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-10586

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what expectations it has of local authorities regarding the timescales associated with connecting children seeking adoption with families who have applied for adoption.

Question reference: S6W-10585

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how long the process for a family to adopt a child in Scotland should normally take.

There are no prescribed timescales within regulations in Scotland for the adoption process to be completed.

Where adoption is the right route for a child or young person, the Scottish Government want this to happen as swiftly as possible. However, we recognise that the process is complex and involves multi agency working to ensure the welfare and safeguarding of the child. No two cases will be the same and the circumstances of each child need to inform the approach taken, within the context of the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach.

Question reference: S6W-10587

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how long each step of the adoption process should take for children and families seeking adoption through adoption services.

Question reference: S6O-01404

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent ballot for industrial action by members of the Educational Institute of Scotland trade union.

Question reference: S6W-10525

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that charities that normally qualify for water charge rebates, but were involved in dispersing grants in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, have had their turnover artificially inflated to above £300,000, meaning they no longer qualify, and whether it will undertake to provide an exemption in such cases.

The water and sewerage charges exemption scheme is open to charities which have an income of less than £300,000. Eligibility is assessed based on gross income information as obtained from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and there are no disregards in respect of capital grants or restricted income. This position was agreed in light of a public consultation and reflects the fact that in many cases restricted income/capital grants are not clearly set out in annual accounts.

In recognition that restricted income such as grants or asset disposals would elevate, temporarily, a charity’s income, the income threshold for eligibility was increased from £65,000 to £200,000 for full exemption and £300,000 for partial exemption. Setting a higher income threshold ensures that the administrative costs of the scheme are kept to a minimum as there is no need for individual assessments to be made in relation to the nature of the restricted income. Furthermore, as charities are required to submit annual applications, this means that if an organisation does not qualify in one financial year, it will not be prevented from applying in future years should it meet the criteria of the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-10417

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that Scottish Canals has the financial support required to reduce the reported £50 million backlog of repair works to maintain the historic canal network.

Scottish Canals, as with all public bodies, is operating in an unprecedented challenging environment for public funds. Despite this, the Organisation has benefitted from significant increases in both its resource and capital Grant in Aid budget allocations in the last few years. Since 2019, the Scottish Government has increased the Organisation’s capital grant allocation by 87%.

In the last 2 years, and as a consequence of the significant increases in its capital budgets, Scottish Canals has managed to reduce its backlog of works by 20%. This has been achieved alongside significant Scottish Government support for unplanned events such as the Union Canal breach at Muiravonside in 2020. This highlights the importance of the Scottish Government’s support for Scottish Canals.

Question reference: S6W-10414

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will permit Scottish Canals to retain its annual operating surplus in order to continue to sustainably fund long-term and multi-year regeneration projects, such as the Claypits Local Nature Reserve.

Like all Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Scottish Canals has to comply with the requirements of the HM Treasury Consolidated Budgeting Guidance Framework which does not allow for underspends to be carried over financial years.

Scottish Canals is allocated a Grant in Aid budget for the year based on expenditure forecasted by the Organisation and balanced by the income it expects to generate. Any operating surplus that the Organisation generates should be used to reduce the Grant in Aid requirement.

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in Grant in Aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital grant from the Scottish Government has increased by 87% and it has received an annual uplift in resource funding. In addition, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Scottish Canals benefitted from additional funding of £1.7m to meet a reduction in its revenues.

Question reference: S6W-10439

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to expand lived and living experience representation on the National Drugs Mission Oversight Group, given that three of the 20 members are described as lived and living experience representatives.

The National Mission Oversight Group is supported by many areas of expertise including; academics, lived and living experience representatives, international expertise, clinicians and third sector organisations

Three members of the group are specifically appointed as lived and living experience representatives, but we should not presume that other members of the Oversight Group do not have their own lived and living experience alongside their professional expertise and experience they are bringing to the group.

The Group will link in to lived and living experience networks such as the National Collaborative to ensure that the perspective and experiences of living and lived experience are embedded in the work of the Group.

Question reference: S6W-10954

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the current members of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund Investment Panel.

The membership of the panel is agreed between Scottish Government and COSLA and consists of a number of organisational representatives. A list of those organisations and current members is as follows.

Scottish Government David Cowan (Co-Chair)

COSLA Calum Lindsay (Co-Chair)

SURF Scotlands Regeneration Forum Laura Black

Scottish Futures Trust Mhairi Donaghy

Highlands & Islands Enterprise Douglas Cowan

South of Scotland Enterprise Bryan McGrath

Scottish Enterprise Gillian Adam

SOLACE – (Chief Executives) Russell McCutcheon

SLAED (Economic Development) John McCrone

HoP ( Planning) Beverley Smith

Directors of Finance vacant

Question reference: S6W-10451

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Project Neptune report will be published.