- Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much time and training on neurodivergence is allocated to community psychiatric nurses and mental health workers.
Answer
Staff training is an operational matter for the Boards and employers. However, in 2021 the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. This sets out standards for all children’s services to follow to ensure children and young people can access the support they need for their neurodivergence. This includes ensuring staff undertaking the initial assessment are appropriately trained, supervised and experienced for the purpose, including identifying strengths, as well as difficulties.
The Scottish Government provides funding to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) for Staffing and Multidisciplinary training delivery and resources to help address mental health inequalities, supporting groups who are particular risk. This activity will strengthen support and care pathways for people requiring neurodevelopmental support, working in partnership with health, social care, education, the third sector and other delivery partners. This will ensure those who need it receive the right care and support at the right time in a way that works for them.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported decision to grant a licence for the culling of gannet chicks as part of the Guga Hunt, what assessment it has made of any impact of this practice on any vulnerable seabird populations, particularly in light of avian flu outbreaks.
Answer
In determining an application for a licence, NatureScot must consider whether the hunt is sustainable, in that it would not have an adverse effect on the conservation status of the species concerned, namely gannets.
In the case of the Guga Hunt licence issued this year, NatureScot have confirmed that a population viability analysis of the gannets at Sula Sgeir was completed and considered as part of their assessment prior to issuing the licence.
In issuing a licence to permit the taking of 500 gugas, NatureScot have concluded that this number will allow the gannet population to continue to recover and enable a sustainable future take. The previous licence issued in 2018 was for 2000 birds.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the average wait has been for psychological services for parents who have experienced a (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth and (c) neonatal death in NHS (i) Highland, (ii) Western Isles, (iii) Orkney, (iv) Shetland, (v) Western Isles and (vi) Grampian in each year since 2021.
Answer
Information on average waiting times for psychological services specifically following (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth, and (c) neonatal death is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
Psychological services are delivered by NHS Boards. Boards report their overall performance against the 18 week referral to treatment standard, and this data, published quarterly by Public Health Scotland, does not include the reason for referral at this level of detail.
We continue to work with all NHS Boards to improve access to mental health and psychological services, including specific support for perinatal mental health and bereavement.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether all firefighters who are tasked with entering a burning building are provided with a breathing apparatus set that has built-in radio communications with the incident commander and others, to ensure that all are able to communicate their whereabouts or status in the event that they become separated.
Answer
The operational guidance used to keep firefighters safe is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Currently every frontline fire appliance has 4 sets of Breathing Apparatus (BA), 2 of which have integrated radio communication. SFRS will shortly be procuring BA sets to an upgraded standard and all of these will have integrated communication as standard.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make to ensure that there is enough time for the planning process as part of a young person’s transition to adulthood.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39324 on 31 July 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether all fire stations are stocked with a spare thermal imaging camera.
Answer
The equipment used by firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. SFRS has invested over £600,000 in purchasing 300 new thermal imaging cameras and every front line appliance with breathing apparatus has a thermal imaging camera (TIC). Spare TICs are stored at SFRS Asset Resource Centres rather than in fire stations.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether all firefighters are provided with wearable tracking devices for use during incidents to track their location.
Answer
The operational guidance used to keep firefighters safe is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Firefighters in Scotland do not currently have wearable tracking devices but this is an area that SFRS are exploring for the future.
- Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that any community-based hubs, as proposed in the report, Reimagining Secure Care Final Report: A Vision for the Reimagined/Future World, are sustainably funded and equitably delivered across Scotland, particularly in rural and remote communities.
Answer
By learning from existing local authority and regionalised multidisciplinary models, Scotland could develop a network of community-based hubs that provide effective, rights-respecting alternatives to secure accommodation.
Our recently-published response to reimagining secure care confirms that the Scottish Government agrees with this proposal in principle. Further exploration will be necessary with COSLA – and with wider partners - regarding the scalability, impact and value of this model. That exploration and testing will feature in Phase 2 of our planned actions in this area.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor and enforce the return to use of the
reported 43,000 long-term empty properties.
Answer
The Scottish Government monitors the numbers of empty homes annually when it publishes the statistical bulletin on empty properties, unoccupied exemptions and second homes. The data is sourced from council tax base returns collected from local authorities and includes stock of all tenures i.e. social housing, private rented housing, and owner-occupied homes. Further information is available from the Scottish Government website at: .
Short term empty homes are a natural feature of the housing market. However when homes in private ownership lay empty for longer than 6 months the reasons can be complex and building relationships with owners is often the key to unlocking them. That is why we continue to invest in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and our network of empty homes officers. Our investment of £3.7 million has helped to bring more than 11,000 privately owned empty homes to active use since 2010. Building on this success we are investing a further £2 million in 2025-26 that will enhance the support local authorities receive from the Partnership, increase the numbers of empty homes officers and fund a range of initiatives aimed at overcoming common barriers. This record level of investment seeks to increase the scale of work taking place and enable better targeting of resources to help return more homes to active use in places where they have the most impact. On enforcement we are taking forward a compulsory purchase reform programme which aims to make the process clearer, fairer and faster. In the meantime, the Partnership are working with local authorities to increase the use of the existing system through the development of a new hub project which aims to provide support to help identify suitable cases and bring them forward.
For homes in the social sector we have placed a specific focus on bringing voids back in to use and are already seeing the impacts of this work with numbers reducing significantly. In Edinburgh, for example, the Council’s management information shows that void levels have been cut by over 50% since June 2023. This progress is down to work of local authorities together with the £40m acquisition and social voids funding which Scottish Government has provided. We are now taking this learning to other areas.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures the public's respiratory safety in relation to the indoor air quality in people's homes.
Answer
The Scottish Government undertake a range of regulatory and advisory activities to support the delivery of good indoor air quality in our homes. This includes:
- All new homes and new building work are subject to building regulations which include provisions on the supply of outside air and removal of pollutants to address indoor air quality.
- To comply with the statutory Tolerable Standard, all housing in Scotland must have satisfactory provision for lighting, ventilation and heating.
- Our Warmer Homes Scotland programme requires a ventilation plan for each home, to make sure the right ventilation systems are properly planned and installed where needed.
- Our Area Based Schemes (ABS) programme requires councils to plan projects that ensure adequate ventilation for households as part of a broader compliance to the PAS 2035 design and installation standard.
- The importance of warm homes as a factor in prevention of respiratory conditions is recognised in our clinical Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland.