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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 867 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-16720

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial, (b) legal and (c) other costs have been incurred, to date, in the process of nationalising the Caledonian Sleeper rail service.

Question reference: S6W-16592

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15855 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023, by what percentage has rail freight increased in Scotland since March 2018.

While the decision to use rail is for the freight customer and its logistics provider, the Scottish Government has shown leadership in facilitating modal shift to rail with significant investment and innovative regulatory targets for 2019 to 2024 and 2024 to 2029.

The rail freight target is measured in net tonne miles and, due to the commercial nature of freight, tends to vary considerably from year to year. Currently, there has been an overall 7.6% drop in net tonne miles since 2018 due to a general contraction in the markets for various reasons, including the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic and the global economy.

New traffic to rail was 2.9 million net tonne miles in 2019-20 and 48.8 million net tonne miles in 2022-23. This reflects the five new rail freight services which have started in Scotland in the last twelve months including a cross border express logistics services .

Question reference: S6O-02139

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the constitution secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding engagement with the UK Government on a potential return to the Horizon Europe research programme.

Question reference: S6W-16721

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a further breakdown of the budget line for "Support for Active Travel", contained in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, and whether it will explain its rationale for increasing funding from £126.0 million in 2022-23 to £165.3 million in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government budget for 2023-24 for Active Travel is £189.2 million as follows. This is a step change increase from the 2022-23 budget, particularly in capital investment, as we progress towards the commitment to invest at least £320 million or 10% of the transport budget on active travel by 2024-25. This investment has a particular focus on improving the quality and range of active travel infrastructure where people can walk, wheel and cycle safely and confidently; and also funds access to bikes schemes and programmes to encourage more people to use active travel on day to day journeys. In turn these support key priorities in our second National Transport Strategy and second Strategic Transport Projects Review.

Budget Description	2022-23 Allocation	2023-24 Allocation	Percentage Movement
Support for Active Travel – Capital (includes £11.073 m to bring Cycling Walking and Safer Routes up to £35 m)	113.750	152.900	34%
Support for Active Travel – Resource	12.300	12.383	1%
Support for Active Travel Sub-Total	126.050	165.283	31%

Cycling, Walking & Safer Routes – Capital (in local govt settlement line)	23.927	23.927	0%
Active Travel Total	149.977	189.210	26%

Question reference: S6W-16546

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15653 by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023, what (a) monitoring and (b) analysis it has conducted on the impact of road pricing on (i) rural travellers and (ii) those on low incomes.

The demand management research referred to in S6W-16545 considers carefully the analysis of possible equality impacts of demand management options including road pricing, along with potential mitigations such as exemptions, allowances and complementary measures which may be applied to those on low incomes and those living in remote rural areas. Monitoring of potential future road pricing schemes is not possible until if and when such schemes have been developed together with appropriate monitoring and evaluation approaches.

Question reference: S6W-16547

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what preliminary work has been completed on its Car Demand Management framework.

Transport Scotland is taking an evidence-based approach to what might work to discourage unnecessary car travel including learning from what others are doing across the UK and in other countries. We have commissioned research on equitable options for car demand management, referred to in S6W-15653 on 21 March 2023. Using the findings of this and other research, we will work with local and regional partners to develop options and proposals to support the 20% car km reduction target for inclusion within the Demand Management framework. We are now looking at the most appropriate way to review the existing powers conferred on local authorities which can support this objective, to ensure they are fit for purpose for use in the future.

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-16557

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15852 by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023, whether it will publish the minutes of the Bus Taskforce meetings, and, if so, when it will do so.

Question reference: S6W-16549

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the introduction of congestion charges in Scotland’s cities to reduce car use.

Question reference: S6W-16548

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that the publication of its Car Demand Management framework, scheduled for 2025, will come too late to achieve a 20% reduction in car km by 2030.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recognition of the need for urgent action in order to deliver our climate policies and deliver a net zero Scotland by 2045. As outlined in our route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030, jointly developed with COSLA, the scale of the climate challenge means that we need to take forward a broad combination of interventions including infrastructure, incentives and regulatory actions, taking into account the needs of people on low incomes to help ensure a just transition to net-zero.

A key interdependency of the Scottish Government’s approach to demand management and car use dis-incentivisation is the position of the UK Government on the future of motoring taxes. The most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are reserved to the UK Government, who acknowledged in their Net Zero Review that revenues from existing motoring taxes will decline sharply this decade as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxes based on them. However the UK Government has so far consistently failed to set out how they will address this.

The development and publication of the demand management framework by 2025 does not, however, preclude earlier action. Existing legislation provides a suite of options for local authorities to implement according to their local needs and circumstances and Transport Scotland will continue to work with local and regional partners as part of its collaborative approach.

Question reference: S6W-16545

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15653 by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023, when it will publish the research that it has commissioned on exploring equitable options for demand management to discourage car use, including pricing.