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: S5W-35203

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will appoint a scheme administrator for its deposit return scheme before the end of the current parliamentary session.

We are aware that a group of businesses and trade bodies from the producer, retailer, and wholesaler sectors has set up a company, Circularity Scotland Ltd, which intends to submit an application to Ministers in due course for approval to act as a scheme administrator.

Under the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020, once an application is received, Ministers must grant or refuse it within 28 days.

Question reference: S5W-35205

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the current economic situation, and whether this will have any impact on the implementation date of July 2022 for its deposit return scheme.

Question reference: S5W-34907

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide information about how Regional Land Use Partnerships will be funded; whether that funding will be sourced from the agricultural budget, and what its reasons are for its position on the matter.

We announced five Regional Land Use Partnership pilot regions on 5 February. The Scottish Government will work with the pilots to develop Scotland’s approach to land use in support of our transition to net-zero by testing practicalities around governance, local engagement, and working across regional boundaries. The initial focus of the pilots will be collaborative regional land use decision-making. They will not be directing any funding for land use change projects this year. It is the intention to use Environment Climate Change and Land Reform portfolio programme funding to facilitate pilot establishment and local engagement in 2021.

Question reference: S5O-04996

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it is putting in place for infrastructure projects in 2021-22.

Question reference: S5O-04975

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to curling rinks.

Question reference: S5W-33932

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 8 December 2020 (Official Report, c. 46), from which budget stream the exceptional, one-off payment to teachers assessing and marking National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses in 2021 will be sourced, and whether it will apply to (a) college lecturers and (b) staff at independent schools carrying out the same task.

In acknowledgement of the additional workload around the quality assurance associated with the alternative certification model for the National Qualifications in 2021, at a time of already significant pressures due to COVID, I announced provision for a one-off, exceptional payment for all teachers and lecturers directly involved in these processes.

SQA, through their National Qualifications 2021 Working Group, are considering whether any adjustment to the alternative certification model processes or timescales is needed as a result of the current remote learning position and will issue further guidance as necessary.

Any such changes will be factored into discussions that are underway to determine how best the additional payments, which would come from within the education budget, might apply to teachers and lecturers involved. This would include those in colleges and independent schools where relevant.

Question reference: S5W-34291

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each NHS board area have been treated in hospital solely for COVID-19 since 1 December 2020, also broken down by how many received treatment in intensive care units.

Question reference: S5W-34288

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each NHS board area have died since 1 December 2020 with COVID-19 recorded as the primary cause of death.

The following table has been provided by National Records of Scotland (NRS):

Deaths occurring from 1st December 2020 by underlying cause of death and Health Board of residence

Health Board of Residence	Underlying Cause of death
	other	COVID-19	Total
Ayrshire and Arran	388	74	462
Borders	90	13	103
Dumfries and Galloway	174	1	175
Fife	309	54	363
Forth Valley	246	29	275
Grampian	460	70	530
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	888	170	1058
Highland	293	5	298
Lanarkshire	526	136	662
Lothian	594	117	711
Orkney	26	0	26
Shetland	16	0	16
Tayside	380	45	425
Western Isles	30	0	30
Total	4420	714	5134

1 - For information on how underlying cause of death is determined, refer to the NRS website:

2 - includes all deaths registered up to 3 January 2021 where date of death was 1 December 2020 or later.

Question reference: S5W-34289

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many daily (a) admissions to and (b) discharges from hospitals there have been in each NHS board area since 1 December 2020.

Data on admissions into acute hospitals by NHS Board are published monthly by Public Health Scotland on the ‘COVID-19 wider impacts on the health care system dashboard’. The next update will be released 13 January 2021 and will include admissions during December.

This can be accessed at

Data on discharges to 31 December 2020 is scheduled to be published in May 2021 via the Acute Activity publication ( )

Question reference: S5O-04935

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Edinburgh-Perth railway line will be upgraded.