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: S6T-00915

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported “perfect storm” that the arts and culture sector is facing, in light of reports that organisations such as the Falkirk Town Hall, the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, the Belmont in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh International Film Festival recently entered into administration and the Modern Two art gallery in Edinburgh was forced to close for winter.

Question reference: S6W-11414

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review funding to Museums Galleries Scotland in order to help it support its member organisations during the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-11152

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its current decision-making criteria are for international development spending.

The Scottish Government's decision making criteria for international development spending are as set out in our 2016 Strategy available at Global Citizenship: Scotland's International Development Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). However, we are currently implementing a review of our International Development Strategy following a review in 2021 (full details available at Coronavirus (COVID-19): review of international development programme - International development - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). We are planning to have a revised International Development Programme in place from 2023 which is being guided by the recommendations of the 2021 review. Full details of the new International Development Programme, covering decision making criteria and more, will be made available on gov.scot as these become available.

Question reference: S6W-11154

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish its refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan.

We are working towards publishing the refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan before the end of the year. As part of this, we have been working with the culture sector to identify priority workstreams to support recovery and renewal, taking into account the combined impact of the Covid pandemic, EU Exit, and the cost of living crisis, and are considering the recommendations from the Creative Industries Leadership Group and National Partnership for Culture. We published the Scottish Government’s response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations in September 2022.

Question reference: S6W-11153

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation is carried out following the allocation of international development spending.

Question reference: S6W-11147

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding for the Youth Music Initiative will be secure after March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-11145

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the decision was taken to pause the Youth Music Initiative’s funding as part of the cost of living emergency budget review.

The announcement of the emergency budget review, as noted in the response to question S6W-11144 on 19 October 2022, confirmed a pause to all non-contracted spend, which included the remaining Youth Music Initiative budget.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-11144

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the decision was taken to include the Youth Music Initiative’s funding as part of the cost of living emergency budget review.

Question reference: S6W-11157

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 18 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its scheme to provide free bicycles to children who cannot afford them.

In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021.

The official pilot period for these pilots has now concluded, and a final evaluation is being collated. We expect to receive the evaluation in early November and will be publishing it on the Transport Scotland website thereafter.

Question reference: S6W-11150

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to recruit and retain workers from the rest of the UK, and what targets are in place for any such work, broken down by each industry.

While responsibility for immigration rests with the UK and we are clear the UK immigration system is not working for Scotland’s economy, public services or communities, the Scottish Government will do all we can to attract and retain people in Scotland. Last year we launched Moving to Scotland – an online resource providing information and signposting to people who have just moved to Scotland or who are thinking of moving here. In addition to Moving to Scotland we have committed to launching a Talent Attraction and Migration Service that will attract people to come and live in Scotland, help those moving to Scotland settle into their communities and support employers to navigate the immigration system. We are currently designing the service to ensure it achieves these outcomes and once we have completed this phase, will launch the service during 2023.

Migration from the rest of the UK to Scotland:

Estimates from National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that an annual average of 38,543 working-age (16-64) people have migrated from the rest of the UK to Scotland over the last five years of data (2016-17 to 2020-21).

However, over the same period, there has also been an average annual outflow (from Scotland to other parts of the UK) of 31,585 working age people – an annual average net flow (inflows minus outflows) of 6,958.

As part of our priority National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) action, an Industry Advisory Group for rest of UK (rUK) Talent Attraction, chaired by Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise Minister, Ivan McKee, has been formed to share talent attraction expertise to identify and develop effective approaches to attracting talent from rUK.

The Industry Advisory Group (IAG) has met four times since being established in April 2022. The Group’s membership includes senior leaders from the Life Sciences, Tech / FinTech, Advanced Manufacturing – mechanical and electronics, Financial Services, Space and Renewables sectors, and has identified priority workstreams including; Data, Skills Shortages, Advertising and Marketing, Landing Support and Partner Support, Student Retention and Alumni; and Existing Pools of Talent.