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-21173

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual budget is for its office in (a) Toronto and (b) Ottawa.

Scotland Development International (SDI) have had an office in Toronto, Canada’s financial capital, for some time and the Scottish Government has one post located in that office. SDI also has one person co-located in an office in Calgary serving Scotland's oil and gas interests. The Scottish Government has a single team working in Canada and has opened its first Scottish Government office based in Ottawa, where two new posts are located. The annual budget for administration and programme costs for the Scottish Government for Canada is £575k.

Question reference: S5O-02845

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of ScotRail's performance in the Glasgow region.

You will be aware that I instructed officials at Transport Scotland to serve a Remedial Plan Notice to ScotRail because of continued poor performance and expect the Plan to set out how ScotRail will address these issues.

I have also repeatedly stated in the Chamber that, this parliament must be afforded responsibility for Network Rail

The Alliance continues to deliver many initiatives aimed at supporting performance improvement in the Glasgow region with the implementation of a Donovan recommendation for Right Time Departure at Milngavie, this has seen an improvement to performance across the Strathclyde electrics routes.

Question reference: S5W-20649

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many commercial properties the large business rates supplement will apply to in 2019-20, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) business sector.

The estimated number of properties to which the large business supplement will apply for 2019-20, broken down by local authority and property type, are shown in the following two tables.

Estimated number of Non Domestic Properties to which the large business supplement will apply in 2019-20 by Local Authority
Local Authority	Estimated Number of Properties
Aberdeen	2,175
Aberdeenshire	998
Angus	267
Argyll & Bute	275
Clackmannanshire	113
Dumfries & Galloway	405
Dundee City	703
East Ayrshire	283
East Dunbartonshire	209
East Lothian	261
East Renfrewshire	129
Edinburgh, City of	3,127
Eilean Siar	91
Falkirk	484
Fife	1,032
Glasgow City	3,510
Highland	1,104
Inverclyde	195
Midlothian	309
Moray	325
North Ayrshire	355
North Lanarkshire	1,035
Orkney Islands	70
Perth & Kinross	534
Renfrewshire	714
Scottish Borders	321
Shetland Islands	109
South Ayrshire	391
South Lanarkshire	1,029
Stirling	409
West Dunbartonshire	260
West Lothian	789
Scotland	22,011
Source: Assessors' Valuation Roll

Estimated Number of Non Domestic Properties to which the large business supplement will apply in 2019-20 by Property Class
Property Class	Estimated Number of Properties
Shops	5,065
Public Houses	647
Offices	3,635
Hotels	928
Industrial Subjects	4,525
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	943
Garages and Petrol Stations	323
Cultural	163
Sporting Subjects	41
Education and Training	2,105
Public Service Subjects	1,049
Communications	94
Quarries, Mines, etc.	83
Petrochemical	77
Religious	96
Health and Medical	576
Other	385
Care Facilities	807
Advertising	20
Statutory Undertaking	449
Total	22,011
Source: Assessor' Valuation Roll

Question reference: S5W-20648

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much tax revenue it expects will be generated by the large business rates supplement in 2019-20, broken down by local authority.

The following table presents an estimate of the net income raised by the large business supplement in 2019-20 broken down by local authority.

Estimated amount raised by the Large Business Supplement in 2019-20 by Local Authority
Local Authority	Estimated Amount Raised (£ millions)
Aberdeen	£11.9
Aberdeenshire	£5.2
Angus	£1.0
Argyll & Bute	£1.7
Clackmannanshire	£0.7
Dumfries & Galloway	£2.1
Dundee City	£3.0
East Ayrshire	£1.2
East Dunbartonshire	£1.0
East Lothian	£1.1
East Renfrewshire	£0.6
Edinburgh, City of	£16.4
Eilean Siar	£0.3
Falkirk	£3.5
Fife	£7.7
Glasgow City	£16.0
Highland	£6.2
Inverclyde	£0.9
Midlothian	£1.4
Moray	£2.0
North Ayrshire	£1.8
North Lanarkshire	£4.8
Orkney Islands	£0.4
Perth & Kinross	£2.3
Renfrewshire	£6.0
Scottish Borders	£1.4
Shetland Islands	£1.2
South Ayrshire	£1.9
South Lanarkshire	£16.5
Stirling	£1.9
West Dunbartonshire	£4.1
West Lothian	£3.7
Scotland	£129.6
Source: Assessors' Valuation Roll, Local Authority Billing System

Question reference: S5O-02727

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it assists local authorities in providing quality services for the most vulnerable people in society.

Question reference: S5W-20170

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19694 by Kate Forbes on 14 November 2018, how many of the 148 responses to the consultation were not published, broken down by the sector represented.

We received 21 responses from a mixture of individuals and organisations which, at their request, were not published. Without the express permission of the individuals concerned we are unable to provide further information on them. In terms of the responses submitted by organisations: 6 are from the education sector; 2 each are from the property and public sectors; and 1 each from the health, licensed trade, retail and transport sectors.

Question reference: S5W-20172

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what grants it or its agencies have awarded to the 2 Sisters plant in Coupar Angus; on what dates these were given, and what conditions were attached.

On 2 May 2018 the Scottish Government awarded a Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) grant of £1.389 million to 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG), Coupar Angus, towards the cost of new poultry meat processing equipment.

Standard FPMC grant conditions applied - including an obligation on the part of 2SFG to complete the investment and retain the assets on site and for the purposes intended for a period of five years from completion of the project. Ongoing monitoring takes place to ensure the objectives of the project are met - including the creation of an estimated 250 jobs. No claims have yet been paid.

Scottish Enterprise support to 2SFG, Coupar Angus, is shown below:

2016

Resource Efficiency Review, September 2016 - SE provided £14,950 of consultancy support to provide a detailed review of efficiency opportunities onsite, covering waste, water, effluent and energy.

2017

Aid for Environmental Protection grant dated 6 July 2017, as amended on 15 March 2018

• Grant offered: £400,737

• No grant paid to date

• Project to reduce transportation, energy and water to lower the environmental impact of site operations.

• The company is required to create 100 new permanent full-time jobs at the premises.

• The grant is also conditional on the company providing SE with a Parent Company Guarantee and a written report confirming that the project has been successful from an environmental perspective.

• The project is expected to be completed by 31 March 2019. The project jobs and project assets will be required to remain at the premises for at least 3 years following payment of the final instalment of grant.

Training Aid grant dated 6 July 2017

• Grant offered: £384,968

• No grant paid to date

• Support training activities as part of the project to support on-site processing at the Project premises, both to reduce costs and to improve sustainability of the Project Premises.

• This would safeguard the 435 permanent full-time jobs at the premises.

• The grant is also conditional on the company providing SE with a Parent Company Guarantee.

• The project is expected to be completed by 31 December 2019. The jobs will be required to remain in place for at least 18 months following payment of the final instalment of grant.

Question reference: S5W-20192

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what Barnett consequentials will arise from the £675 million Future High Streets Fund, which was announced in the UK Budget.

Question reference: S5W-19827

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will structure safer communities and anti-sectarianism funding in the 2019-20 budget.

We are committed to the creation of a sectarian-free Scotland - a modern Scotland which is not weighed down by the prejudices of the past.

I can confirm that we will be presenting our spending plans for 2019-20 in due course.

Since 2012 we have invested an unprecedented total of £13.5 million in delivering a wide range of activities across a variety of formal and informal settings. This has included the development of Scotland’s first national education resource on tackling sectarianism.

Question reference: S5W-19714

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in advance of the 2020 Euro championships, what discussions it has had with football authorities regarding the alcohol ban at matches.

While we have not had any formal discussions with the Scottish FA on this specific matter, officials engage on a wide range of issues with the football authorities on a regular basis.

We are aware that UEFA has made changes to allow local decisions to be taken on the potential provision of alcohol for matches in the UEFA EURO 2020 Championships, when Hampden will host four matches.

There are no plans to remove the existing restrictions on alcohol at football matches in Scotland.