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-22044

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the first three national dementia strategies in Scotland, and what the conclusions were.

Our previous three dementia strategies consistently maintained a focus on improving the quality of care for people living with dementia and their families through work on diagnosis, including: post-diagnostic support; care co-ordination during the middle stage of dementia; end of life and palliative care; workforce development and capability; data and information; and research into better understanding of the condition. Commitments within each of these strategies and our Covid-19 Action Plan were subject to independent evaluations.

The findings of these evaluations informed Everyone’s Story: A New Dementia Strategy for Scotland , including ‘The Difference We Need to Make’, which clearly sets out our ambitions by which we will hold ourselves accountable to delivering on through the lifetime of this new strategy.

We also heard a huge range of experiences and perspectives on people’s experiences of care and support via our National Conversation. This has also given us a large evidence base on the impact of previous strategies on people’s lives and experience.

Question reference: S6O-02702

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to local authorities to help reduce the number of people on social housing waiting lists.

Question reference: S6W-22351

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill will be reintroduced to the Scottish Parliament at reconsideration stage.

I moved a motion for Scottish Parliament to reconsider the United Nations Convention on the Rights Of the Child (Incorporation)(Scotland) Bill on 14 September 2023, which was passed unanimously by Parliament. The amendments to the Bill were formally lodged with Parliament on 18 September and the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is currently taking evidence on the amendments. It is for Parliament to set the date for the Reconsideration debate which it is hoped will be before the end of the year.

Question reference: S6W-22043

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to include dementia as a key priority area in the next Women’s Health Plan, in light of recent data from the National Records of Scotland showing that dementia is the leading cause of death for women in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-21759

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued to people by Police Scotland in relation to shoplifting in 2023 to date.

Police Scotland do not have the legal powers to directly issue antisocial behaviour orders. Local authorities and registered social landlords, in consultation with the police, can apply to the sheriff court for an order where there is evidence that a person (aged at least 12 years) has behaved in an antisocial manner and that an order is necessary for the protection of persons from further antisocial behaviour. There is also the power for a court to make an ASBO on conviction in the criminal court as part of a sentence.

Question reference: S6W-21764

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is possible for a local authority to revoke a person's free bus travel card under the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme if they are found to be using the bus network to commit criminal offences in multiple areas away from their home address.

Question reference: S6W-21411

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed on a secondment to the Scottish Government that is governed by a service level agreement and subsequently returned to their substantive post in the last five years.

The Scottish Government holds only relevant information on Service Level Agreements, such as the names of the relevant individuals and organisations to which they belong, providing start and end dates for each Agreement. Whilst we cannot provide a complete picture of all Agreements that have been ended in the past 5 years, our records have indicated however, that from April 2022 to October 2023, 71 Service Level Agreements ended with each of the specialist advisors returning to their respective NHS Scotland health board.

Question reference: S6W-21855

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (a) has been provided in each financial year since 2021-22 and (b) will be made available in the next two financial years.

Over the last three years (2021-24), £51 million has been provided through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults. The following amounts have been provided in each year:

2021-22 (Year 1) – £21 million.
2022-23 (Year 2) – £15 million.
2023-24 (Year 3) – £15 million.

This is in addition to the £45 million allocated to local authorities since 2021 to provide community-based mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and their families.

Future funding will be subject to the annual budget process and approval by the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-21854

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding for mental health services has been allocated to prevention in each financial year since 2021-22.

Funding for mental health services is drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHS Scotland by the Scottish Government. The latest available data from the Scottish Health Service Costs shows that for 2021-22 total expenditure by NHS Scotland on mental health was £1.299 billion. The figures for 2022-2023 are yet to be published.

As part of the block funding provided to NHS Boards by the Scottish Government, NHS Boards make operational decisions on how to deploy spend, in a way which best meets local needs. The detail of this is not held by the Scottish Government.

Prevention and early intervention remain a priority for the Scottish Government.

We have placed a stronger focus on preventing mental health issues and tackling the underlying causes and inequalities through our recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The provision of advice and support will continue to be an important part of our approach.

We continue to undertake a range of preventative and early intervention mental health work, key examples include:

We have invested a total of £51m since 2021 in our Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, with approximately 3,300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone.
We have allocated a total of £45m since 2021-22 for local authorities to provide over 300 community mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families.
We published an ambitious Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan with COSLA in 2022, with the vision of reducing suicide deaths and tackling the inequalities which contribute to suicide. The strategy is supported by record funding to double the annual suicide prevention budget to £2.8m by 2026 and we are well on track to achieving this target.
Since 2016, we have invested over £21m in our world-leading Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme, which offers timely, compassionate support to people in distress who come into contact with frontline services. Over 50,000 people have already been referred for DBI support. We are on track to have DBI available in all NHS Board areas by March 2024.

Question reference: S6W-21409

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently on a secondment, to the Scottish Government from all NHS boards, that is governed by a service level agreement.