- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to amend the prescribed marriage notice application (M10) to allow same-sex male couples to be legally referred to as "groom".
Answer
The marriage notice (M10 form), or notice of intention to marry, is set out in a statutory instrument made by the Registrar General for Scotland, or their deputy, with the consent of the Scottish Ministers. Each party to the intended marriage can select in their marriage notice whether they should be designated in the marriage register as a bride or a bridegroom or they can choose for no designation to be entered.
The Registrar General and the Scottish Government will, when time permits, write to key stakeholders to seek their views on what changes may be required to the marriage notice.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it conducted a consultation on the use of the term "No Designation" when it prescribed the marriage notice application (M10) for same-sex male couples; if so, what responses were received, and where any such responses are published.
Answer
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 made a number of changes to the law on marriage and civil partnership, including in particular to allow same sex couples to marry. The marriage notice form and other registration forms were amended by the Registrar General for Scotland with consent of the Scottish Ministers, in consequence of these changes, by the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Prescribed Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 2014.
We wrote to 19 organisations, including three LGBTI organisations, to seek their views on the proposed changes to the registration forms before the Regulations were made. There were 18 responses to that consultation. These responses were not published.
I would be happy to write to the member with further information about this consultation and the outcomes, if desired.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many taxi drivers are eligible for the full £1,500 that is available through the Taxi and Private Hire Driver and Operator Support Fund.
Answer
On 2 June 2021 the Scottish Government announced a further £62 million fund to assist eligible Taxi or Private Hire drivers and Private Hire and Taxi licence holders in Scotland with fixed costs.
In order to be eligible for payment of £1,500 from the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Driver and Operator Support Fund, licensed Taxi or Private Hire drivers must hold a current local authority Taxi or Private Hire driver licence which is valid as of 3 June 2021 and have previously received an initial grant from the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund earlier in 2021.
As of 30 April 2021, over 21,800 drivers had been paid the initial grant from the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund. Local authorities are in the process of making automatic payments of the second £1,500 grant to eligible drivers, with many drivers already having received payment.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how much financial support it has provided to taxi drivers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
As at 30 April the Scottish Government has paid £32,725,500 to more than 21,800 taxi drivers through the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund. The Scottish Government recognised the continued financial challenges facing the sector and therefore taxi drivers who previously received a grant from the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund earlier in 2021 received a further grant of £1,500 taking support to a total of £3,000. We have allocated a further £62 million for taxi drivers and operators, bringing the total support for the taxi sector during the pandemic to more than £90 million.
The Scottish Government publishes statistics and management information relating to its Covid-19 business grants on its website at
The next update is scheduled to be published on 7 July 2021.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the speed for offering invites for initial and second COVID-19 vaccinations in the NHS Lothian area is reportedly slower than in other NHS board areas.
Answer
NHS Lothian is performing in-line with the rest of Scotland and within national timeframes. All NHS Boards have the same timeframe in which to complete each JCVI cohort. There will be slight local variations in time taken to reach targets dependant on population demographics within each NHS Board i.e Lothian has proportionally the highest constituency population of younger adults. NHS Lothian have reached these targets for each cohort, with the percentage coverage for over 50s in line with the Scottish average.
The vaccination data are updated daily and can be found here:
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Unite the Union, and (b) other sector stakeholders regarding the Taxi and Private Hire Driver and Operator Support Fund.
Answer
The Scottish Government engaged extensively with a number of organisations representing the Taxi and Private Hire vehicle trade including Unite Union, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Scottish Taxi Federation to explore how and where funding should be targeted. I also met directly with Unite the Union and representatives of the Private Hire industry prior to the launch of the fund.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many radiotherapy training places have there been in each academic year, since 2015.
Answer
Radiography education is not commissioned or controlled by the Scottish Government. The following table sets out the number of entrants to accredited radiography courses at Scottish Universities each academic year. The courses included match the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) list of accredited courses from 2015-16.
Entrants to accredited pre-registration radiography courses.
Year | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Therapeutic Radiography | 54 | 71 | 47 | 47 | 43 |
Diagnostic Radiography | 119 | 146 | 140 | 152 | 155 |
Total | 173 | 217 | 187 | 199 | 198 |
Source: HESA Student Population
Clinical Radiology
The following table gives the overall established number of Clinical Radiology trainee posts in place in each year from 2015 to 2021:
Clinical Radiology Programme Establishment |
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
121 | 129 | 139 | 149 | 160 | 172 | 182 |
The above table includes Scottish Government funding for 18 additional posts between 2015 and 2017 with a further commitment of another 50 funded posts, 10 per year from 2018.
Source: NHS Education for Scotland (NES) medical trainee establishment data
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether its assessment of the risk to children’s health from COVID-19 is being revised, and on what basis.
Answer
Preliminary data indicates that in the Delta wave we are seeing a cohort of younger adults in hospital with Covid.
We do not recommend travelling to another area of Scotland to take part in an activity that is not permitted in your local protection level.
The risk of COVID-19 to young children remains low.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been in increase in cases of children being hospitalised as a result of COVID-19 in the six months up to June 2021.
Answer
This data is available on the Public Health Scotland Education Surveillance Dashboard which provides a three-weekly rolling average of hospital admissions for 2-17 years olds -
Equivalent weekly data for children under 2 years is not currently published however, data on Cumulative COVID-19 Hospital Admissions since the start of the pandemic is available and shows that as of 26 May 2021, 238 children between 0-4 years have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 since March 2020. The full set of data can be found here - .
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what reassurances it can provide to parents and carers regarding the risk of COVID-19 to young children, in light of comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care during a radio interview on 2 June 2021 that travelling from a Level 2 area to a Level 1 area to visit a soft play centre “could lead to hospitalisation of children”.
Answer
Preliminary data indicates that in the Delta wave we are seeing a cohort of younger adults in hospital with Covid.
We do not recommend travelling to another area of Scotland to take part in an activity that is not permitted in your local protection level.
The risk of COVID-19 to young children remains low.