Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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: S6W-22332

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update following the public consultation on extending the animal licensing framework, particularly regarding the consideration of licensing commercial dog walkers.

Question reference: S6F-02455

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reported concerns that parents are having to give up their jobs due to childcare costs.

Question reference: S6W-21666

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the financial package that the UK Government announced for its Swimming Pool Support Fund, whether it will provide an update on what measures it has considered to provide additional support to the sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities, such as swimming pools. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

sportscotland are working with local and national partners to help them assess the impact of any potential facility closures and these discussions will continue over the coming weeks and months.

In addition, sportscotland are supporting Scottish Swimming to undertake the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project. This is a detailed piece of work to accurately understand the current pool provision and life cycle, and to predict the landscape in the short, medium, and long term. This important piece of work can help inform future investment decisions both nationally and locally to ensure sustainable facilities, in the right places, to serve their local communities’ needs.

We are fully aware that local authorities are facing challenging financial circumstances, particularly in the maintenance and operating of facilities such as swimming pools, largely due to energy costs and other cost of living pressures.

The 2023-24 Local Government settlement of £13.5 billion provides a cash increase in day to day spending of over £793 million, a real terms increase of £376 million. As confirmed in the Autumn Budget Revision on 28 September 2023, all consequentials available from the UK Spring Budget have now been allocated, with the Local Government Settlement increasing by £254 million accordingly. It is for democratically elected Councils to manage their own budgets and to make decisions on the priorities in their local communities.

Question reference: S6W-21667

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure the ability for the equal provision of services and facilities across all local authorities through the shared priorities that it hopes to agree in its proposed new deal for local government.

The Verity House Agreement sets out our joint vision with COSLA for a more collaborative approach to delivering our shared priorities for the people of Scotland. We have agreed three shared priorities - tackling poverty, just transition to net zero and sustainable public services - and recognise that local flexibility will be required to maximise impact.

The Agreement also highlights the importance of mutual trust and respect and promotes the maxim of "local by default, national by agreement" whilst recognising the benefits that consistent national approaches can bring for people and communities.

Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities and how to manage their own budgets within this national framework.

Question reference: S6W-21664

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-02470 by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 September 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of where it has allocated the additional Barnett consequential funding to, including how much has been allocated to (a) local authorities and (b) fund other priorities, such as social security.

Question reference: S6W-21665

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what changes in its budget it is considering to prevent any further closures or reduction of essential community facilities and services.

The Verity House Agreement will better enable local and national government to work together to achieve better outcomes for people and communities across Scotland. The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with COSLA to agree a more detailed programme of work, a fiscal framework, and an accountabilities and monitoring framework, to underpin the Verity House Agreement in the coming months.

Decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and will be announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets.

Question reference: S6W-20739

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much it has spent to date on its challenge of the decision of the UK Secretary of State for Scotland to issue an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 in respect of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The costs incurred in this legal challenge are the necessary price of protecting democracy and devolution in Scotland. On 19 April 2023 I undertook to publish the costs of this action once it is completed, and as the member will be aware the substantive hearing in this case was held in the Court of Session earlier this week. In the spirit of transparency and accountability we will publish the costs accrued by the Scottish Government, up to and including those associated with this week's hearing, once they are available.

Question reference: S6W-20740

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a recorded police warning (RPW) is an appropriate disposal for the offence of assault, in light of the reported decision by Police Scotland to issue a RPW to an individual for an alleged assault during an incident in Aberdeen on 23 July 2023.

The RPW scheme is intended to provide police officers with a timely and proportionate means of dealing with offending which meet the criteria of being lower-level offending in terms of the Lord Advocate’s guidelines.

Those guidelines provide general principles which should be followed when an officer is considering whether to issue an RPW.

Officers have operational discretion to issue an RPW if they consider that appropriate in all the circumstances. An alternative would be for the officer to report the matter to the Procurator Fiscal.

Although the Lord Advocate’s guidelines are confidential, Police Scotland’s published guidance provides additional instruction to officers on when RPWs can be used.

Question reference: S6W-20737

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-02406 by Jenni Minto on 21 June 2023, whether it will provide an update on the work that it is undertaking regarding gender identity services for children and young people, and, in light of this work, whether it (a) will follow the approach of NHS England, which intends to only commission puberty supressing hormones as part of clinical research and (b) plans to commission a review of gender identity services for children and young people in Scotland.

Since December 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated over £896,000 to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) to support work to improve their adult and young people’s gender identity services.

NHS GGC is using this funding to recruit to its Young People’s Service multidisciplinary team; contact those currently on the waiting list to identify unmet needs; and improve support for those waiting.

The Scottish Government has engaged with NHS England on the developing plans on clinical research, and the Scottish Government/NHS Scotland will join the planned NHS England study development process as an observer.

s set out in our answer on 21 June, decisions on prescribing are for clinicians to make in consultation with the patient, following individualised assessment, and they are subject to regular monitoring. The Scottish Government remains proactive in its commitment to help to deliver high-quality healthcare to children and young people in that sensitive field of medicine.

The Scottish Government has also committed to support the establishment of a nationally commissioned young person’s gender identity service. Work is underway with NHS National Services Scotland on how best to sustainably provide gender identity healthcare for young people in Scotland in the long term. This process includes considering existing and future treatment pathways.

Question reference: S6W-20797

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total tonnage is of waste resulting from the decommissioning of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind turbines that has been exported overseas as waste between 2014 and 2022.