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-20794

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind turbines have been decommissioned in each year from 2014 to 2022.

While the Scottish Government holds some information in relation to the decommissioning of wind turbines it does not hold or collate an overall dataset for onshore turbines. We are aware that one offshore turbine has been decommissioned at Robin Rigg wind farm.

It may be helpful to know, according to the UK Government’s Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) there are two Scottish onshore wind sites in the database recorded as decommissioned and no offshore wind sites. However, the caveat to this data is that the whole site needs to be decommissioned for the development status to change to ‘decommissioned’ in the database.

Question reference: S6W-20796

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total tonnage is of waste resulting from the decommissioning of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind turbines that has been sent to landfill sites between 2014 and 2022.

Question reference: S6O-02492

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the greater use of farm-to-fork methods to encourage domestic food production.

Question reference: S6W-18991

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 27 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement the recommendation by the Auditor General in the report, Early learning and childcare: Progress on delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion, for it to plan how to gather data on demand for both funded early learning and childcare, and childcare paid for directly by parents.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult with parents and carers every two years to ensure that their models of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) meet local needs and demands. The Scottish Government has committed to working with its partners to developing an outcomes and measurement framework for funded ELC before 2025. As part of the development of this framework the Scottish Government will work with partners, including local authorities, to consider the feasibility of gathering national-level data on parental demand for funded ELC or paid-for childcare.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult with parents and carers every two years to ensure that their models of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) meet local needs and demands. The Scottish Government has committed to working with its partners to developing an outcomes and measurement framework for funded ELC ahead of 2025. As part of the development of this framework the Scottish Government will work with partners, including local authorities, to consider the feasibility of gathering national-level data on parental demand for funded ELC or paid-for childcare.

Question reference: S6W-18993

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 29 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when a long-term workforce plan for the early learning and childcare sector will be developed to address any risks to sustainability and to meet future demand.

The Scottish Government is working with partners and practitioners from across the childcare sector to develop a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Early Learning and Childcare, School Age Childcare and Childminding Profession. The Framework will set out the priorities for the profession now, and in the coming years, as well as actions we will take with partners to support a sustainable, diverse and thriving profession. We expect to publish the Framework this summer.

Question reference: S6W-18990

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 29 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the movement of early learning and childcare staff between the public, private and third sectors.

The Scottish Government is proud that there are now an unprecedented 46,260 professionals supporting children and families across Scotland and that those professionals can pursue opportunities to progress and develop fulfilling careers in the sector. The Scottish Government does not have a role in determining the movement of staff between different types of provider.

I am, however, keen that there is a sustainable, diverse, highly skilled workforce to serve the whole childcare sector. That is why we are developing a Strategic Framework for the childcare profession which will set out actions to enhance the attractiveness of childcare roles and support retention of staff.

Question reference: S6O-02435

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Police Scotland’s latest quarterly performance report, which found that there were 1,928 recorded crimes of online child sexual abuse during 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-18988

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the data gaps in the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded childcare, as outlined by the Auditor General in the report, Early learning and childcare: Progress on delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion.

The data gaps identified by Audit Scotland relate to different elements of funded early learning and childcare (ELC). These include workforce movement, the living wage, parental demand, financial data, and the extent to which children with additional support needs are accessing funded ELC. As Audit Scotland note, providing a national overview of ELC data will require action by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other partners.

In relation to data on the movement of childcare staff between different types of provider, the Scottish Social Services Council will be publishing an analysis of staff movement within the Day Care of Children Category before the end of June 2023.

In relation to financial monitoring, the Scottish Government is working to change reporting through local financial returns to produce more detailed information on how much councils have spent specifically on the provision of funded ELC.

For information on action that the Scottish Government is already taking to improve ELC monitoring data in relation to the living wage and children with additional support needs, I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-18994 and S6W-18992 on 21 June 2023.

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-18985

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when a value-for-money assessment of 1,140 hours of funded childcare will be completed.

The Scottish Government will be undertaking an economic evaluation as part of our multi-year strategy for evaluating the impact of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to 1,140 hours on outcomes for children, parents and families. The purpose of an economic evaluation is to compare the value of the outcomes of a policy to the overall costs of that policy, in order to determine the value for money of the programme. Details of the economic evaluation approach were published in section 6 of our Evaluation Strategy published in October 2022. Work on the economic evaluation will begin in 2023 and the final phase of this work is due to be completed in late 2025 – to allow the information from the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) to be used in the economic evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-18982

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reported concerns regarding the fragility of the early years sector.