Miles Briggs

21 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle digital poverty.

Answer · Kate Forbes: Since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in our Connecting Scotland programme, which provides people on low incomes with a device, connection with unlimited data for two years, as well as training and support. Since programme laun…

21 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the kinship care allowance payment is in each local authority area.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government does not hold information on payments of kinship care allowance as local authorities are responsible for deciding levels of care allowance based on local decision making practices and specific needs of individual children or young peop…

21 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many babies with disabilities have been born in Scotland to mothers who used sodium valproate during pregnancy in each year since 1999.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not have the information which has been requested. Patient safety is a key priority for the Scottish Government. We are taking forward a programme of work aimed at preventing harm as a result of sodium valproate, and also ensurin…

13 Apr 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help young people at risk from exclusion from mainstream education.

11 Apr 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00064 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 June 2021, whether it will provide the same information for 2020-21.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Spending data on additional support for learning (ASL) is provided below. This data is collected from local authorities via the Local Financial Returns (LFR). In addition to 2020-21 expenditure data, figures for 2019-20 have also been provided due to revision…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions local authorities have breached the conditions of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014 in each month since it came into force.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government collects data relating to individual temporary accommodation placements (associated with homelessness applications) through the HL3 data collection. This includes information on whether or not placements have been in breach of the Unsu…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average age of patients admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver damage has been in each year since 1999.

Answer · Maree Todd: I can confirm that the information requested does not exist in the format requested. Public Health Scotland’s ‘Alcohol related hospital statistics’ report includes specific figures on alcohol related liver disease, however the exact age of each patient admit…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made, regarding the testing available in Scotland, of the decision by NICE to approve placental growth factor (PlGF) testing for expectant mothers in England.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government expects women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia. We are working with the Scottish Perinatal Network to examine the adoption of PlGF testing for pre-eclampsia in Sc…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions it has met its cancer treatment time guarantee in each year since 2012.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on NHS Scotland performance against the 62 and 31-day standards has been published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Information on NHS Scotland performance from 2012 to Q1 2020 is available on the Information Services Division site, which has sin…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support is provided to victims of stalking.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has long recognised the hugely damaging impact of stalking and acted to criminalise it via the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. In March 2022 we announced funding of £495,000 over the period 2022-25 from the new Vic…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a domestic abuse review scheme.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government regularly reviews its policies in relation to domestic abuse, with a clear example being the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme which is currently subject to a formal evaluation being carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University in partn…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many counsellors to support adoptees will be recruited or trained as part of the recently announced £145,000 of funding.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The funding of around £145,000 was announced to establish specialist support, counselling and the introduction of peer support groups. We have introduced a working group to assist with the implementation of peer support groups. The group includes people with…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have accessed alcohol-related rehabilitation services in each year since 1999.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government only holds this information from 2019/20 onwards. In November 2021, we published a report which presented the findings of a survey of the 20 residential rehabilitation providers across Scotland which were identified in a previous mapp…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of children living in unsuitable temporary accommodation have received a wellbeing assessment by each local authority in each year since the recommendation in the Ending Homelessness Together action plan was published.

Answer · Shona Robison: While the Scottish Government collects data on the number of children living in unsuitable accommodation, it does not ask for returns from local authorities on any wellbeing assessments undertaken. This information would have to be requested directly from loc…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many households have received support under the Council Tax Reduction scheme in each year since it was introduced, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The number of recipients of Council Tax Reduction is calculated as a monthly snapshot, and results are published at local authority level on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/council-tax-reduction-local-authority-tables-and…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of abuse of older people have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. The data we receive from Police Scotland for production of the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, w…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet its renewable energy targets as part of National Planning Framework 4.

Answer · Tom Arthur: Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 10 November, and at the same time published for consultation which closed on 31 March 2022. The draft NPF4 set out how our approach to planning and development will achieve …

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many care experienced young people have received a council tax exemption in each year since The Promise was introduced.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The information requested is not held centrally.

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review access to pre-eclampsia testing for expectant mothers.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government expects women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia. We are working with the Scottish Perinatal Network to examine the adoption of PlGF testing for pre-eclampsia in Sc…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the information provided to cancer patients.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: NHS 24 has recently completed an initial review of the cancer specific information on NHS Inform, to ensure it is clinically safe and any out of date information has been removed. Meanwhile NHS 24 is in discussions with a third sector organisation on the pote…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of so-called Anglophobia have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on cases of Anglophobia is not held centrally. Data is published on the number of police recorded hate crimes that include an aggravation for race. The characteristic of race in the hate crime legislative framework includes race, colour, nationali…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish plans for the National Care Service.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS), and that work is continuing on schedule. We have pledged to bring forward legislation to enable the creation of the NCS by the end of June 2022. Scottish Ministers ar…

31 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of young people in Scotland who have taken part in the Teach the Nation to Code initiative.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This information is not held centrally. Teaching the Nation to Code is a computing programming training offer by the IT training company QA Consulting.

17 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in the development of Hillend junction.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Two junction improvement options have been identified and assessed to identify any impacts they may have on journey times along this corridor. The assessment has also sought to take into account the impacts of emerging development in the area. Engagement wit…

16 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the potential introduction of a national garden waste tax.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government has not had any discussions to date, relating to the introduction of a national garden waste tax. Decisions on local service provision and charges are for local authorities to make. However we want to make sure that the best choice fo…

11 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have reported incidents of door-to-door scams to Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported incidents of door-to-door scams. Some information is available from a 2018-19 study into police recorded fraud in Scotland, the findings of which were presented within the Recorded c…

11 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on (a) how many NHS hearing aid repair support appointments there have been and (b) what the (i) average and (ii) longest waiting time for an appointment has been in each year since 1999.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. We would advise contacted health boards to obtain this data. Audiologists are working on reduced capacity due to the remaining covid restrictions, specifically, reduced numbers of p…

11 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been charged with modern slavery-related offences in each year since 1999.

Answer · Dorothy Bain: There is not a single offence of modern slavery in Scotland. Several offences fall within the ambit of modern slavery. These offences are listed below. On 31 May 2016, the Human Trafficking & Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect. The 2015 Act i…

11 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being undertaken to investigate sexual trauma and abuse experienced by disabled people.

Answer · Christina McKelvie: The Scottish Government is not currently investigating trauma and abuse experienced by disabled people specifically. However, the Scottish Government published our Learning/Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan in March 2021. The p…

11 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have reported incidents of online scams to Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported incidents of online scams, though estimates are available on the volume of police recorded fraud that was cyber-enabled over 2018-19 to 2020-21 (see the following table). Further deta…