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-08808

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role (a) ministers and (b) Crown Estate Scotland will have in finalising the scoring criteria and weighting for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leases for floating offshore wind projects.

Crown Estate Scotland have designed and are responsible for the leasing arrangements for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) process, this includes development of the weighting and evaluation criteria for applications. Crown Estate Scotland outlined the proposals for evaluation criteria in the Leasing Information Document (LID) released on 22 February 2022. The purpose of the LID is to provide developers with a clear understanding of the application process and contractual structure of the leasing round.

Question reference: S6W-08777

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing statutory powers to apply a public interest to all landholdings above an agreed scale.

We are committed to bringing forward a new Land Reform Bill in this parliamentary session. We will undertake a wide-ranging consultation this year on proposals for the Bill, which will build on our land reform measures to date and will further tackle Scotland’s historically iniquitous patterns of land ownership - including by tackling problematic scale and concentration of ownership. The Bill will aim to ensure that the public interest is considered on transfers of particularly large scale land holdings.

Question reference: S6W-08781

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done to map out land ownership since the publication of the 2019 report, The effects associated with concentrated and large-scale land ownership in Scotland: a research review by the Scottish Land Commission.

Documenting land ownership in Scotland is a key aim of the Land Register of Scotland which is held and maintained by The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (ROS) and is accessible online free of charge. Registers of Scotland (RoS) RoS are continually working to record land ownership and improve land mass coverage of records on the Land Register. Full completion of the Land Register is dependent on landowners submitting applications, however, RoS have made significant progress over the last year in their approach to making data held within the General Register of Sasines rather than the Land Register more accessible. As a result they can now link Sasine property search sheets to a map for the first time, making it visually more helpful and accessible. This is also a way of showing indicative ownership extents of Sasines titles which will help fill in current gaps in the Land Register.

Question reference: S6O-01213

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it is making to assist those who work in the nuclear energy sector to transition to suitable alternative employment.

The decommissioning of nuclear sites requires the retention of a highly skilled workforce over many years and their transferable skills could be utilised by the renewables sector as part of our transition to net zero.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will be published in Autumn 2022 and will provide a road map for the future of Scotland’s energy system. The development process will include engagement, offering the opportunity for those within or associated with the nuclear energy industry to contribute to this dialogue.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s labour market is able to effectively support the transition to net zero.

Question reference: S6O-01237

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what priority it attaches to developing relationships with other European countries.

Question reference: S6O-01238

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has now published all the legal advice it has received in relation to a second independence referendum.

Question reference: S6O-01224

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the level of need for accessible housing in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01236

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what contribution local culture, evidenced in museums such as the Trimontium Museum in Melrose and the National Mining Museum Scotland in Newtongrange, makes to the local and wider Scottish economy.

Question reference: S6O-01223

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to promote the creation of mid-market rental accommodation in the Lothians.

Question reference: S6O-01215

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to allocate any funding specifically for alcohol services, in addition to that allocated to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships for drugs services.