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-20684

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any corrosive or erosive effect of rock salt used for the treatment of roads and pedestrian areas in cold weather on the built environment, compared with alternative grit products.

As members of PIARC (World Road Association) and the National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG), Transport Scotland routinely participates and contributes to research programmes to enable the production of industry best practice.

In 2020, Transport Scotland commissioned the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to undertake an introductory review into the effects of the use of rock salt on the major structures and bridges on the Scottish trunk road network.

Transport Scotland are currently reviewing the outcomes of this research including the next phases of research and potential use of alternative de-icing products as advised by the findings.

As an increase in the standard applied to the treatment of footpaths in the recently awarded Scottish Ministers Network Management Contracts (NMCs), precautionary footpath treatments are now undertaken using liquid treatment applications.

Question reference: S6W-20661

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a target to operate a minimum 15-minute headway on all suburban railway lines in the Glasgow region.

Question reference: S6W-20926

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 7 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland will align with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which cover colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin.

We are currently developing detailed proposals for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). A formal remit will be drawn up (and published) in due course.

The work of the Observatory will align closely with our obligations under the Equality Act (2010) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and will inform and support implementation of the Convention in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02503

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the 2021 SNP manifesto commitment to expand on the community link worker programme.

Question reference: S6W-20731

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many third sector partners are providing community link worker programmes within Health and Social Care Partnerships across Scotland in the current financial year, and what the names are of any such providers, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-20513

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support will be given to the students who were unable to complete their studies due to the reported abrupt liquidation of CodeClan.

Question reference: S6W-20662

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the development or disposal plan for the former Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital building in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-20512

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to grow Scotland’s economy through the tech sector, for what reason it reportedly did not provide CodeClan with support.

Codeclan was a private sector enterprise and its financial stability was the sole responsibility of its management and board of directors.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise worked intensively with CodeClan to explore every possible option to secure a sustainable future, including commissioning the support of private sector consultants.

Ministers are legally bound by subsidy control rules which set clear thresholds on the level of public funding that can be injected into private businesses. In this case the sum required to place the business on a stable footing significantly exceeded these thresholds, with no guarantee of future viability.

Question reference: S6W-20716

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what resources it is providing to support the implementation of recommendations made in the 2022 evaluation of year 1 of the pilot Suicide Bereavement Support Services.

We are working with key partners to implement the recommendations of the 2022 evaluation of the first-year of the Suicide Prevention Bereavement Support Services. This showed how well the service meets the needs of family members, whilst also flagging a number of operational aspects (such as support for staff and young people) where further work would be helpful in order to inform roll out planning.

We are therefore investing a further £255,000 in 2023-24 to extend the pilot Suicide Bereavement Support Service until March 2024. This ensures continuity of service and we will use this time to gather further evidence about its impact. The final independent evaluation report is due to be published in early 2024. This will inform subsequent roll out of support for families bereaved by suicide across Scotland.

This forms part of our ambitious work on suicide prevention, which is underpinned by significant investment of £2.5m in 2023-24, and a Programme for Government commitment to double suicide prevention annual funding to £2.8 m by 2026.

Question reference: S6W-20717

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is being provided to support action 5.3 of Creating Hope Together: Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2022-2025 to build new peer support capability.