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-05828

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it or Transport Scotland was notified that Abellio ScotRail was planning to consult on changes to ticket office opening hours at a number of its stations.

Question reference: S6W-06191

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government how it is applying evidence-based psychological interventions to change lifestyle behaviours related to (a) obesity, (b) disability and (c) chronic disease.

Question reference: S6W-05978

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan Mckee on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05645 by Ivan McKee on 19 January 2022, what epidemiological evidence it considered when classifying the bingo sector as a live event.

As I noted in my previous response to the member, the indoor events capacity limits were introduced in regulations from 26 December 2021 in order to mitigate the greatly increased transmission rates of the omicron COVID-19 variant, recognising that large capacity events indoors pose a high risk of transmission of the virus. The capacity limits were removed from 24 January. The Scottish Government does not assess risk on a sector by sector basis as the risks of a significant number of people gathering together indoors is the same regardless of the activity that brings them together. For the purposes of the capacity limits on indoor gatherings the Scottish Government considers a live event to be something that brings together a significant number of people for communal participation in a leisure or entertainment activity.

Question reference: S6W-05848

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that 33% of remote rural households are living in extreme fuel poverty compared with 11% of households in the rest of Scotland, how its Fuel Poverty Strategy will deliver improved fuel poverty outcomes for people in off-gas-grid homes.

Our Fuel Poverty Strategy recognises the challenges that households in Scotland’s remote rural and island communities face in heating their homes for an affordable price, including the high proportion of properties located off the gas grid. That is why the new fuel poverty definition takes account of the additional costs associated with living in these areas, as well as other unique issues they face like differences in weather and housing stock characteristics.

We are determined to address the higher levels of fuel poverty found in remote rural communities and have already taken action to ensure our energy efficiency schemes spend more per head on installations in such areas, where we know costs are higher.

Through Warmer Homes Scotland we have also made available a number of renewable heat and micro generation measures some of which may be particularly beneficial to rural and remote communities not served by the gas grid. These include: ground source heat pumps, micro-wind and micro-hydro systems.

Question reference: S6W-05805

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether reintroducing LPG into the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, in the form of bio-LPG, would provide a route to low-carbon heating for off-grid properties.

Our homes and workplaces account for around a fifth of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions. We can and must make very significant progress towards eliminating these emissions over the next decade and reduce them to zero by 2045.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we see a limited role for bioenergy in domestic heating, in line with advice from the UK’s Climate Change Committee.

Warmer Homes Scotland provides heating systems and insulation measures to enable these systems. Warmer Homes Scotland does not provide fuel to customers and, where a heating system technology allows for a choice of fuels, the scheme cannot influence the customer’s ongoing choices. Scottish Government has no plans to reintroduce LPG heating systems to the list of measures available under Warmer Homes Scotland.

Households eligible for assistance under Warmer Homes Scotland will be offered low-carbon systems, where these are technically appropriate for the property. Options that may be of particular benefit to households living in rural and island areas that are not served by the gas grid include High Heat Retention Electric Storage Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps and microgeneration measures such as Micro-hydro and Micro-wind. Domestic battery storage systems are now also available to support Electric Storage Heating Systems along with Solar PV

Question reference: S6W-05502

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government from where specifically it will source energy that is currently generated by the Hunterston B nuclear power station, following its closure.

Question reference: S6W-05504

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to deliver a fair and managed transition for workers currently working at the Hunterston B nuclear power station, following its closure.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is currently being developed. This will include co-design as a key underpinning principle, ensuring workers from across the energy sector have the opportunity to contribute towards this process.

Additionally, we are investing in a green transition for North Ayrshire, supporting the region surrounding Hunterston B. The Scottish Government has invested £103 million in the Ayrshire Growth Deal which will support inclusive growth across the region; and help create good, green jobs.

Question reference: S6W-05506

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many workers it anticipates its Just Transition (a) Fund and (b) plans will assist to "transition"; where specifically these workers will be required to (i) live and (ii) work, and whether these will include oil and gas workers who are based outside of the UK.

Our Just Transition plans (beginning with the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan due to be published later this year) will set out how the economic and social impacts of our transition to Net Zero will be managed in a way that delivers on our national just transition outcomes.

From this programme of work, and the co-design activity that will be undertaken to support the Plans, we will develop a clearer evidence base regarding the nature and scale of impacts on workers across our economy, including the over 70,000 workers supported by oil and gas.

Our Just Transition Fund is a new financial commitment and so its design is being shaped by dialogue with regional partners to ensure that together we secure maximum impact. Given this is a regional Fund, the focus is to support opportunities and investments for the benefit of people who currently work and live in the region.

Question reference: S6W-05510

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates will be the source of energy that replaces that currently generated by nuclear power stations in Scotland; whether this will be from (a) fossil fuels or (b) renewable wind power; where precisely that power will be generated, and whether it will publish its calculations regarding how the current level of nuclear power generation will be replaced by these alternative sources.

Security of electricity supply is a reserved matter and is delivered by National Grid ESO across the whole of Great Britain under regulation from Ofgem. Scotland is part of a GB electricity system that is managed by National Grid in its role as Electricity System Operator. NGESO is responsible for sourcing generation to meet demand.

A mixture of renewables, storage and carbon capture technology – as well as increased interconnection across GB and to the continent – can support a secure and decarbonised power sector in Scotland following the closure of the existing large nuclear generators.

Scotland is currently a net electricity exporter and in 2020 exported 20.4 TWh of electricity, equivalent to powering every household in Scotland for 26 months. It only imported a little over 1 TWh of electricity, meaning that net exports of electricity were 19.3 TWh in 2020, its highest year on record.

Question reference: S6W-05394

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the use of the CitizenCard as valid ID for the purposes of the vaccine certification scheme.