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: S6O-04196

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Auditor General’s November 2024 report, Fiscal sustainability and reform in Scotland, which states that “The Scottish Government has not been sufficiently transparent with the Scottish Parliament or the public about the current fiscal situation”.

Question reference: S6F-03677

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is regarding the latest reported concerns on the use of Hikvision CCTV devices by local authorities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03621

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with local authorities regarding the reported impending closure of library facilities across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31659

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much Social Security Scotland has paid each year to claimants who pay (a) no income tax, (b) no more than the (i) starter, (ii) Scottish basic, (iii) intermediate, (iv) higher and (v) advanced rate of income tax and (c) the top rate of income tax.

Social Security Scotland currently deliver 15 benefits. Applicants are not required to declare how much income tax they pay as part of the application process for these administered payments.

Social Security Scotland’s low income benefits are means-tested but assessed based on qualifying benefits received from the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions or HMRC.

Therefore, for those who receive payment from Social Security Scotland, there is no information held on which income tax bracket they belong to.

Question reference: S6W-31276

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring Social Security Scotland undertakes of the impact of Best Start Foods cards.

Social Security Scotland and Scottish Government work together closely to monitor the impact of the devolved benefits.

The impact of Best Start Foods is measured in three ways: the Social Security Scotland Client Survey; the Social Security Scotland Client Panels Survey; and Scottish Government policy evaluation.

The most recent Client Survey findings are published online at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/client-survey-2023-2024 and https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/client-survey-five-family-payments-december-march-2024.

The most recent Client Panels Survey findings are published online at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/annual-client-panels-survey-2023.

In 2022 the initial evaluation of Best Start Foods was published online at https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-best-start-foods/.

A further evaluation of the Five Family Payments is currently underway, which will provide quantitative evidence from a large scale survey of recipients on the impact of receiving Best Start Foods. The evaluation is expected to be published in Summer 2025.

Question reference: S6O-04049

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on the access and exiting arrangements for the underground car park.

Question reference: S6W-31277

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any monitoring of what Best Start Foods cards are used to purchase.

The Best Start Foods card is restricted to stores which sell the eligible foods and is blocked for use in other establishments. The eligible foods are printed on the back of the card.

In line with our principles of fairness, dignity and respect, we do not monitor what people buy with the card. However, the qualitative evidence from the evaluation of Best Start Foods, published on 29 July 2022, suggests that people use their Best Start Foods card mainly to buy cow’s milk, baby formula, fresh fruit and vegetables and that the card enabled mothers and children to eat more healthy foods.

Question reference: S6O-04013

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on this winter’s flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Question reference: S6W-30147

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 11 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25972 by Tom Arthur on 18 March 2024, whether it will provide an updated table that includes figures for 2024-25, broken down by property class.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England, updated to include 2024-2025.

In England, in 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the Standard Multiplier was 51.2p, or 1.3p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p.

In 2024-2025, the Standard Multiplier is 54.6p, or 4.7p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p.

In Scotland, the Higher Property Rate in 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 was 2.6p above the poundage, which was 49p in 2021-2022 (having been temporarily reduced from 49.8p in 2020-2021 in response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19), and 49.8p in 2022-2023, 2023-2024.

The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 51.2p instead of 51.6p in 2021-2022, and 51.2p instead of 52.4p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The Higher Property Rate in 2024-2025 is 6.1p above the poundage, which remains at 49.8p from 2023-2024. The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 54.6p instead of 55.9p.

The figures for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 are presented after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied.

The figures are gross estimates and are not adjusted for any other relief. Figures are broken down by property class, a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, which may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a given property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2021, 1 October 2022, 1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024.

Figures from 30 March 2023 and 1 April 2023 were used to calculate General Revaluation Transitional Relief.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (£), broken down by property class.

Property class	2021-2022 (£)	2022-2023 (£)	2023-2024 (£)	2024-2025 (£)
Shops	3,589,000	10,798,000	8,824,000	9,627,000
Public houses and restaurants	127,000	377,000	317,000	409,000
Offices	2,167,000	6,597,000	6,092,000	7,066,000
Hotels	778,000	2,390,000	2,270,000	2,649,000
Industrial subjects	2,863,000	8,658,000	8,709,000	9,969,000
Leisure and entertainment	600,000	1,814,000	1,873,000	2,206,000
Garages and petrol stations	117,000	341,000	312,000	406,000
Cultural	145,000	408,000	412,000	448,000
Sporting subjects	36,000	113,000	98,000	185,000
Education and training	1,918,000	5,707,000	6,229,000	6,988,000
Public service subjects	895,000	2,614,000	2,505,000	3,038,000
Communications	81,000	197,000	303,000	298,000
Quarries, mines, etc.	34,000	94,000	95,000	121,000
Petrochemical	447,000	1,291,000	1,400,000	1,529,000
Religious	14,000	50,000	50,000	76,000
Health and medical	714,000	2,097,000	2,120,000	2,364,000
Other	352,000	1,045,000	1,102,000	1,537,000
Care facilities	207,000	631,000	704,000	773,000
Advertising	11,000	34,000	39,000	55,000
Statutory undertaking	3,647,000	10,897,000	10,039,000	13,139,000
All	18,743,000	56,152,000	53,493,000	62,883,000

Question reference: S6O-03971

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the hospitality and tourism sectors to promote safety on Scotland’s mountains in winter 2024-25.