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-25234

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the ScotRail consultation on alcohol on trains will be completed, and when a decision will be made on reallowing alcohol at certain times.

Question reference: S6W-25261

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has done any modelling of any increase of HGV vehicles on the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, in light of Cromarty Firth being awarded freeport status.

The Scottish Government has not done any modelling of any increase in HGVs on the A96 as a result of the Cromarty Firth Freeport announcement. However, the areas currently proposed for development as part of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport largely align with those that were allocated for development in the 2015 Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan. The A96 Corridor Road Assignment Model (CRAM) which is the transport model applicable to this stretch of road, was last updated in 2019 and includes these allocations.

Question reference: S6W-25262

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it anticipates that all of the Class 43 High Speed Trains (HSTs) will be replaced.

Question reference: S6O-03126

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the results from Police Scotland’s Proportionate Response to Crime pilot in the north east will be published.

Question reference: S6W-25251

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs have been created in the renewables sector in the (a) Aberdeen City and (b) Aberdeenshire Council area in each of the last five years.

Statistics from the ONS Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey provide estimates of renewable employment statistics in Scotland. No data is available to provide additional geographic breakdowns below the Scotland level at present.

As the following table shows, the estimated number of direct jobs in renewable electricity was 9,200 in 2021, up from 5,600 in 2017.

Employment (Full-time equivalent)	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Scotland	5,600	5,400	5,400	6,500	9,200

The LCREE estimates presented in the table above are survey-based and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty.

Question reference: S6W-25269

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the final Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will be published, in light of the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan being published on 10 January 2023.

Question reference: S6F-02845

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government still has a policy of a presumption against any new oil and gas licences.

Question reference: S6W-25138

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding properties that cannot reasonably be retrofitted to allow for a heat pump to work efficiently, what decarbonised options will be available to (a) such properties in general and (b) the estimated 40,000 of the 170,000 off-grid homes in Scotland that are not suitable for a heat pump.

Our Heat in Buildings Strategy recognises that different buildings will require different clean heat solutions and that some properties may have fewer technology options available as a result of location and property type, impact on the fabric of historic buildings and electricity grid capacity. As such, our live consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill takes a technology-neutral approach. Alongside air and ground source heat pumps, we foresee heat networks and direct electric heating systems playing a role in the clean heat transition.

Our proposals also recognise that as a renewable, and potentially net zero energy source, bioenergy may represent the best option to help decarbonise some homes for which clean heating systems are not suitable. We also want to ensure that owners who have taken the proactive step of installing renewable bioenergy systems are fairly treated. This is why, in addition to permitting extra time for those currently using bioenergy to meet the clean heat element of the Standard, we are seeking views on whether a more flexible approach to the use of bioenergy under future regulations is needed. We would need to balance this flexibility with the need to protect and ensure the supply of bioenergy in other sectors of the economy that also rely on bioenergy to remove emissions.

Question reference: S6W-25272

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the value of oil and gas exports, as a percentage of Scotland’s total exports, has been in each financial year from 2014-15 to date.

There are no statistics available on Scotland’s total exports including oil and gas on a quarterly or a financial year basis. On a calendar year basis, the latest available official statistics in development (previously known as experimental statistics) include estimates up to 2021.

	Exports of oil and gas as a percentage of total exports
2014	21.5%
2015	16.7%
2016	15.1%
2017	17.5%
2018	22.2%
2019	20.1%
2020(provisional)	15.1%
2021(provisional)	22.0%

Source: Supply and Use Satellite Accounts for Extra-Regio Activities: 1998-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (28 June 2023), calculations based on data from Table 1

Question reference: S6W-25252

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on safety improvements at the A90 Toll of Birness junction since 1 April 2017.

The Scottish Government has spent £67,232 on the construction of safety improvements on the A90 Toll of Birness junction since 1 April 2017. These safety improvements have been delivered through Transport Scotland’s Trunk Road Casualty Reduction programme of works. This spend was primarily associated with the provision of three vehicle activated signs (VAS) recommended from previous safety studies. Two signs were erected in 2017 with a third sign to supplement the northbound VAS erected in 2021. Other work involved the provision of an additional northbound advance direction sign.

This spend does may not include some elements of wider spend across the North East Operating Company Unit as it is not possible identify those that relate specifically to the A90 at this location.