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 MSPs 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: S6O-03464

Asked by: Clare Haughey, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the reduction in Scotland’s capital budget as a result of changes to Scotland’s block grant.

Question reference: S6W-27130

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to Breathing Space in the last four financial years, including 2024-25, broken down by year.

The Scottish Government has invested over £7.3 million to deliver the Breathing Space service over the last 3 financial years, as follows:

2021-22: £2.372 million

2022-23: £2.354 million

2023-24: £2.6 million

Breathing Space forms part of a wider range of mental health and wellbeing services delivered by NHS 24, including the Mental Health Hub, the Enhanced Mental Health Pathway and Living Life.

The 2024-25 funding for mental health services, including Breathing Space, is currently under discussion with NHS24.

Question reference: S6W-27033

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation took place with (a) staff and (b) trade unions before the decision was made to close all VisitScotland information centres.

a) A formal staff consultation was not triggered prior to the announcement as there are no compulsory redundancies.

Staff are VisitScotland's priority, and they are engaging with them to discuss their options such as re-skilling, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.

VisitScotland have established a staff engagement programme, which involves every iCentre and allows for both collective and individual engagement and representation throughout the change programme.

b) VisitScotland consulted with Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union prior to the announcement and continue to work with them during the on-going change programme.

Question reference: S6W-27318

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has multi-year funding in place for its Scottish 4G Infill Programme (S4GI) beyond 2024-25, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.

Question reference: S6W-27308

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions (a) local authorities and (b) NHS boards have carried out an Island Communities Impact Assessment since the introduction of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-27314

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many so-called mobile phone "notspots" there are in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-27254

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will report on the introduction of a working group for the delivery of the Onshore Wind Sector Deal for Scotland, and the forthcoming publication of a paper identifying the skills needed to deliver Scotland’s climate ambitions.

Oversight and governance of the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal (SOWSD) is led by the Scottish Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group (OWSLG).

The OWSLG is accountable for delivery of the Sector Deal, including review and approval of the work programme. The group will publicly report at least annually on progress, including on the forecast of operational onshore wind to 2030 and beyond. The group currently meets on a quarterly basis, with Ministers attending meetings twice a year.

In relation to the commitment on a skills paper, the Scottish Government commissioned research to identify the skills and workforce required to support the deployment of onshore wind up to 2030. This research was published through ClimateXChange on 14 May 2024 Workforce and skills requirements in Scotland’s onshore wind industry | ClimateXChange

Question reference: S6W-27249

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will report on the timeframe for the creation of a Just Transition Plan for the Mossmorran industrial site developed in partnership with the operators of the plant, workforce and the local community.

The Scottish Government has committed to developing a Just Transition Plan for the Mossmorran industrial complex, work will commence in early 2025. This will allow for a thorough evaluation of the approach taken at Grangemouth to maximise learning and outputs. We will follow the principles of co-design and include a wide range of appropriate stakeholders from the community, industry, workforce and public sector. The Scottish Government intends to publish the plan by the end of the parliament.

Question reference: S6W-27152

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the Scottish Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Cluster to produce low carbon hydrogen at scale, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the development of the Acorn project and the Scottish Cluster, which are essential for the production of low carbon hydrogen at scale. I attended the Inter-Ministerial Group in February and sit on the UK CCUS Ministerial Forum to represent Scottish interests and make the case for progress on Acorn to be accelerated. The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, and the previous Cabinet Secretary for Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy have also written to the UK Government in recent months to make the case for the acceleration of the Acorn project.

The decision to award the Acorn project is reserved to the UK Government and despite announcing in July 2023 that the Acorn project is ‘best placed’ to meet the criteria, there is still no final decision from the UK Government. This adds further delays to the deployment of CCUS in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27028

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26975 by Richard Lochhead on 24 April 2024, and in light of the UK Government’s publication, Project Gigabit progress update - April 2024, whether it expects Project Gigabit procurement covering Fife to launch throughout 2024.

The Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) have worked together to develop a number of potential Type A (local) and Type B (regional) Project Gigabit procurements in Scotland. The Scottish Government will lead delivery of these procurements, so that Project Gigabit and our own Reaching 100% (R100) programme can work together in Scotland.

A potential procurement in the Fife, Perth and Kinross areas has been identified as part of this process. It is expected that this procurement will launch later in 2024, so long as the Scottish Government is confident that there is the continued supplier interest necessary for it to succeed.