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-31771

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the work of its Digital Assets in Scots Private Law Expert Reference Group.

The Digital Assets in Scots Private Law Expert Reference Group has made its findings and recommendations to the Scottish Government, and a consultation on possible legislative reform was published today, 27 November 2024, with a closing date of 5 February 2025. The consultation seeks views on proposals to provide greater legal certainty on the kinds of digital asset that can be objects of property in Scots private law and some key features as to how they would operate in property law. The consultation can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836910510.

Question reference: S6W-31256

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the (a) Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Scotland: Annual Survey 2023/24 and (b) finding that only (i) 30% of alcohol and drug partnerships have an alcohol harms group and (ii) 27% have an alcohol death review group.

Scottish Government is working closely with ADPs to ensure further roll-out of Alcohol Harms Groups and Alcohol Death Reviews across Scotland.

The ADP Survey highlights that in addition to the 30% of ADPs with specific Alcohol Harms Groups in place a further third report having other structures in place for informing surveillance. These include multi-agency groups working on wider public health monitoring including drug and alcohol harms and sudden death groups whose remits include both death reviews and suicide reviews.

Several ADPs have indicated that alcohol harm and death review groups are currently in development.

Scottish Government is working in partnership with Alcohol Focus Scotland to ensure that all ADPs in Scotland have agreed processes to review alcohol deaths and build on the learning of the 27% of ADPs already delivering.

Question reference: S6W-31730

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 November 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04532 by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021, how much it has allocated in each year since 2021 to the delivery of its Agritourism Growth Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-31638

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy last met Scottish Power.

Question reference: S6W-31239

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have been accredited as Living Wage employers in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.

The accreditation scheme is owned and managed by the Living Wage Foundation, with Poverty Alliance responsible for it's delivery in Scotland. Therefore Scottish Government is not the data owner or gatherer, below is the number of accredited employers since the 2015-16 financial year:

Financial Year	Accredited Employers Scotland
2015-16	309
2016-17	350
2017-18	424
2018-19	334
2019-20	414
2020-21	366
2021-22	724
2022-23	532
2023-24	677
Total	4,130

Please note the above accreditation numbers are "snapshots" in time. Employers may have subsequently ceased to trade, or closed their accreditation. The very latest data from Poverty Alliance states there are 3,772 employers currently accredited.

Included is a spreadsheet, providing historical accreditations which can be filtered by Local Authority since 2016. The latest current accreditation data can always be viewed on the Living Wage Scotland website: https://scottishlivingwage.org/employer-directory/

Question reference: S6W-31390

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many Scottish Digital Academy courses have been completed by employees in the third sector in each year since it was launched in January 2018.

Question reference: S6W-31388

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its employees have completed courses through the Scottish Digital Academy in each year since it was launched in January 2018.

Question reference: S6W-31342

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the UK Government discussion paper, Transforming business rates, which proposes a permanently lower business rate for the retail sector from 2026-27, and whether it is considering a similar approach.

Question reference: S6W-31341

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will fulfil the commitment in its Framework For Tax and the recommendation of the Barclay Review of Non-domestic Rates to restore the level playing field with England for commercial premises liable for the higher property rate.

The Framework for Tax 2021 stated the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring that the largest businesses pay the same combined poundage in Scotland as in England by the end of this parliamentary session.

Over 95% of properties are liable for a lower poundage rate in Scotland than in anywhere else in the UK. Since the Barclay Review made this recommendation, we have introduced the Intermediate Property Rate on 1 April 2020. On 1 April 2023, we increased the rateable value threshold at which the Higher Property Rate applies, from £95,000 to £100,000.

Question reference: S6W-31332

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 26 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the recommendation of the Green Heat Finance Taskforce to review and publish an analysis of how non-domestic rates relief can better support the ambition to encourage investment in (a) energy efficiency and (b) zero-emission heating systems.

The Scottish Government welcomes the work of the independent Green Heat Finance Taskforce and looks forward to receiving its Part 2 report shortly. Following publication of its Part 2 report, the Scottish Government will formally respond to the Taskforce, setting out the actions we will take, in partnership with others, on recommendations from both Taskforce reports.

Our response will be informed by the New Deal for Business sub-group on Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) which will, alongside other matters, consider how non-domestic rates levers support Scotland’s transition to net zero.