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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-00422

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what protections are in place for victims of (a) stalking and (b) harassment in cases where offenders are granted bail prior to trial.

It is for the independent court to decide whether to grant bail or remand an accused person in any given case. This decision is made within the overarching legal framework whereby bail can be refused if there are good reasons. Where the courts decide to release an accused person on bail, bail is awarded subject to conditions. These always include the standard conditions set out at section 24(5) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Amongst others, these conditions include that the person: should not commit an offence while on bail; does not interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice; and does not behave in a manner which causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to witnesses, including the complainer.

Breach of a bail condition is a criminal offence. Police Scotland treat all cases of stalking and harassment as a priority and encourage anyone to report incidents including where breach of bail conditions occurs. At any time after a court has granted bail to a person, if the prosecutor applies to the court, putting before it material which was not available when bail was granted, the court may review its decision to grant bail.

The Scottish Government provides funding to Action Against Stalking, which offers specialist support to victims of stalking throughout the criminal justice process, and provided funding to the Scottish Women's Rights Centre to develop the FollowIt App, which helps a person who is being stalked to record what is happening to them in a simple and safe way.

Question reference: S6W-00297

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will define religious events, such as Baptisms and Holy Communions, as “life events” in order for them to take place safely, allowing for celebration in residential and public places.

We acknowledge how challenging these past 15 months have been for everyone in our society, including our faith and belief communities who have not been able to come together to celebrate important occasions as they normally would.

Ceremonies that take place within places of worship to mark religious life events and that form part of a wider service (including baptisms, christenings and coming-of-age ceremonies) have been permitted in accordance with the guidance on the safe use of places of worship since the resumption of congregational worship in March 2021, and are subject to the guidance on calculating physical distance based capacity .

Marriages, civil partnerships, and funeral services are exceptions to the general restrictions on gatherings in public or at private dwellings in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) Regulations 2020 at all the protection levels of the updated Strategic Framework, along with receptions and post-funeral gatherings in public places at protection levels 0 to 3. We have also published guidance on these events, including on the numbers who can attend at the different protection levels. Marriages, civil partnerships and funerals are of particular importance to people and society and they are protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. Additionally, funerals are extremely important events with every funeral celebrating and commemorating a life lived and a loved one no longer with us. There are also very practical reasons why funerals cannot be postponed for any significant length of time.

However at this time, there are no specific exceptions for other religious life events, or any associated receptions and celebrations following them, outwith a place of worship. These remain subject to the general restrictions on gatherings, including in public, for example at a hospitality venue.

While the Scottish Government appreciates these would normally be occasions which are shared with families and loved ones, the Covid situation is still serious, and we need to continue to minimise the spread of the virus, balancing the harms from the virus which are potentially fatal, with the impact on faith and belief communities of the restrictions on places of worship.

We will continue to engage with our faith and belief stakeholders and we keep this under constant review as we cautiously progress out of lockdown.

Question reference: S6W-00148

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to disseminate information on the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 to communities in the northeast of Scotland, and who is responsible for this.

The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 removed the common law defence of “reasonable chastisement” from the law of Scotland on 7 November 2020.

That Act also provides that the Scottish Ministers are to take such steps as they consider appropriate to promote public awareness and understanding about the removal of the defence.

The Scottish Government has taken a variety of steps to achieve this, including:

Information about the Act on gov.scot Information about the Act on Mygov.scot A dedicated page about the Act on ParentClub
The publication of a news release
Social media activity:
The ParentClub Instagram account - post on the Act
The ParentClub Facebook account - post on the Act
Scottish Government education tweet about the Act
Scottish Government tweet about the Act
The creation and publication of promotional materials about the Act for parents and carers, and for children and young people
The publication of an Easy Read factsheet about the Act
Writing to organisations, including local authorities and health boards, with information about the Act:
May 2020 letter
October 2020 letter and framework document
Arranged for information about the Act to be included in Ready Steady Baby

More generally, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting parents. The Scottish Government has run a marketing campaign which promotes positive parenting. This can be seen on the ParentClub website .

Working with the Implementation Group formed by the Scottish Government to consider work required to implement the Act, we will continue to explore options for raising public awareness and understanding about the removal of the defence.

Question reference: S6F-00095

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister, in light of the growth in short-term teaching contracts, how many of the 3,500 teaching and classroom assistant posts that the Scottish Government has committed to creating will be given permanent contracts.

Question reference: S6F-00091

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the reported backlog of NHS dental appointments for children and young people.

Question reference: S6F-00084

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to improve trans and LGBT+ healthcare.

Question reference: S6F-00078

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that, to meet the SQA quality assurance processes, local authorities are validating teachers’ estimated grades using a school’s prior attainment data.

Question reference: S6F-00073

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will support and fund the roll-out of body-worn cameras for police officers and ambulance crews.

Question reference: S6F-00071

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00070

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.