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-30434

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with American Axle & Manufacturing, in light of the planned closure of its Glasgow manufacturing site, formerly Albion Automotive, on 4 October 2024, with the reported loss of 100 jobs.

Question reference: S6W-30409

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its submission to the Strategic Defence Review.

Question reference: S6W-30441

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the BP & EnBW enabling (a) crew transfer vessel and (b) service operation vessel fabrication project in the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council Strategic Investment Model.

Question reference: S6W-30385

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the off-peak 15-minute express rail service frequency between Glasgow Queen Street's high level terminus and Edinburgh Waverley will be restored.

Question reference: S6W-30053

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with NHS Tayside regarding access to Scottish Dental Access Initiative grants in Brechin and Montrose, and whether there are plans to review the allowance in this part of Scotland.

Officials meet NHS Boards regularly to discuss local issues, potential solutions and manage risk, which the Director of Dentistry attends. This includes Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) provision in the Tayside area.

The Chief Dental Officer wrote to Health Boards on 2 September 2024, confirming our intention to introduce a more targeted and evidence-based approach to SDAI provision, ensuring those areas with clear unmet need are supported.

Question reference: S6W-30052

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it engages with dental practices in remote and rural areas to understand and respond to the reported challenges that they face, such as recruitment and retention.

As the Health Board makes the arrangements with independent dental contractors and bodies corporate, it is for the Board to have direct discussions with the rural practices.

Each NHS Board has a Director of Dentistry. Officials meet all NHS Boards regularly to discuss local issues, potential solutions and manage risk, which the Director of Dentistry attends.

The Scottish Government also regularly meet with the official representative body, British Dental Association Scotland, to discuss a range of matters including recruitment and retention across rural and island Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30050

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the impact of Scottish Dental Access Initiative grants, and what its position is on whether the funding is supporting NHS dentistry in remote and rural areas.

Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grants are Health Board led and are subject to continuous review.

The purpose of SDAI grants is to provide targeted additional funding to those areas in Scotland where there is clear evidence of unmet need in NHS dental service provision.

The significant national policy intervention was made on the 1st November 2023, to increase fees and make NHS Dentistry more attractive to providers. This clearly benefits and supports NHS dentistry in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-30056

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to expedite the delivery of the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway, in light of it having been two years since publication and the reported delay in implementation having been cited as a concern in the Scottish Veterans Commissioner progress reports in both 2023 and 2024, and, if so, how it plans to do so.

The report from the Scottish Veterans Commissioner recognised the progress made in bringing forward the homelessness prevention provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which builds on the existing strong rights for people who are homeless, including veterans.

The number of homeless veterans in Scotland remains low and homeless veterans are a relatively small proportion (2%) of homeless households. However, we recognise that when veterans do become homeless they may have particular needs and we will continue to work with partners, including Veterans Scotland, both to prevent homelessness and improve housing outcomes for veterans.

Question reference: S6W-30271

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new overbridge at Westerton Lane will have a sufficient span for any future dual tracking of the East Kilbride line south of Busby.

Question reference: S6W-29900

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported claim by Alexander Dennis Limited that zero-emission bus funding has disproportionately benefitted competitors from lower-cost and lower-security economies, citing this as the reason for it starting a consultation regarding a potential 160 redundancies at the business, whether it will revise its social value conditions on public funds being used to subsidise foreign bus manufacturers.

The aim of the most recent phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 2) is to support the implementation of new, innovative business models into Scotland's bus market, so that zero-emission buses become the default choice for operators, and that public subsidy is no longer required. Bus operating companies have the freedom to choose which manufacturers to purchase buses from, as best suit the needs of their routes and operations. Fair Work sits at the heart of our ambition to move toward a wellbeing economy and is central to supporting economic recovery and renewal, and a just transition to net-zero. UK based employees working on delivering the ScotZEB 2 project must be paid at least the Real Living Wage, and have an effective forum for employees’ voices. Suppliers from different countries will operate within different economic, social and legal contexts. The real Living Wage is UK-specific and cannot be applied to workers based in foreign countries. Scottish Ministers are required to comply with the terms of the Subsidy Control Act which prohibits the favouring of domestic over non-domestic manufacturers when offering public subsidy.

Since 2020 the Scottish Government has made available more than £23 million in R&D grant funding to Alexander Dennis Ltd to support the company’s capacity to secure orders for ultra low emission and zero emission buses.