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: S6W-04310

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting schools to recycle waste, including plastic, aluminium, and food waste, and what steps it is taking to ensure that pupils and staff can access recycling bins on the school premises.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations require all schools in Scotland to take all practicable steps to recycle as much of its waste as possible. Provision of recycling facilities within state schools is the responsibility of Scotland’s local authorities. The regulations require waste producers, including schools, to separate and present for collection the key dry recyclables (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card) and food at source.

To support schools, Zero Waste Scotland has produced a , which includes advice on waste management and potential initiatives to reduce waste and improve recycling.

As part of the Curriculum for Excellence, under the theme of Learning for Sustainability, many schools are engaging with the . This is a seven step curricular-relevant programme to support schools in considering and tackling environmental issues. Schools must evidence their work through a focus on litter and waste minimisation plus two other Eco-Schools topics. Those schools who successfully complete the programme are awarded a Green Flag.

On 17 November, I announced the first of our landmark investments from the £70m Recycling Improvement Fund. The Fund was launched to support local authorities improve recycling infrastructure and maximise the quality and quantity of recycling, including help with aligning recycling collections to Household Recycling Charter’s supporting Code of Practice, to help make it easier for householders to recycle the right things and encourage high levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling and reuse.

Question reference: S6W-04359

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its implementation of the recommendations made in the independent review into police complaints handling investigations and misconduct issues, conducted by Dame Elish Angiolini.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of transparency and is committed to sharing information on progress with the implementation of Dame Elish Angiolini’s recommendations in a way that is meaningful and accessible to a range of audiences.

In June this year, the Scottish Government published its first which details progress under thematic headings to provide an overall picture of developments. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also includes a tracker within each theme showing which partner is responsible for each recommendation and what progress has been made.

The Ministerial Group which leads the governance and reporting framework established by Scottish Government, is jointly chaired by myself and the Lord Advocate and held its third meeting on 2 December 2021. The Group plays a vital role in overseeing progress being made towards implementation of recommendations across all partners. At that meeting, the Ministerial Group approved the sign off of several more recommendations as completed and also approved the publication later this month of the next thematic progress report which will show the significant work that has been taken forward.

I will be writing to the Convener of the Criminal Justice Committee and Justice spokespersons to share details once the next Thematic Progress Report is published on the Scottish Government’s website.

Question reference: S6W-04665

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04126 by Ivan McKee on 12 November 2021, whether it will list the members of the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group.

As indicated in the response provided in answer S6W-04126 on 12 November 2021, the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group (ADIG) is the industry-led successor body to the Ministerial-led Aerospace Response Group (ARG) and membership of ADIG was extended to all members of the previous group.

Secretariat to the ADIG is provided by the industry body ADS Scotland, therefore information regarding membership of ADIG is a matter for them.

Question reference: S6W-04590

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the use of the Scots language and to further Scots language education.

The Scottish Government has made clear its support for our indigenous languages, including Scots. It is essential that those that wish to use the Scots language are given every opportunity to use the language of their choice. For many, Scots is the language of home and community and its use in other areas of Scottish life should be encouraged.

The Scottish Government provides around £460,000 of funding to various Scots organisations and Scots projects such as the Scots Language Centre, Dictionaries of the Scots Language, Association of Scottish Literary Studies, Scots Radio and Scots Hoose to develop and promote Scots and deliver high quality Scots language learning and resources to open up the educational access to Scots for young people. In addition, the Scottish Government works alongside Education Scotland and the SQA and they have worked to standardise, promote and make the Scots language more readily available in schools.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the forward the manifesto commitments for a new Scottish Languages Bill which takes further steps to support Gaelic, acts on the Scots language and recognises that Scotland is a multilingual society. This work is at an early stage and we intend to consult in 2022.

Question reference: S6O-00486

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements to transport infrastructure are planned for the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency.

Future transport investment by the Scottish Government, will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review.

In February, we published of the Case for Change report for Ayrshire and Arran, which included transport options being appraised as part of the Review. Under consideration are options for active travel; bus priority; getting more freight onto rail; improving the safety and resilience of the transport network and the decarbonisation of the transport system.

We intend to publish the STPR2 recommendations in the new year, however, until then I am not able to share further details.

Question reference: S6O-00489

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not published information on ministerial engagements, travel and gifts since April 2021.

Engagements and events are an essential part of official government business. Ordinarily, the Scottish Government will routinely publish this information online. However during the Covid response it has been necessary to reprioritise staff resources to support the Covid recovery and the publication schedule has been delayed.

The Scottish Government are working hard to address this and anticipate that transparency data publication will return to normal mid-December.

Question reference: S6O-00488

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to deliver Anne’s Law and other action it is taking to reduce isolation and loneliness in care homes.

We remain absolutely committed to strengthening residents’ rights in adult care homes through the introduction of ‘Anne’s Law’. This will give people who live in adult care homes the right to see and spend time with those who are important to them. Our public consultation on Anne’s Law closed on 5 November . We have received a considerable number of responses Scottish Government officials are currently working through the responses to consider the impact this may have on how we implement Anne’s Law. It is important that we carefully consider the views from the public and stakeholders that took the time to submit a response to our consultations. We intend to publish the responses in the coming weeks and results of the consultations on Anne’s Law and the strengthening of health and social care standards in the early part of the new year.

Question reference: S6W-04510

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund there have been, and of those how many (a) were approved, (b) were not approved and (c) following appeal, were (i) approved and (ii) not approved.

In total 585 applications for the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund were received. Of this:

- 460 applications were approved.

- Where an application was not approved (125 applications), there was always a reason provided, specific to the application and if sought clarification and discussion on this reasoning was provided.

- There have been no appeals. A number of applications were asked to provide additional information, and where provided the application was reviewed in light of the additional information.

Question reference: S6W-04512

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many successful applications to the Young Farmers Start-Up Grant Scheme there were from women in each year for which the scheme was open for applications.

Question reference: S6O-00519

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to improve the support that is available for people who are affected by strokes.

Scheme Year	Applications successful from women
2016	25
2017	10
2018	26
2019	1