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-21178

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by the single-use carrier bag charge in each year since its introduction.

This information is not held centrally.

The Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (legislation.gov.uk) sets out the record-keeping requirements in respect of bags charged for. There is no requirement to report the data to a third party, only to produce the data, if required by the enforcement authority. The overall purpose of the charge is to reduce carrier bag usage rather than generate funds.

Question reference: S6W-21181

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any local authorities have yet to settle any equal pay claims, and, if so, which ones.

As pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as the employer and trade unions representing the local government workforce, the Scottish Government has no role in negotiations in relation to equal pay claims.

Whilst the Scottish Government remains committed to working in partnership with local government to ensure equal pay policies apply across the public sector, the information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information of this nature can be obtained by approaching individual local authorities or COSLA accordingly.

Question reference: S6W-21173

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the next review of fire safety regulations in Scotland will commence.

As referred to in answer to question S6W-21174 on 15 September 2023, the Scottish Government continue to keep the Fire (Scotland) Act (2005), related Fire Safety (Scotland) regulations (2006) and all relevant fire safety guidance under continuous review. 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-21174

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the next review of fire safety regulations in Scotland will incorporate changes that are already in place in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government continues to keep the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, Fire Safety (Scotland) regulations 2006 and all relevant fire safety guidance under continuous review.

The legislative regime relative to fire safety in Scotland is different to that in England and Wales and Scottish Government officials have regular discussions with colleagues across the UK to understand any regulatory or guidance changes made.

Question reference: S6W-20614

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether adoptees records have been made available via the National Record of Scotland's ScotlandsPeople Centre, and what discussions it has had with adult adoptees regarding making records available via the National Record of Scotland's ScotlandsPeople Centre.

No adoption records have been made available via ScotlandsPeople Centre, nor the ScotlandsPeople website.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to provide further reassurance following the removal of index entries to the Adopted Children Register from the ScotlandsPeople website. Relevant entries were removed as a precautionary measure while NRS reviews the way this information was made available.

Question reference: S6W-20655

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund in each year since its creation.

Question reference: S6W-20656

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been retrofitted through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund in each year since its creation, also broken down by local authority area.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat fund has awarded grant for the retrofit of 11,662 homes since its creation in August 2020 and March 31st 2023. The breakdown across financial years and by local authority can be found in the following table:

Local Authority Area	FY 20-21	FY 21-22	FY 22-23	Total
Local Authority Area	FY 20-21	FY 21-22	FY 22-23	Total
Aberdeenshire Council		143	306	449
Angus Council		26	212	238
Argyll and Bute			159	159
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	208		129	337
Dumfries and Galloway	101	397	326	824
Dundee			466	466
East Ayrshire			79	79
East Renfrewshire				0
Edinburgh		56	60	116
Falkirk Council	28		100	128
Fife Council				0
Glasgow City Council	322		7,260	7,582
Highland Council		2	59	61
Inverclyde			90	90
Midlothian			100	100
Moray and Aberdeenshire	61			61
Moray Council	254			254
North Lanarkshire Council		20	249	269
Orkney Islands Council				0
Perth and Kinross		0	111	111
Scottish Borders		36	141	177
Shetland Islands			8	8
Stirling Council	30			30
West Dunbartonshire		26	72	98
West Lothian			25	25
Grand Total	1,004	706	9,952	11,662

Question reference: S6W-20653

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to exempt mid market rent properties from regulations in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

There are currently no plans to exempt mid-market rent (MMR) properties from the requirements in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

As MMR properties are delivered through Registered Social Landlord subsidiary companies and are therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the Scottish Housing Regulator, they require to be offered as a Private Residential Tenancy, meaning households benefit from all of the rights and protections flowing from that tenancy. This includes the current temporary rent cap measures, in place to support tenants during this time of economic uncertainty.

While the focus of the emergency measures is on protecting tenants, the Scottish Government fully recognise that the ongoing impacts of the cost crisis may also be impacting some private landlords. Therefore, MMR providers are able to apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a property, by up to 6%, in order to partially take account of increases in certain prescribed property costs.

Earlier this year the emergency rent cap was expired in relation to the social sector, after discussions led by COSLA, in respect of local authorities, and SFHA and GWSF for Registered Social Landlords, reached an agreed position with their members that would see increases of 6.4% and 6.1% respectively, as an average across Scotland. This voluntary approach to rent setting is intended to equate to an approximate average rent increase of less than £5 per week. Due to rents in the private rented sector being approximately twice as high as in the social sector, a 3% increase in the average rent of a two-bedroom private rented property (the most common size) is broadly comparable in monetary value to the average increase in the social sector.

Question reference: S6F-02371

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to statistics reportedly showing that the number of complaints against Social Security Scotland has increased by 350% in one year.

Question reference: S6W-20657

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to roll out the Winter Heating Payment to households in 2023-24.

As part of our ongoing joint programme for delivery, following the launch of the Winter Heating Payment, Scottish Government officials have been working with counterparts at the Department of Work and Pensions to develop a revised timeframe that will allow payments to be issued earlier in Winter 2023-24 and subsequent years. I will provide a more detailed update to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on this work in due course.

Financial Year	Grant Awarded
2020-21	£8,490,676
2021-22	£5,355,747
2022-23	£38,341,879