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: S6W-19585

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by ports charging a passenger levy for cruise ships in each year since 1999, broken down by port.

Question reference: S6W-19783

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work with the UK Government to deliver the zero emission vehicle mandate.

Question reference: S6W-19769

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the levels of funding have been for the operation of rail services in each of the last five years, and how that funding compares with the funding for bus services in the same periods.

The levels of funding associated with bus and rail operations can be found in Transport Scotland's annual accounts. Please note the annual accounts for 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 will be available later this year.

Links provided below for the five years as requested:-

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2020

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2019

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018

Question reference: S6W-19586

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by ports charging an environmental levy for cruise ships in each year since 1999, broken down by port.

Question reference: S6W-19699

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) each operational vessel owned by CMAL and (b) the piers that each vessel can dock at.

The operation of vessels and ports for scheduled services is a matter for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, CalMac Ferries Ltd and Serco NorthLink Ferries.

Information on the vessels owned by CMAL is available on their website.

Home | CMAL Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (cmassets.co.uk)

Information on how these vessels are deployed on Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles Ferry Service routes is available on the individual operators websites.

Ferries to Scotland & Scottish Isles | Caledonian MacBrayne | CalMac Ferries

The Scottish Government do not hold full operational details of the ports at which CMAL or other vessels can dock but it is our expectation through the contracts that the Operator will utilise the vessels flexibly as it considers appropriate in order to maintain lifeline services for communities.

Question reference: S6W-19691

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19246 by Fiona Hyslop on 27 June 2023 and in light of reports that ChargePoint Scotland may be privatised, whether it will monitor the (a) number and (b) type of privately-run electric vehicle charge points in future.

The Scottish Government has not made a decision to privatise charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third party sectors. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

The Scottish Government does not routinely monitor the number and type of privately run charge points at this time. This information is, however, monitored by the private sector – for instance, Zap-Map monitor and publish monthly statistics which includes the total number and type of privately-run electric vehicle charge points across the UK.

Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point Strategy and Expansion Plans, to identify the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s network. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators.

Question reference: S6W-19797

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has confirmed when the ferries task force will next meet, and which ministers will be attending.

Question reference: S6W-19662

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what data it has on the number of people enrolling on courses of education at Scottish (a) colleges and (b) universities who complete those courses within the intended length of time for their course, and what information it has on what the reasons were for any people not completing the courses on which they were enrolled.

Information on the outcomes of students enrolled at Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their annual college performance indicators release.

College Performance Indicators 2021-22 (sfc.ac.uk)

The SFC are continuing to develop and improve this data collection and are working to collect more robust data on the reasons why people are not completing their courses.

Data is not readily available for universities on those completing courses within a set time length as some university courses have more flexibility with mode and course length. The number of enrolments and qualifiers on courses at Scottish universities is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Enrolments: Figure 3 - HE student enrolments by level of study 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

Qualifiers: Figure 15 - HE qualifications obtained by level of qualification 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

As students withdraw from university for a number of interlinked reasons, HESA no longer collect information on why students withdraw. Their statistical release concentrates on the proportion of students not continuing with university study. This Non-continuation release was last published in March 2022:

Table D - Percentage of UK domiciled full-time entrants who did not leave within 50 days of commencement not continuing in HE after their first year by location of HE provider and academic year 2014/15 to 2019/20 | HESA .

Question reference: S6W-19641

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its current contingency plans are in the event of a non-flu pandemic.

The Scottish Government has put a range of measures in place to address the risk of future pandemics. These are informed by learning from experience of the Covid-19 Pandemic about the need to respond differently to non flu pandemics. We continue to maintain stockpiles of PPE and medicines to address a pandemic threat and we are also working with 4 Nations partners to review the countermeasures and capabilities required to address future pandemic threats and ensure our resilience measures remain robust. In Scotland, we have established the Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness to bring together scientists and technical experts to advise the Scottish Government on the future risks from pandemics and how we can be as prepared as it is possible to be for these.

Question reference: S6W-19649

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources it plans to make available to strengthen the enforcement of age restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes.

The Scottish Government provides funding of £1.34 million annually to Local Authorities for the enforcement of legislation around the sale and purchase of Nicotine Vapour Products (NVP’s).

In addition, through continued funding and regular engagement with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS), Scottish Government supports strong national and local alliances to tackle the sale of NVPs to under 18s.

The Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme, agreed by Scottish Government and co-ordinated by the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS), provides rigorous enforcement of the legislation on NVPs. Following disruption to visits during the pandemic, Trading Standards are using every tool at their disposal – including test purchasing - to enforce existing legislation.

In October 2022, the Scottish Government wrote to all registered retailers of these products to remind them of their duty of sale and we regularly meet with Trading Standards on enforcement activity. We will also publish our refreshed Tobacco Action Plan later this year, which will include actions to reduce vaping among young people.