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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 43014 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-10245

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Home Owners’ Support Fund, what the average processing time has been for (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications in each of the last six years, and how many applications in each of the last six years took (i) less than one year (ii) one to two years (iii) two to three years and (iv) more than three years to process.

The Scottish Government does not collect data in relation to the turnaround of unsuccessful applications. The following table shows the average processing time in months for successful applications during each of the last six years.

Year	Average Processing Time (Months)
2016-17	5
2017-18	6
2018-19	9
2019-20	11
2020-21	15
2021-22	20

The Home Owners Support Fund is a voluntary scheme and the full co-operation and participation of applicants, social landlords, lenders, solicitors and surveyors is necessary for the smooth and efficient delivery of the scheme. The pandemic made it more difficult to progress cases, particularly as social landlords were unable to visit properties for repairs assessments.

The following table shows the number of successful applications and the timescales, during each of the last six years.

	Number of Successful Applications Processed in
Year	< 1 Year	1-2 years	2-3	> 3 years
2016-17	65	0	0	0
2017-18	39	0	0	0
2018-19	29	3	0	0
2019-20	21	7	0	0
2020-21	1	7	0	0
2021-22	0	6	3	0

Question reference: S6W-10177

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether CalMac Ferries Ltd awarded any performance payments to staff at executive level in any years in which it also received any financial penalties by Transport Scotland, broken down by year.

Pay and performance is a matter for CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL). Scottish Ministers have no role to play in any pay negotiations. The information on performance payments to senior staff is reported and available in the David MacBrayne Limited accounts.

Years where performance deductions have been made to the CHFS Contract were set out in my answer to question S6W-10178 on 7 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-10180

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what the total amount has been of any performance payments given to executive level staff at CalMac Ferries Ltd, broken down by each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-10356

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the £200 fixed penalty fine for the offence of fly-tipping.

The Scottish Government recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures.

The Scottish Government aims to deliver a strong and consistent enforcement model across Scotland that is fit for purpose, promotes positive behaviours and acts as a proportionate deterrent and effectively stops people from littering and flytipping

We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses.

Question reference: S6W-10278

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has attempted to recoup money from any bus operators that were in receipt of COVID-19 recovery funding but have since been unable to deliver services and, if this is the case, whether it will provide details, broken down by bus operator.

COVID-19 recovery funding is provided via the Network Support Grant Plus and paid as a pence per kilometre rate for each kilometre actually run. Funding is provided by advance payment on forecasts and then payment is adjusted after the scheme ends in October to ensure the final payment reflects actual services operated. This will include recovery of any funding paid to operators for services that did not operate. The scheme has not yet ended so no reconciliation or payment recovery from operators has yet taken place.

Question reference: S6W-10195

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether any Scottish Ministers have ever had meetings with Uber and, if this is the case, what the purpose of any such meetings was, whether any notes were taken at the meetings, and, if this is the case, whether it will place copies of any such notes in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S6W-10262

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last updated the HOSFGN/002: Property Thresholds Guidance for the Home Owners' Support Fund.

Question reference: S6W-09385

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been carried out through the National Improvement Framework regarding the allocation of money from pupil equity funding to Police Scotland for police officers in schools.

This information does not fall within the scope of data gathered through the National Improvement Framework. The 11 key NIF measures assess progress towards closing the attainment gap using indicators from pre-school to school leavers. These are supplemented by 15 sub-measures that reflect the key stages of the learner journey and the breadth of issues that can impact on attainment. Together these provide a wide range of measures covering school leaver attainment and literacy and numeracy but also other, broader, measures such as health and wellbeing, school attendance rates and school leaver destinations.

Question reference: S6W-10465

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is encouraging public collections to consider returning cultural artefacts that were stolen during colonial times.

The Scottish Government encourages our public collections to consider the method of acquisition of all objects in their care, the vast majority of which were obtained ethically and legally.

Any consideration of returning cultural artefacts would initially be a decision for the relevant Board of Trustees. However Scottish Government officials engage in ongoing discussions with the museums sector, and will continue to encourage open and inclusive discussion on this topic.

Question reference: S6W-10508

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken any planning or research regarding a reduction in the devolved civil service headcount in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken specific planning or research regarding a reduction in the devolved civil service headcount in Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its workforce numbers to ensure affordability, and that the organisation is delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible. The organisation's focus is on aligning its workforce plans with the outcome of the Resource Spending Review, and contributing to achieving the broad aim set out within the Resource Spending Review, to return the total size of the devolved public sector workforce to around pre-COVID-19 levels by 2026-27. This will be achieved through effective vacancy and recruitment management, working in partnership with the Council of Scottish Government Unions.

The RSR sets out how the wider decrease in the public sector workforce will not be achieved via a uniform approach due to varying trends in demand for different services and the recovery of services from COVID-19.