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-12519

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, following the major telecommunications outage on Shetland on 20 October 2022 reportedly being caused by a fishing trawler hitting the primary telecommunications cable between the Scottish mainland and Shetland, what evidence it has that the damage was caused in this way; whether it will share all evidence it has, and whether it has ruled out other possible causes.

Question reference: S6W-12138

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the national marketing campaign for the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by type of marketing.

In addition to extensive stakeholder communications already undertaken, the national marketing campaign for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme was launched in autumn 2022. This has helped to increase awareness and understanding of the scheme and encouraged more young people to apply.

The following table provides the national marketing spend (inclusive of VAT where applicable) broken down by type of marketing activity. This spend includes marketing and PR activity undertaken during COP26 between October and December 2021 in addition to the main campaign.

	Spend (as at 15 Nov 2022)
Advertisements TV, TV On Demand, Radio, Digital and Social Media, Outdoor	£581,508
Creative development and production Market research, production and supply, campaign evaluation, web development and maintenance, partnership marketing, etc.	£555,623
Total	£1,137,131

Question reference: S6W-12079

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund will be available.

Question reference: S6W-12077

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations or individuals will be eligible to access the Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund.

That will be for our Local Authority partners to decide.

The £1.4 million Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund was developed acknowledging islands are uniquely exposed to the current cost crisis.

In line with due process, the joint Scottish Government/COSLA Settlement Distribution Group will make recommendations on the allocation mechanism for the funding at their next meeting on 15 November. COSLA Leaders will be asked to give their final sign-off on 25 November.

As soon as possible after that date we will be in a position to share further information. However, we can share that we will allow as much flexibility to Local Authorities as possible and support them to complement existing or new measures where appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-12078

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details regarding the announcement of an Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund.

Question reference: S6W-11788

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many live homeless applications there were in each local authority area on Christmas Day in 2021, and how many (a) adults and (b) children any such applications related to.

Question reference: S6W-11562

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether consideration will be given in the Islands Connectivity Plan to amending the Transport Scotland process for annually opening bookings on the Northern Isles ferry routes, to change this to earlier in the year, rather than November, to allow customers to plan and book travel over the high-demand festive period further in advance.

Question reference: S6W-11672

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) have been carried out relating to Scottish Government (a) bills, (b) policies, (c) strategies and (d) services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11671 on‎ 8 November 2022. You can find ICIAs completed by the Scottish Government on the publications section of the Scottish Government website alongside other impact assessments.

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-11671

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how frequently (a) island local authorities and (b) other relevant authorities have been involved in Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) relating to Scottish Government (i) bills, (ii) policies and (iii) strategies.

Question reference: S6W-11567

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that households with digital landlines are able to contact emergency services and make calls from such landlines in the event of a power cut.

It is important to note that resilience of the Communications Sector, which includes telecommunications and internet, is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is operator-owned and the operators are entitled to replace or remove it, so long as they continue to meet their regulatory obligations.

To ensure that consumers can still make emergency calls during a power cut, Ofcom has placed regulatory obligations on telecoms providers.?

The guidance states that providers must have at least one solution (such as a battery back-up unit or means to connect to a mobile network) available that enables customers to access emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power cut, and that it must be offered free of charge to customers who are at risk as they are dependent on their landline.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage closely with the UK Government and the regulator (Ofcom) for assurance that resilience of the telecoms network in Scotland is a priority.