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-22015

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with its proposed consultation on support for part-time and disabled students and carers, and by what date the consultation findings will be published.

The Scottish Government has been engaging extensively with stakeholders to inform work on this highly complex area with a view to supporting future policy considerations. However, due to the current requirement to focus resource on student support issues related to Brexit, we are unable to confirm when further consultation will take place.

In response to the review of student support, the Scottish Government has announced significant improvements for students. We have introduced increased care-experienced bursaries in both further (FE) and higher education (HE) to £8,100. We have also committed to further improvements to both FE and HE bursaries from 2019-20. These improvements will help support some of the most deprived students and young people to access and remain in FE or HE.

Question reference: S5W-22036

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is has made in meeting its target of making 15% of new homes accessible to disabled people.

Scottish Government does not set national targets for accessible housing as specific requirements are best identified and met locally. Local authorities as strategic housing authority have the responsibility for assessing housing requirements in their area & setting out in their Local Housing Strategy & Strategic Housing Investment Plans how these requirements will be met.

The Fairer Scotland for Disabled People Delivery Plan includes a commitment to ensure that each local authority sets a realistic target within its Local Housing Strategy for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures and reports annually on progress. We will shortly issue guidance to local authorities requiring them to have all tenure wheelchair housing targets in place this year. We will publish refreshed Local Housing Strategy guidance later this year that will reaffirm the requirement for housing targets for housing suitable for people in wheelchairs to live in.

Question reference: S5F-03169

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2019

To ask the First Minister, in light of the parliamentary reports by both ��˿�� and MPs, what the Scottish Government's response is to growing concerns about the effects of social media on the mental health of young people across Scotland.

Question reference: S5F-03092

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2019

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government plans with the SQA to prevent possible strike action during the forthcoming summer exams.

Question reference: S5W-21449

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Attainment Scotland Fund is budgeted to continue beyond 2020-21 and, if so, for how long.

Question reference: S5W-21072

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will work with local authorities to produce statistics on the number of pupils who attend (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools in a different local authority to the one in which they live, which was previously produced as part of the discontinued publication, Placing Requests in Schools in Scotland.

Statistics on the number of pupils who attend a school in a different local authority to the one in which they live are available in the annually published Pupil Census, Supplementary Data :

Statistics for primary pupils by local authority of residence and local authority of the school attended are provided in Tables 6.14 and 6.15.

Statistics for secondary pupils by local authority of residence and local authority of the school attended are provided in Tables 7.10 and 7.11.

Statistics for special pupils by local authority of residence and local authority of the school attended are provided in Tables 8.11 and 8.12.

Question reference: S5O-02718

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to implement the new social security powers that are set out in the Scotland Act 2016.

Question reference: S5F-02842

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2018

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that student access to Scotland's universities is based on the principles of equity and excellence.

Question reference: S5O-02595

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Purple Tuesday, what action it is taking to support the improvement of retail experiences for disabled people.

Question reference: S5O-02539

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many farmers have received payments under the National Basic Payment Support Scheme since August 2018.