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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: S6T-00055

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its preparations for Euro 2020, including the fan zone.

Question reference: S6T-00043

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the Scottish Children and Young People’s Commissioner, which suggests that some at-risk children might have been detained unlawfully in secure accommodation.

Question reference: S6T-00044

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to increase Police Scotland's capacity to tackle online crime, in light of reports of a 6% year-on-year increase in online child sex abuse crimes.

Question reference: S6W-00275

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it costs to train a student in dentistry.

The cost for training a student in dentistry is comprised of a number of components, including costs for university training, clinical outreach, and vocational training. The university costs for Scottish-domiciled undergraduates are approximately £32,641 for Year 1 (pre-clinical) students and £42,989 for students in Years 2-5 (clinical). For students in Year 5 there are also additional clinical outreach costs of approximately £31,467. The costs for the one-year vocational training that dentists must undertake after graduation is approximately £61,201 per dentist.

Question reference: S6W-00292

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether support for the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage will continue regardless of any formal support arrangement that ministers agree with the Scottish Green Party.

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) as a common whole-system decarbonisation infrastructure with the flexibility to adapt over time to play a central role across the decarbonisation strategies of key sectors such as heat, industry and power. A proven technology, there are more than 50 CCUS facilities worldwide, with an estimated combined capture capacity of 96 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

The Committee on Climate Change describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net-zero emissions; indeed, the swift development of CCUS as a cornerstone of our energy transition is vital to achieving Scotland’s net zero emissions reduction targets.

Scotland is the most cost-effective place to begin CCUS in the UK, with existing oil and gas infrastructure available to repurpose for CO2 transport and storage. The development of CCUS could offer a range of transition opportunities for Scottish oil and gas firms and domestic supply chain companies.

We are already supporting efforts to deploy CCUS in Scotland, including through our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will provide £80m over the next five years to support the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies. We have also provided funding and policy support to the Acorn CCS project in Aberdeenshire, considered the most advanced CCS project in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-00278

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is issued to Ministers on the use of social media in relation to government announcements made on personal social media accounts that block some people from seeing them.

The Scottish Ministerial Code outlines a code of conduct for members of the Scottish Government (the First Minister, Cabinet Secretaries and Law Officers) and junior Scottish Ministers, including on the use of personal social media accounts. No other Scottish Government guidance has been issued to Ministers in this regard.

Further information

The Scottish Ministerial Code outlines a code of conduct for members of the Scottish Government (the First Minister, Cabinet Secretaries and Law Officers) and junior Scottish Ministers.

Section 10 concerns Ministers And The Presentation Of Policy. There is reference here to the use of social media, which states:

10.10 Ministers may retain personal social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), provided that any activity on their account is not at variance with their obligations to Parliament or their duty to observe the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility. It is Ministers’ personal responsibility to ensure that social media activity in their name does not breach these requirements or bring the Government into disrepute.

10.11 If Ministers wish to use social media for official policy communications, they should use an appropriate Government account.

The Scottish Ministerial Code can be found online at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2018-edition

Question reference: S6W-00307

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government at which COVID-19 protection level (a) live music and (b) dancing will be permitted at weddings.

We continue to keep all measures under close review. Live background music is currently permitted at wedding receptions operating at 1 metre physical distancing from level 2, but full live band entertainment is only permitted in settings operating under performing arts or events guidance at 2 metre physical distancing from level 2 at this time. Dancing is not permitted at this time, except for the first dance by the marrying couple and the parents of the marrying couple where they reside in the same household. Physical distancing requirements are a key factor in determining when these activities can fully return to wedding receptions and as the First Minister confirmed in the statement to Parliament on 11 May, a review of this is currently underway and will report back shortly.

Question reference: S6W-00264

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the First Minister’s statement on 26 May 2021, how public ownership of ScotRail will contribute to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s railways.

Question reference: S6W-00277

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on potentially losing NHS dentists to the private sector.

Question reference: S6W-00276

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what impact repeating a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had on dentistry students.

The need for enhanced infection prevention and control measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus in a dental setting has had a serious impact on the level of clinical training that students have been able to undertake during the 2020-21 academic year. Due to this, schools have had to make the difficult decision to require dental students to repeat a year in order to prioritise student learning and patient safety.

We recognise that this is disappointing and that it is a significant ask of students, which is why we are providing an enhanced bursary, of up to £6,750, during the 2021-22 academic year. Students will have the opportunity to apply for a bursary to the value of their normal student loan award which they will not have to repay. Students with particular circumstances will continue to be eligible for other sources of bursary support such as the Dental Student Support Grant (DSSG) and SAAS bursaries.