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-28094

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with Avanti West Coast regarding the current dispute with the RMT union, in which catering staff have reportedly highlighted concerns regarding the disruption to work-life balance as a result of rosters being frequently amended at very short notice.

Whilst we expect public bodies to implement and promote Fair Work First in all relevant procurement processes, (and suppliers delivering public contracts) Avanti West Coast is contracted by, and reports directly to, the UK Government and the Scottish Government does not have the details of Avanti West Coast’s employment practices. The Scottish Government has not had any communication with Avanti West Coast on this matter, it is an operational matter for Avanti West Coast as employer.

Question reference: S6W-28093

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it engages with rail companies that employ staff in Scotland, and in what ways it expects the Fair Work Framework principles to be applied.

Our vision is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. In the absence of powers over employment legislation, the Scottish Government encourages all employers in Scotland to adopt Fair Work practices and play their part in making Scotland a leading Fair Work Nation.

The Scottish Government expects public bodies to show leadership in that regard, and implement and promote Fair Work First in all relevant procurement processes (and suppliers delivering public contracts).

Scottish Rail Holdings (SRH) oversees the delivery of rail operations by ScotRail Train Limited and Caledonian Sleeper Limited, which moved into the public sector in April 2022 and June 2023 respectively. SRH has responsibility for engaging with its subsidiaries to promote fair work practices . In addition, the Scottish Ministers set out in their High Level Output Specification for the current 5 year railway funding period (2024 -2029) that they expect Network Rail in Scotland to follow the Scottish Government’s Fair Work principles.

Most cross-border passenger railway operators are the responsibility of the UK Government and this level of operational detail is not covered through Scottish Government engagement. The Scottish Government does not engage to this level either with ‘open-access’ operators which include all rail freight operators and rail charter operators.

Question reference: S6W-28092

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the employment practices for caterers at Avanti West Coast are compliant with the Fair Work Framework.

Our vision is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. Whilst the Scottish Government expects public bodies to implement and promote Fair Work First in all relevant procurement processes (and suppliers delivering public contracts) Avanti West Coast is contracted by, and reports directly to the UK Government and the Scottish Government does not have the details of Avanti West Coast’s employment practices.

Question reference: S6W-28091

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02027 by Màiri McAllan on 4 June 2024 and her statement that “we are not dropping targets”, whether it will clarify whether this means that it is still committed to meeting both its outstanding 2013 and 2020 household recycling targets as currently set.

The Scottish Government continues to work towards meeting 2013 and 2020 household recycling targets.

To help us meet our targets, the Circular Economy Bill and draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map set out further measures to improve and modernise local recycling services and drive up reuse and recycling rates.

This Bill also includes a commitment – in line with advice from the Climate Change Committee – to set new circular economy targets from 2025 so they are future proofed, support our work to tackle the climate emergency and help us measure progress in reducing emissions.

Question reference: S6W-28077

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide that there will be no reduction in number of sailings or passenger capacity on the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry route as a result of MV Alfred now departing and arriving from Troon.

The overall passenger and vehicle capacity on the main Arran route is reduced during the current period of disruption when compared to the normal service. The Scottish Government continues to task CalMac with making best use of available vessel and port resources to serve our island communities. The services currently operated by the MV Isle of Arran from Ardrossan and MV Alfred from Troon is expected to remain in place until the return of the MV Caledonian Isles. CalMac have recently added a further return sailing by the MV Alfred on Friday afternoon’s following a successful trial in May 2024.

Question reference: S6W-28147

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to extend the scope of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 to cover all public procurement of goods and services.

The Scottish Government cannot extend the coverage of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as it applies to England and Wales only.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 applies a sustainable procurement duty on Scottish public bodies which whilst similar to the general duty found in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, is more far reaching The sustainable procurement duty requires a Scottish public body to consider and act on opportunities to: improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of its area; facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector bodies and supported businesses; and promote innovation.

The legislation in Scotland also includes provisions for oversight, requiring public bodies with an annual procurement spend of £5 million or more to set out in annually reviewed procurement strategies how they will comply with the Act and to publish annual procurement reports setting out how they have complied with their strategies. The content of these reports forms the basis of the Scottish Ministers Annual report on procurement activity in Scotland. For example - Procurement activity: annual report 2021 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-28117

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on colleges of the 4.8% reduction in revenue funding in its Budget for 2024-25, in light of the Scottish Funding Council figures that were issued on 30 May 2024.

Question reference: S6W-28023

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will urgently allocate the reported £450 million of European structural and investment funding, due to be returned to the European Commission by the end of the current financial year, to so-called shovel-ready bids within currently suspended capital programmes, including the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme.

The media reports suggesting that £450 million of European Structural and Investment Funds will be returned to the European Commission by the Scottish Government are wrong. As I stated in Parliament on Thursday 13 June, all projects supported by this funding must have concluded by December 2023 to be eligible. The criteria for projects supported by European Structural and Investments Funds is set by the European Commission - it cannot be used to replace core government funding. For further information, I include a link to the related Scottish Government webpages which provide more detail on how these funds have been administered in Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/policies/european-structural-funds/

Question reference: S6W-28078

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much compensation was paid by CalMac to passengers across all ferry routes in the latest reporting period.

Question reference: S6O-03646

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish National Investment bank is operating legally, in light of reports that the advisory group that was meant to be established by the Scottish Ministers has not yet been established.