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: S6O-00271

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to introduce a Young Citizens' Assembly.

Question reference: S6W-03829

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome is of its latest review into border health measures, and whether there will be any changes to the regulations.

The previous International Travel Regulations were due to expire on 20 September 2021 but were instead revoked and replaced with new, consolidated regulations that came into force on that date. We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last 28 days and have assessed that there continues to be a requirement for the regulations to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard public health in Scotland. The regulations continue to be an important and proportionate part of the Scottish Government response to managing the pandemic. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue discussions with UK Government and the other devolved administrations and continue to seek to take a four-nations approach to future changes to regulations and the travel regime.

Question reference: S6W-03471

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ash Denham on 1 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will consult on the recommendations in the report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland.

A consultation based on Esther Roberton’s recommendations, from her independent review of legal services regulation, will be available to the public via Citizen Space from 1 October until 24 December 2021. In parallel we will be undertaking a series of consultation focus groups to increase the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to respond to the consultation in part or in whole.

As was stated in my response, the Scottish Government is open to further views on how the report recommendations should be taken forward and this consultation is intentionally broadly set to capture the fullest range of views on the recommendations and what level of reform is supported. As such the consultation has been developed collaboratively with those representing consumer interests and the legal profession.

The findings from the consultation exercise will inform the design of reform, and confirms our commitment to a modern and effective framework of legal services regulation.

The consultation will be available at: .

Question reference: S6W-03147

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority will receive of the £42 million of funding between 4 October 2021 and 31 March 2022 to enable bus operators to maintain services while patronage recovers from the effects of COVID-19.

Covid Support Grant Restart (CSG-R) funding for bus is available to support eligible organisations, such as bus operators and local transport authorities, which are running local registered bus services, and are able to increase service mileage up to 95% of pre COVID levels. Where a local transport authority (LTA) runs local bus services directly it is eligible for CSG-R funding for those services. To date, the only local authority in receipt of CSG-R funding is Scottish Borders Council.

The amount of funding each operator – including eligible local authorities – will receive depends on the actual gap between the costs of running the services and revenue received over the funding period and so is not known at this point. A condition of the funding is that participating operators are required to cooperate with LTAs in planning services and to take steps to respond positively and quickly to reasonable requests from LTAs to amend service patterns, hours or levels of provision.

Question reference: S6W-03411

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ash Denham on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on revising the Fire and Rescue Framework for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Question reference: S6O-00183

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed with the UK Government the impact of Brexit on Scotland’s food and drink industry.

Question reference: S6W-02495

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome is of its latest review into border health measures, and whether there will be any changes to the regulations.

We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last 28 days and have assessed that there continues to be a requirement for the regulations to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard public health in Scotland. The regulations continue to be an important and proportionate part of the Scottish Government response to managing the pandemic.

The regulations will expire on 20 September 2021, and, whilst the regulations are of course subject to review, it is anticipated that restrictions imposed by the regulations will still be required at that stage. Where possible, it is my intention to lay a new instrument at that time revising and consolidating all amendments to the existing regulations since they came into force in June 2020.

Question reference: S6W-01857

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome is of its latest review into border health measures, and whether there will be any changes to the regulations.

Question reference: S6W-01522

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government who has been selected to be the Co-Chair and Clinical Lead for the Implementation Group, which is taking forward the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services, and whether it will provide an update on what services the charity, Beat, will be providing.

As I announced in June, the recommendations from the Review will be taken forward by an Eating Disorder Implementation Group. I am pleased to confirm that Dr Charlotte Oakley, who was previously the Clinical Lead of Connect-Eating Disorders in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and who co-led the National Review, has been appointed Clinical Lead and will Co-Chair the Implementation Group with Dennis Robertson.

In addition, I am also pleased to confirm that we will be providing over £400,000 to Beat to provide the following services for children, young people, adults and their families:

Helpline - A dedicated phone line for Scotland.
Nexus – A Carer telephone support programme which provides a weekly scheduled coaching call to support recovery.
Synergy - A new service that provides direct support to under 18s and their families through weekly sessions over Zoom.
Solace - Structured weekly peer-to-peer support groups for carers via Zoom.
Motivate - Weekly support for those aged 18+ to ensure service users remain motivated while waiting for treatment for anorexia or bulimia to begin.
Bolster - Weekly support through telephone sessions for Adults (aged +18) who are unable to access treatment.Developing Dolphins - Training to empower carers to provide the best possible guidance as they help a loved one towards recovery
Coping with Celebrations - Two workshops delivered over Zoom by experienced eating disorder clinicians and lived experience tutors in which, parents, carers, siblings are given tools and confidence to manage what can be very stressful times. This can include, Christmas, birthdays or meals out.

Question reference: S6W-01396

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce the outcome of the NHS National Services Scotland procurement exercise for mesh removal services.

I am pleased to confirm that the procurement exercise for mesh removal services outside of the NHS has now concluded and I can today announce that there have been two contracts awarded: one to Spire Healthcare in Bristol and the other to Mercy Hospital in St Louis, Missouri. The contracts are expected to start later this Summer and are subject to agreement of, and compliance with, the terms specified by NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS).

These additional services will complement the Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service already established in NHS Scotland and, alongside the option of referral to NHS England Centres, are intended to allow everyone affected by transvaginal mesh complications choice over where their treatment and care is delivered.

The procurement exercise has been undertaken in line with NHS NSS’s standard commissioning procedures, with quality of care and patient safety of paramount importance.

The Scottish Government is absolutely determined to do everything in its power to help those impacted by mesh complications and I hope that today’s announcement will be welcome news to those so badly affected.