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-14915

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that was published on 19 February 2018, which suggests that some employers hold discriminatory attitudes toward working mothers and maternity rights.

The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace. A Ministerial working group, which I chair and whose membership includes the EHRC and representation from the private sector, has already been established to deliver a cross government approach to challenge pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace.

The Working Group is considering the findings of the EHRC research as they develop their working plan for the year ahead.

The Scottish Government continues to promote the advice, prepared by organisations represented on the Working Group, to employers to ensure best practice on the recruitment, retention, and support of pregnant employees and working mothers.

Question reference: S5O-01875

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it plans to make sanitary products freely available in the Parliament for staff and visitors.

Question reference: S5O-01864

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how schools support children and young people who are affected by alcohol harm.

Question reference: S5F-02049

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2018

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is aware of multiple allegations of abusive behaviour and misconduct in the third sector.

Question reference: S5W-13494

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09274 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 June 2017, how much it has spent on the services of John Sturrock, and whether he is still engaged in providing advice or services.

Question reference: S5F-01925

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2018

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland's campaign, Get it Minuted.

Question reference: S5W-13495

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10912 by Mark McDonald on 22 September 2017 and, in light of reported increased awareness of period poverty, whether it will include sanitary products in the baby box.

This highlighted that mothers were satisfied with inclusion of maternity towels in the box. However, we did not receive any requests from mothers for the inclusion of further sanitary products in Scotland’s Baby Box. As such, there are no plans at this stage to add sanitary products, however, we will continue to keep the contents of Scotland’s Baby Box under review - consulting with health care experts and, more importantly, listening to the views of parents, as the scheme evolves.

Our immediate priority on sanitary products remains with the delivery of our Programme for Government commitment to provide free access in schools, colleges and universities. We will consider further action in light of the findings of our Aberdeen pilot which will conclude in March.

Question reference: S5W-13493

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the key findings of the Citizens Advice Scotland annual report on burial and cremation charges, and what discussions it is having with COSLA and local authorities regarding the widening costs.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report from Citizen’s Advice Scotland (CAS), which highlights that funeral costs have increased significantly in recent years. We are working closely with a range of stakeholders including CAS, funeral directors and the Third Sector as part of our work to tackle funeral poverty in Scotland. Our recently published Funeral Costs Plan commits the Scottish Government to 10 key actions to tackle funeral poverty during this Parliamentary term, including the publication of statutory guidance on funeral costs by December 2018.

While recognising that each local authority is responsible for setting its own charges, the Scottish Government expects that the guidance will explore a range of factors contributing to variability of costs and charging for burial and cremation across Scotland. We are already working with local authorities and COSLA to better understand these issues and will continue to work closely with them in the drafting and publication of the guidance.

Question reference: S5W-13496

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to each of the 12 recommendations set out in the Mental Health Foundation and Age Scotland policy briefing, Loneliness - the public health challenge of our time.

Question reference: S5O-01630

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of integrated smart ticketing on public transport.

Smart tickets can now be used to make journeys on rail, bus, subway, tram and air – with work progressing with ferries. This means Scotland has one of the most advanced smart integrated multi-modal public transport networks in the UK, outside of London.

Integrated ticketing between the Glasgow Subway and ScotRail, as well as the introduction of multi-operator bus smartzones in Aberdeenshire, Dundee and more recently Glasgow (with Edinburgh set to follow in early 2018) have proven successful, and Transport Scotland is now looking to expand this cross mode interoperability for the full saltire smartcard estate. In addition we are working with the industry to support the contactless bank card payment system to bring more convenience to the travelling public.

The roll out of upgraded standardised ticketing infrastructure across the deregulated bus network is virtually complete, meaning that nearly 150m smart concessionary transactions happen each year.

We have just closed our "Future of Smart Ticketing" consultation which will help to inform the future delivery of a smart ticketing and payment scheme in Scotland.