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-30651

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what timescale the Scottish Ministers follow for the consideration of all planning applications that they receive.

Scottish Ministers have an initial 28-day period from when an application is notified to them to consider whether to call it in or clear it back to the authority. This can be extended should Ministers require more time to consider the matter. Ministers can also recall an appeal for their own determination and do so in exceptional circumstances.

When an application is called in or an appeal recalled, Ministers aim to issue decisions on cases within 2 – 3 months of receiving the independent Reporter’s report from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division. These are targets, not statutory deadlines, and these timescales can sometimes increase where there are more complex issues involved.

Question reference: S6W-30795

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12859 by Jenny Gilruth on 20 December 2022, what further progress has been made regarding the reform of the Traffic Regulation Orders system.

Question reference: S6W-30754

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessments have been undertaken to determine the cost of cladding remediation across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30753

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in the Lothian region have been identified as requiring cladding remediation.

Question reference: S6W-30752

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in the Lothian region have been identified as having flammable cladding.

Question reference: S6W-30751

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on cladding remediation, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-30650

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 11 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for ministerial decisions to be made after being provided with a report or recommendation from the Energy Consents Unit.

Question reference: S6W-30265

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to achieve the goal of a 20% reduction in car kilometres travelled by 2030.

The Scottish Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament on 18 April 2024 that we will publish, by autumn, the updated route map for reduction in car use by 20%, including a timeline for demand management.

We have always been clear that reaching our target of a 20% reduction in use will require a broad combination of interventions, including infrastructure, incentives and disincentives. The updated route map, produced in partnership with CoSLA, will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-30264

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 9 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to reduce industrial emissions in order to achieve net zero by 2045.

Scottish industry has made good progress in reducing emissions but there is more to do. Reducing industrial emissions is central to Scotland’s net zero commitment and our economic ambitions as outlined in our Green Industrial Strategy.

Realising the environmental and economic opportunities in net zero is a collective endeavour with many policy, fiscal and regulatory levers reserved at the UK level, including for carbon capture and storage which is critical to decarbonise industry. Last week the UK Government announced that £22 billion of funding for carbon capture projects in England, but provided no update on the Acorn Project.

Question reference: S6W-30266

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 2 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to increase peatland restoration in order to achieve net zero by 2045.

Caring for our peatlands, and reducing peatland emissions, through protection, management and restoration is critical to achieving net zero by 2045.

Through the Peatland ACTION partnership we are funding the restoration of our peatlands. We are also working hard with our Peatland ACTION delivery partners to tackle the many barriers to upscaling peatland restoration in this relatively young sector

In addition to interventions on herbivore control as well as other farm management interventions, we are also considering the regulatory and fiscal measures that could further incentivise peatland restoration and create the conditions to keep our peatlands in good condition.

Alongside this, work continues towards implementing a ban on the sale of peat in Scotland and we have established an expert group to develop the guidance and tools needed to inform decisions on windfarm development on peat.