Parliamentary questions
Miles Briggs
4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been treated in adult mental health services in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board or any treated outside of Scotland.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) produces annual reports on admissions of young people under the age of 18 to non-specialist wards in Scotland. Children and young people referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) will generally be trea…
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes in each local authority area have currently been identified as containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) undertook a data collection exercise in December 2023 on the presence of RAAC in social housing. Findings of this have been published by SHR giving a breakdown of the number of homes identified as containing RAAC and how m…
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question (a) S6W-15576 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 March 2023 and (b) S6W-17101 by Jenny Gilruth on 22 May 2023, whether it will provide the same information for 2022-23.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Spending data on additional support for learning (ASL) is provided below. This data is collected from local authorities via the 2022-23 Local Financial Returns (LFR). These figures show that spending on ASL by local authorities reached its highest level on re…
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on progressing the reported proposals for three-year core funding for the third sector.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government values the important role of Scotland’s third sector in working across communities to tackle tough social issues at source. We recognise the challenges faced by the third sector in the current cost crisis and we will do what we can to …
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on taking forward the UK National Screening Committee recommendation that all four UK nations should move towards implementing targeted lung cancer screening programmes.
Answer · Jenni Minto: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26075 on 18 March 2024, which outlines the progress the Scottish Government has made in moving towards a targeted lung cancer screening programme. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available o…
6 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25115 by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2024, what response it has received from the (a) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and (b) Food Standards Agency, including counterparts in (i) England, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Irela…
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Wales and Northern Ireland, have noted the petition PE1997: Introduce mandatory braille labelling for food products sold in Scotland and the interest in Scot…
4 Mar 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to bring empty properties back into use for housing.
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to the co-production of plans for the proposed National Care Service, and the reported importance of such an approach to different stakeholders, particularly people who need and use social care, and of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland hi…
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government remains committed to co-designing a National Care Service (NCS) which fits the needs of our unique communities and considers the needs of people who face additional barriers to engaging with us. We’ve heard from thousands of people al…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to tackle online bullying and harassment, what its position is on (a) the current regulation of mobile app companies and (b) in-app support tools for users to report online bullying and harassment.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: We take online safety very seriously and our expectation is that online service providers will act responsibly. Though regulation of the internet is a reserved matter and falls to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to securing the online…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to tackle online bullying and harassment, what recent discussions it has had with mobile app companies regarding any support that they currently provide to users to report online bullying and harassment.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The regulation of the internet is a reserved matter and falls to the UK Government. Notwithstanding, the Scottish Government has been very clear that providers also have a responsibility to enforce their own policies on harmful online content. We continue to…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether children’s services will be included in the proposed National Care Service.
Answer · Maree Todd: The model of shared accountability agreed for the National Care Service means that Scottish Ministers, Local Authorities and NHS Boards will each have their own responsibilities to fulfil within a new national framework. We will continue working with COSLA …
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that volunteers and the third sector are included in plans for the future workforce of the proposed National Care Service.
Answer · Maree Todd: Scotland’s volunteers and third sector workers are critical to the health and wellbeing of our people, places and communities. We recognise the skills, kindness and commitment of workers and volunteers. The Scottish Government are undertaking a co-design app…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the proposed ban on single-use vapes on the illicit vaping market.
Answer · Lorna Slater: A number of impact assessments including a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) are being prepared and will be published prior to the regulations being finalised and placed before the Scottish Parliament. Scottish Government officials have been e…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of non-compliant vapes currently being sold in Scotland.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government does not hold this data centrally, it is up to individual Local Authorities to enforce legislation around non-compliant nicotine vapour products through Local Trading Standards Officers. To support the enforcement of the legislation a…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will allocate to each local authority for its trading standards department to enforce the proposed (a) ban on single-use vapes and (b) raising of the tobacco age of sale, and whether it plans to propose a ministerial statement on these issues.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Government officials have been engaging closely with Trading Standards to receive their feedback on the draft legislation for the proposed ban on single-use vapes. Officials are carrying out a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to understand the potent…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the provisions in the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, which is due to commence in April 2024, particularly any provisions related to volunteers in care services, are reflected in its plans for the future workforce of the proposed Nat…
Answer · Maree Todd: Under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, service providers who engage workers or volunteers will have responsibility for ensuring any person providing a caring service receives appropriate training and support to perform their role, as they d…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential number of users of single-use vapes who may return to tobacco products once the proposed ban on single-use vapes is introduced, and whether it plans to propose a ministerial statement on this issue.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government is currently preparing a suite of impact assessments to consider the effect of the proposed measure on various communities and will be available before regulations are laid. We recognise arguments raised in the four nations Creating a…
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many drug deaths have been recorded in the last three years that have included a reference to fentanyl.
Answer · Christina McKelvie: This information is publicly available from the National Records of Scotland, which publishes annual Accredited Official Statistics on drug-related deaths in Scotland (Table 1). Table 1: Number of drug deaths where fentanyl was implicated in, or potentially …
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on taxi journeys for NHS patients in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. It is for Health Boards to ensure best use of available resources whilst prioritising patient safety and care.
29 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on taxi journeys for pupils travelling to school in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not collect information on the amount spent by local authorities on taxi journeys for pupils travelling to school.
27 Feb 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it will allocate through its Budget to fund any potential cost increases related to improvements to the A720 City Bypass grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout.
22 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking now to plan and prepare for maintaining hepatitis C elimination once it has been achieved, in light of the acknowledgement in its recent Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan of the importance of working to maintain elimination once it has been achieved.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland is responsible for ongoing surveillance of hepatitis C and will monitor achievement and maintenance of the elimination target in Scotland. This intelligence, combined with expert advice such as through the Scottish Health Protection Net…
19 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish details, including the (a) timeline and (b) application process, of the £90 million Green Hydrogen Fund, which was reportedly due to be launched by December 2023.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Hydrogen Action Plan, published in December 2022, set out a clear commitment to support renewable hydrogen production. Grants from the first tranche of our hydrogen investment programme, the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, totalled over £7m and were announce…
19 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been referred to the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service in each NHS board that it is operational in, in each of the last three years.
Answer · Neil Gray: A final two year report of Scotland’s early adopter sites, was published by the University of Strathclyde on Thursday 29 th February highlighting its success, a summary of which is available at rapid-cancer-diagnostic-services-evaluation-summary-february-202…
19 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to provide resources to GP link workers to refer patients requesting support for forced adoption to peer support groups.
Answer · Natalie Don: The Scottish Government has funded Health in Mind to deliver a historic forced adoption peer support service and implement a comprehensive communication strategy to help raise awareness of this support. As part of this, Health In Mind has contacted all health…
19 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service to cover all of Scotland.
Answer · Neil Gray: As reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published June 2023, we are committed to “expanding and evaluating Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage”. The University of Strathclyde published a final evaluation repo…
19 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many local authority wards have a population of over 15,500 residents, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) population.
Answer · Angus Robertson: I have asked Janet Egdell, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows: Of the 355 wards in Scotland, 162 had a population over 15,500 as at 30 June 2021. The following table shows the number of electoral wards with…
15 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many car thefts have been recorded in the past three years, and, of those, how many involved (a) a perpetrator breaking into the home to take keys and (b) the use of so-called cloning equipment to steal the car without the keys.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government does not hold information specifically on the number of car thefts. Information on the number of thefts of a motor vehicle is provided below, but it is not possible to break that down by type of motor vehicle. In terms of a perpetrato…
31 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what impact assessment it has undertaken regarding the potential removal of charitable status of independent schools in Edinburgh.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: No impact assessments have been conducted as the Scottish Government’s position is and remains that the charitable status of any organisation is a matter for OSCR. Whether independent fee-charging schools meet the charity test is a matter for OSCR who operate…
31 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review emergency planning legislation and the powers that are available to local authorities.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 is the legislation which outlines the categorised responders, and their duty to prepare for civil emergencies within Scotland. The …