- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the potential for again making available free COVID-19 testing to the general population, in light of recent reports of new variants and a potential winter rise in cases and mutations.
Answer
Targeted testing is in place to support clinical decision making and surveillance. We are working closely with Public Health Scotland, our clinical advisors and the other UK nations to routinely review our position and the clinical advice on COVID-19 in light of new variants. Evidence to date does not support a return to widespread community testing however we will continue to monitor the situation closely.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its latest and revised best estimation is for the in-service delivery date for when the Glen Sannox ferry will be operable on the CalMac route, and the total estimated overall cost of the vessel upon delivery.
Answer
The CEO of FMPG provides a regular update to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the progress and anticipated delivery schedules of both MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa. His next update is due by the end of September 2023.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide adult carers who live on islands with additional financial support, in light of it stating in its publication, Carer Support Payment: island communities impact assessment, that "the value of Carer Support Payment in real terms will be lower for island and rural carers".
Answer
Island and rural carers will benefit from the introduction of Carer Support Payment, which will replace Carer’s Allowance in Scotland, including through support from Social Security Scotland’s local delivery service and better signposting to wider support available to carers. Island communities will also continue to benefit from the extra support only available in Scotland from the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. By the end of this year, carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of the Carer's Allowance Supplement since its introduction in 2018 will have received over £3,300. The Carer Support Payment is being delivered in the context of wider cross-governmental work to positively impact rural and island communities, such as the commitments in the National Islands Plan to tackle the higher costs of fuel, transport and housing as well as to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Further planned improvements for Carer Support Payment are set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation published on 24 March 2023. We will continue to engage with rural and island carers and organisations in developing Carer Support Payment and to ensure our plans to join carers to wider carer support services, such as income maximisation, meet the needs of island and rural carers.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure a high rate of vaccination against diseases among young people, in light of UK Health Security Agency data revealing that 13% of new students are unprotected against four deadly types of meningitis.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS), territorial Health Boards and other key partners to promote uptake of immunisation against vaccine-preventable disease in young people, including our student population.
PHS has targeted new students through a range of communications, highlighting the importance of ensuring that their vaccinations, particularly MMR and MenACWY, are up to date prior to arrival at college or university. These complement specific resources for new entrants arriving in Scotland, including new international students. Information about vaccines for new students can be found at
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Uptake of vaccinations among young people in Scotland remains high and is delivering lifesaving benefits.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider closing the 35 schools in Scotland that were found to have been built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, as has been done in other jurisdictions.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been actively engaging with local authority partners, who have statutory responsibility for school buildings in Scotland, for some time.
Those schools where RAAC has been identified are taking mitigation steps in line with guidance from the Institute of Structural Engineers which has not changed. Any local authority which deems it necessary to close a school in their authority, in whole or in part, is empowered to do so. For example, Riverside Primary School in West Lothian fully closed its building over the summer holidays and moved pupils in to alternative provision.
COSLA have confirmed that safety is the central consideration and there is robust guidance which is followed by every local authority to ensure these settings are safe for the pupils, staff and the public to be in.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure the safety of all road users and pedestrians, in light of Police Scotland figures revealing that there have been over 2,000 incidents involving e-scooters reported in the last year.
Answer
In Scotland it is illegal to ride an electric scooter on a public road, pavement, cycle paths, shared paths or any public place. Enforcement of this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority.
More broadly, the Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland’s road travel safe for everyone. The Scottish Government published a Road Safety Framework to 2030 in 2021. The framework sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a ban on American XL bully dogs, in light of a series of reported attacks involving such dogs.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2023
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Emma Roddick on 15 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any properties that it has purchased in the last two years for the purpose of housing asylum seekers, including the cost of any such purchases, and the number of any asylum seekers who have been housed in each property.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not purchased any properties for the purpose of housing people seeking asylum.
Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes responsibility for providing accommodation to people seeking asylum who would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their asylum application from the Home Office. The Scottish Government has no control of these processes.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 14 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a study published in the academic journal, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, which reportedly states that it "should expect to cause hardship to problem drinkers" if it extends minimum unit pricing.
Answer
Minimum unit price (MUP) is one of a range of population and individual level interventions set out in the Scottish Government Alcohol Framework that together are intended to improve the prevention and treatment of alcohol related harm in Scotland. MUP is a whole population policy with a particular focus on hazardous and harmful drinkers. People with alcohol dependency are a diverse group with complex needs, who fall within the extreme end of the harmful drinking category.
Given the clinical needs of people with alcohol dependence, MUP is not intended to be the key intervention for this cohort – treatment and care services are critical for this group. In 2022-23, £106.8 million was made available to support local and national initiatives overseen by Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships - ensuring that local services can respond to local needs. This includes activities like signposting those receiving treatment for alcohol dependence to local services to meet wider social and financial needs where they arise.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 14 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to any potential impact on public trust in policing of Police Scotland’s decision not to investigate all minor crimes as a pilot scheme in the north east.
Answer
It is vital that Police Scotland continues to inspire public trust and maintains relationships with local communities. These principles are clearly set out in both the Scottish Government’s Strategic Police Priorities and in the Police Scotland/Scottish Police Authority Joint Strategy for Policing . While the decision to conduct a pilot is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, it will be crucial when the results of this pilot are examined, to confirm that local priorities continue to be met with no detriment to communities.
Officers in the North East are not stopping the investigation of minor crimes. Members of the public should continue to report all crimes. Police Scotland has stated that, as part of the pilot, on occasions where crimes are reported without an associated threat, harm, risk or vulnerability and there are no proportionate lines of enquiry, staff will inform the caller that their report has been filed and supply a crime reference number but no further action will be taken. Should thereafter any evidence become available that open up a line of enquiry the incident will be appropriately investigated. Police Scotland has stated that the new approach will ensure that individuals receive faster updates on their incident reports.
Policing remains a priority for the Scottish Government. Despite financial challenges due to UK Government austerity, we have increased police funding year-on-year since 2016-17, investing more than £11.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013.
