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: S5W-34095

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, what its position is on whether 11 responses to the consultation on the draft determination can be considered a success.

Question reference: S5W-34094

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission and its indication that it plans to continue with international work, what its position is on whether it is appropriate that the commission permits the use of air travel rewards from such business travel for personal gain, and how this permission compares with advice to civil servants.

Question reference: S5W-34116

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the terms of any loan and repayment requirements given to Business Stream by its parent company, Scottish Water, in respect of support through difficult trading arrangements arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any loan provided to Business Stream will be made by Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings (SWBSH) on arms-length commercial terms, consistent with the Market Economy Investor Principle (“MEIP”) test, based on independent expert advice and benchmarking. The key terms of the loan facility are:

New funding of £59m - £10m of equity, first tranche £24m debt, and second tranche £25m debt.
The first tranche debt will attract an interest cost of SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average) +3%
The second tranche debt will attract an interest cost of SONIA +9%
First tranche debt would be provided before second tranche debt.
All debt is to be repaid within 5 years. The debt is secured by a floating charge over the assets of Business Stream, granted in favour of the lender.

Question reference: S5W-34096

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31954 by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020, whether Scottish business customers are insulated from the costs of any trading losses incurred by Business Stream from its trading activities in England.

The performance of Business Stream in England will have no impact on the wholesale charges levied on Licensed Providers in the Scottish retail market. It is for Licensed Providers to determine the charges that should be levied on their customers but within the constraints of a highly competitive market. WICS also requires Scottish Water under the Governance Code to demonstrate that there is no detriment to Scottish customers from the activities of Business Stream.

Question reference: S5W-34086

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, whether there is any flexibility in the expectation of the level of income to be raised in 2026-27, and whether any expectation is a formal part of the regulatory settlement for the period.

Question reference: S5W-34088

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, whether the general function it has of promoting the interests of persons who might become connected to Scottish Water’s services, is a function that has been given subsequent to the final determination of the 2015-21 period, or existed when that and earlier determinations were made.

Question reference: S5W-34085

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, what the actual split between domestic and business customers of Scottish Water’s income has been in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S5W-34115

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether any loan offered to Business Stream by Scottish Water to assist it to trade as a result of lost business from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, constitutes a State Aid or could otherwise be regarded as an anti-competitive practice by a state-owned company, with a monopoly, operating in a competitive market.

Question reference: S5W-34090

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, whether the interpretation of the duty to set charge caps at the lowest overall reasonable cost interprets cost as being of investment, or to customers.

Question reference: S5W-34092

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the final determination of charges by the Water Industry Commission, what assumptions have been made about cash balances held by Scottish Water at the end of 2020-21, and how those assumptions compare with the outcome set in the 2015-21 final determination.

Scottish Water set out in their 2020 Delivery Plan update that they expected the outturn cash level to be within a range of £120 million to £200 million on conclusion of the SR15 investment delivery. During 2020 their costs and revenues have been significantly impacted by Covid-19 both in the day to day operations and in their investment programme. Scottish Water will provide an update on the forecast costs of Covid-19 and the impact on cash balances on the conclusion of the SR15 regulatory period in their 2021 Delivery Plan which will be published in March. This compares to the 2015-21 final determination assumption of a closing cash balance of £40m.

	Domestic (£m)	Non-domestic wholesale charges (£m)
2010-11	743.493	302.404
2011-12	745.563	294.706
2012-13	750.885	296.663
2013-14	778.809	293.633
2014-15	800.774	289.206
2015-16	820.677	291.502
2016-17	840.021	298.273
2017-18	860.866	320.476
2018-19	881.697	323.568
2019-20	903.673	338.242