

The Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care put in place a temporary pause on filling vacancies not currently advertised within Health and Social Care Directorates from 4 April 2022. Over the last two years, the Health and Social Care directorates have expanded to respond to the pandemic. The pause has been put in place for a short period to recognise the changing nature of the response now needed from the Portfolio. It allows time to consider the future size, shape and services that need to be delivered and how staff can be supported appropriately. The recruitment pause is designed to ensure that any planned activity is aligned to the organisation’s longer term workforce plan.

Question reference: S6W-08209

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the recruitment freeze in its health and social care directorate (a) was put in place and (b) will come to an end.