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-23752

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many wild wrasse were (a) caught, (b) cultivated and (c) used by the aquaculture industry in (i) 2017 and (ii) 2018, broken down by species.

(a) 39.6 tonnes and 38.1 tonnes wrasse were landed in 2017 and 2018 respectively as per the following table. 2017 data has been verified and published whereas 2018 remains provisional.

Year	Species	Weight (tonnes)
2017	Ballan Wrasse	29.8
	Corkwing Wrasse	2.5
	Goldsinny Wrasse	5.4
	Rock Cook	0.3
	Wrasses	1.6
	Total	39.6

2018	Ballan Wrasse	25.5 (P)
	Corkwing Wrasse	4.1 (P)
	Goldsinny Wrasse	5.2 (P)
	Rock Cook	1.1 (P)
	Wrasses	2.2 (P)
	Total	38.1

* (P) = Provisional

(b) 4 tonnes wrasse were cultivated in Scotland in 2017. Data for 2018 will be published later in the year.

Question reference: S5T-01727

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Serco regarding the recent disruption to the Caledonian Sleeper service.

Question reference: S5W-23670

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the procurement for the Reaching 100% programme.

We are determined that R100 programme delivers the best possible value and benefit for Scotland and have designed a procurement process to achieve this. Key to doing so is to ensure a highly competitive process that results in the £600 million funding for this programme delivering on our commitment to provide access to superfast broadband to every home and business in Scotland.

The procurement has therefore been structured, following internal and external advice and statutory and regulatory requirements, with defined dialogue cycles and submission dates. An Invitation to Participate in Dialogue was issued last Spring which resulted in four bidders being short-listed. Following the initial round of dialogue, a request for an extension of six weeks was granted to enable bidders to prepare initial submissions. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged, by one of the bidders, with the National Competency Centre, (managed by the UK Government as State Aid leads) citing a breach of the Code of Conduct by another bidder. This was resolved satisfactorily but resulted in a necessary pause in the procurement with a corresponding six week delay.

Ahead of the next key milestone we were required to provide a revised intervention area (listing all eligible premises). This update was necessary to allow the final stages of dialogue to be based on the most up-to-date picture, taking into consideration commercial coverage plans and changes to planned Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) deployment. Additional premises were added back into the R100 intervention area, in part due to direction from UK Ministers that future Gainshare activity be focused on full fibre solutions. This resulted in greater than expected changes across the country; and bidders requested extensions to enable them to remain in the process and provide competitive bids. We considered these requests carefully and balanced the wish to adhere to our timetable against the risks associated with not allowing bidders more time and our determination to provide the best possible outcome for Scotland.

We have therefore provided the bidders with the extension sought, giving them more time to remodel their solutions. This will see the procurement timeline extended, with the appointment of a preferred bidder or bidders anticipated by the end of September 2019 with contract signature by the end of the year.

Question reference: S5O-03258

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact that Brexit could have on immigration to Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-03236

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in transport infrastructure in the north east in the last decade.

Question reference: S5W-22458

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to extend concessionary bus travel to all 16- to 24-year-olds.

Question reference: S5W-22333

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much is spent per person on (a) agriculture, (b) fisheries and (c) forestry in (i) Scotland, (ii) England and (iii) Wales.

According to the following table from HM Treasury’s ‘Country and Regional Analysis: 2018’ identifiable public expenditure per person in 2017-18 on agriculture, fisheries and food and forestry in Scotland, England and Wales, was as follows.

Spend per person on (a) agriculture, fisheries and food and (b) forestry (£ per person, 2017-18)

	Scotland	England	Wales
Agriculture, fisheries and food	£154	£56	£158
Forestry	£14	£1	£1

Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analyses (CRA), 2017-18

Question reference: S5W-22334

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much is spent per person on environmental protection in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

According to the following table from HM Treasury’s ‘Country and Regional Analysis: 2018’ identifiable public expenditure per person in 2017-18 on environmental protection in Scotland, England and Wales, was as follows.

Spend per person on environmental protection (£ per person, 2017-18)

	Scotland	England	Wales
Environmental protection	£233	£171	£201

Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analysis (CRA), 2017-18

Question reference: S5W-22335

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much is spent per person on (a) health, (b) education, (c) transport, (d) policing, public order and safety and (e) housing and community amenities in (i) Scotland, (ii) England and (iii) Wales.

According to the following table from HM Treasury’s ‘Country and Regional Analysis: 2018’ identifiable public expenditure per person in 2017-18 on (a) health and social care, (b) education and training, (c) transport, (d) public order and safety (including policing) and (e) housing and community amenities in Scotland, England and Wales, was as follows.

Spend per person on (a) health, (b) education, (c) transport, (d) public order and safety (including policing) and (e) housing and community amenities (£ per person, 2017-18)

	Scotland	England	Wales
Health and social care	£2,353	£2,168	£2,310
Education and training	£1,548	£1,304	£1,369
Transport	£667	£475	£410
Public order and safety (including policing)	£497	£441	£437
Housing and community amenities	£365	£145	£228

Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analysis (CRA), 2017-18

Question reference: S5O-03105

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the decision by the UK Government to reject Aberdeenshire Council’s bid for funding from the Local Full Fibre Networks Challenge Fund to improve digital infrastructure.