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-20634

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect the Scottish wildcat population that is living in the wild.

The multi-partner Scottish Wildcat Action project, funded primarily by the Heritage Lottery Fund and led by Scottish Natural Heritage, has largely focussed on protecting wildcats in the wild. It primarily is working in a small number of Priority Areas where populations of wildcats have previously been identified. Other elements of the Wildcat Action project include a conservation breeding programme.

Project staff have worked with large numbers of volunteers to undertake extensive surveys to identify the number of remaining wildcats in the priority areas. Staff and volunteers have also undertaken sustained programmes to catch, neuter and vaccinate feral cats to reduce threats to Scottish wildcats of hybridisation with domestic cats (including pet domestic, feral domestic and hybrid cats), and the transmission of diseases such as Feline Leukaemia (FeLV) and Feline Aids (FIV).

The project team is focussing its efforts this winter on trying to capture wildcats present in three of the current priority areas (Strathbogie, Angus Glens, and Morvern) to enable closer assessment of pelage as well as genetic testing, and so that they can be fitted with remote-download GPS collars. These collars will allow the project to actively target conservation actions around these remaining individual wildcats and generate information to inform a future population reinforcement exercise.

The project will continue to neuter non-wildcats detected in the course of this winter work and liaise with land managers and cat owners to ensure risks to remaining wildcats are reduced.

In tandem with this, and as the end of the current project in March 2020 approaches, Scottish Wildcat Action is reviewing the future conservation needs of wildcats in Scotland. This is being informed by experience, the data gathered during the project and best international practice.

Question reference: S5W-20762

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 21 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in reducing youth unemployment through the Developing the Young Workforce Programme.

We committed to reporting annually on the progress of the Developing the Young Workforce programme and the fourth progress report was published on 21 December. The report can be found at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781787814486 .

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise the education of our young people, ensuring they have the skills and knowledge required to reach their full potential, both in their careers and their wider lives, and through DYW, we continue to prepare young people for the world of work, for both current and future labour markets.

We continue to meet the programme’s headline target of reducing youth unemployment by 40%, and see more young people than ever undertaking apprenticeship opportunities. As we move into the final years of the progress, we are determined to build on this progress, and seek to do more to support those young people who have difficulty engaging with the education and skills system .

Question reference: S5O-02650

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the rebuilding of the Clyde and Broomhill primary schools, what progress has been made with the rebuilding of Blairdardie Primary School.

Question reference: S5O-02617

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether aid from its Humanitarian Emergency Fund provided to people living in Hudaydah, Yemen, has been able to reach civilians caught within zones of fighting.

The Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund awarded Mercy Corps £100,000 to provide timely and dignified access to clean water services for 6,000 conflict-affected families in Yemen.

Mercy Corps updated us that the families who had been assisted and settled in Al-Durayhimi District, Hudaydah Governorate were forced to flee again, to neighbouring districts where Mercy Corps again provided them with clean drinking water. An estimated 3,000 families were forced to flee for a third time to another neighbouring district due to a renewed military offensive, where Mercy Corps again provided clean drinking water.

Question reference: S5F-02805

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2018

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that there have been more than 500 nuclear safety events at Faslane since 2006.

Question reference: S5O-02592

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, following his two-week inquiry into rising levels of poverty and the consequences of austerity measures.

Question reference: S5O-02534

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on next month's completion of the roll-out of Universal Credit full service.

Question reference: S5O-02501

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage local sourcing across public sector catering.

Question reference: S5O-02447

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it is collaborating with third sector organisations and other partners to tackle food insecurity.

No one should be hungry in a country as prosperous as Scotland. The Scottish Government are working with a number of third sector organisations and other partners to respond to and tackle the root causes of food insecurity.

In our Programme for Government, we committed to increasing our Fair Food Fund from £1.5 to £3.5 million in 2019-20. This Fund currently supports 34 community food organisations, including 13 food banks to develop dignified and rights-based responses to food insecurity.

In addition to this, our £20 million Empowering Communities Fund comprises a number of targeted funds and programmes that support community-led Regeneration, including projects that tackle food insecurity.

Question reference: S5W-18652

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much music tourism has contributed to the economy in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

UK Music Trust conducts an annual survey of the contribution of live music to the UK economy, including Scotland, in its “Wish you were here” survey. Surveys have been carried out from 2013-2017. Surveys are available through its website at https://www.ukmusic.org/ .

Information held by VisitScotland for music tourists from outside Scotland to events which it has sponsored shows provides the following figures in each of the last financial years:

Financial Year	Net economic return from outside Scotland (£m)
2013-14	17.8
2014-15	32.1
2015-16	13.6
2016-17	7.0
2017-18	7.4