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: S6W-02409

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost was to the SQA of implementing the Alternative Certification Model for (a) 2020 and (b) 2021.

I asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply.

Initial modelling indicates that 53% of SQA’s running costs (permanent SQA staff, overheads and other indirect costs) were attributable to the implementation of the Alternative Certification Model (ACM) in 2020 and 56% are attributable to the implementation of the ACM in 2021. Including direct delivery costs, the cost of the ACM was therefore:

(a) 2020: £33.4m

(b) 2021: £41.7m (forecast)

The SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged to independent schools and colleges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs. In addition, 2020 and 2021 late entry fees have been waived and there have been no charges for appeals.

Savings generated by the delivery of the ACM in place of an ordinary exam diet reduced SQA’s grant-in-aid requirement from Scottish Government, and enabled support for other critical pressures, supporting people and communities during the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-02408

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost was to the SQA of implementing the 2019 diet of examinations.

I asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply.

Initial modelling indicates that 60% of SQA’s running costs (permanent SQA staff, overheads and other indirect costs) were attributable to the implementation of the 2019 exam diet. Including direct delivery costs, the cost of the 2019 exam diet was therefore £52m.

The SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged to independent schools and colleges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs.

Question reference: S6O-00153

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to support outdoor education.

Question reference: S6O-00098

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on addressing concerns regarding the wellbeing of young people following the impact of COVID-19.

We have invested significantly in additional mental health and wellbeing support for since the beginning of the pandemic, including £11.25 million of dedicated funding for local authorities to address the wellbeing impacts of the pandemic on children and young people.

We have also allocated £15 million this year to fund local authorities to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people in their communities.

I am sure the member will join me in welcoming this substantial investment, which equates to an additional £3.7 Million for Mid Scotland and Fife, and has resulted in over 200 new and enhanced supports and services for children and young people across Scotland so far.

£15m was also provided to local authorities and up to £5m to national organisations across Scotland to deliver the Summer Offer for children and young people, “ Get into Summer ” providing opportunities for children and young people to socialise, play and reconnect.

More generally, the wellbeing of young people is central to our work with schools, colleges, universities and employers; both in terms of access to support and facilitating positive pathways through the Young Person’s Guarantee.

Question reference: S6O-00111

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Rural Housing Fund.

Question reference: S6W-01612

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 30 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report, The Economics of Biodiversity, which was published by the UK Government in February 2021, what steps it (a) has taken and (b) will take to ensure that Scotland's demands on nature do not exceed nature’s capacity to supply.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss is unwavering. Many of the points made in the Dasgupta review align closely with our existing approaches, and with our Wellbeing Economy, Inclusive Growth and Green Recovery, and “four pillars” approach to economic development. The Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party have agreed to work together to develop a new Natural Environment Bill which will put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including statutory targets for nature restoration.

Our Environment Strategy and our Statement of Intent on biodiversity published in December 2020 fully recognise the value of nature and the essential services and benefits it provides to Scotland’s people. The Statement of Intent signals our ambitions for biodiversity in Scotland, and commits Scotland to development of a new biodiversity strategy within 12 months of COP15. It also commits us to:

Endorsing the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, launched at the UN General Assembly in September which commits signatories to reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, sending a united signal to step up global ambition for nature, climate and people.
Extending the area protected for nature in Scotland to at least 30% of our land area by 2030.
Ensuring that National Planning Framework 4 works to secure positive effects for biodiversity.
Increasing ecological connectivity through support for locally-driven projects.

In July 2021 we launched the Nature Restoration Fund, which provided an additional £10 million capital funding for projects that will restore nature, safeguard wildlife and tackle the causes of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Question reference: S6W-01615

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report, The Economics of Biodiversity, and of the urgency of protecting and restoring nature, whether it will provide an update on its work towards a new biodiversity Strategy.

In recognition of delays in the negotiation of a new post-2020 global biodiversity framework and associated targets as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government published a high-level Statement of Intent on biodiversity in December 2020. This statement signalled our ambitions for tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, and included a commitment to publish a new biodiversity strategy within a year of CoP15. That is now scheduled to take place in October 2021 in Kunming, China. The strategy will take account of the Dasgupta review alongside a range of other evidence, as well as the new global biodiversity framework, goals and targets and also the emerging EU biodiversity strategy.

The Statement of Intent can be read in full at: www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-biodiversity-strategy-post-2020-statement-intent/pages/1/ .

Question reference: S6W-01611

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will respond to the findings of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report, The Economics of Biodiversity, which was published by the UK Government in February 2021.

Question reference: S6W-01554

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) on what basis it took the decision to align close-contact services with non-essential retail for the purposes of the business restart grants, (b) what financial analysis was conducted to inform that decision, (c) how much it would have cost to align close-contact services with businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector, and (d) how much extra funding has been provided in restart grants to businesses that restarted after the 26 April 2021.

Close contact and retail premises and other sectors were aggregated from December 2020 in the context of payments of the Strategic Framework Business Fund and thereafter for top-up payments, and that was carried forward to the restart grants paid in April 2021, not least because close contact services tend to operate from adapted retail premises.

It is not possible to provide a definitive costing of the financial implications of increasing the levels of restart grants for close contact businesses. Initial analysis of potential costs was based on estimates of the numbers of close contact services premises developed by Scottish Government analysts, supplemented by further information on close contact service business numbers provided by individual Local Authorities. This analysis suggested that the costs of increasing grant rates for close contact services to those paid to leisure and hospitality premises could have been of the approximate order of an additional £20 million, over and above the package of financial support provided as part of the broader set of restart grants. However, this cost is an estimate, influenced by eligibility criteria, assumptions on uptake, and by information held by individual Local Authorities on the characteristics of the broader retail sector recipients of business support administered by them.

Restart grants were paid in April only.

Question reference: S6W-01613

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s, The Economics of Biodiversity, that measures of economic success must be changed to guide Scotland towards sustainability, or risk endangering the prosperity of current and future generations, what work it is doing to develop alternative metrics of economic success as alternatives to GDP.

We are developing a cross-government framework, the Wellbeing Economy Monitor, to be published later this year. This work is grounded in Scotland’s National Performance Framework, to track progress towards our outcomes beyond GDP. It includes developing the four capitals approach to ensure we take a longer-term view and are able to join up effectively across Government, noting the inter-dependencies across the social, economic, human and natural capitals.

The National Performance Framework also contains a diverse range of measures of success including a new biodiversity indicator.

We also need to take account of the impact of our economy on nature in other countries. Zero Waste Scotland’s material flow accounts ( https://zerowastescotland.org.uk/research-evaluation/material-flow-accounts-mfa ) is an example of this.