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 1356 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-07565

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any Chinese state influence or interference in universities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07559

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made and action it has taken to ensure that former Hong Kong residents who resettle in Scotland are not subjected to racism or discrimination.

Question reference: S6W-07560

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to meet with former Hong Kong residents who have resettled in Scotland in order to collect feedback on their experiences.

Question reference: S6W-07558

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it has supported former Hong Kong residents who have resettled in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07566

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic value that Chinese students who come to Scotland to study bring to (a) universities and (b) the national economy.

HESA statistics show that Chinese student enrolment in Scottish universities was 18,555 in AY 2020/21. Tuition fee estimates are calculated using HESA Finance data and are based on the average tuition fee paid by all non-EU students. The estimated tuition fee income from Chinese students to Scottish Higher Education Institutions was around £300 million in academic year 2019/20.

According to a report by London Economics for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) , the average non-EU student in the 2018/19 cohort will have a net benefit to the UK economy of £102,000 over the duration of their studies. The study also shows that international students in Scotland as a whole contributed £2.47 billion to the UK economy. Information on the impact of Chinese students studying in Scotland to the national economy is not available.

Question reference: S6W-07557

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that former Hong Kong residents who resettle in Scotland are successfully integrated into local communities.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting integration of former Hong Kong residents into our communities. We have published a dedicated British National (Overseas) welcome pack, in both English and Cantonese, on our website. On 9 February, we wrote with the Welsh Government to the UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Local Government requesting assurances that promised funding of £2.98m will be provided and that it can be carried forward to subsequent financial years in order to meet any current or future potential support needs. To date, no response has been received.

Question reference: S6O-00960

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it and Police Scotland have undertaken to ensure that police officers have access to additional trained mental health workers.

Question reference: S6W-07561

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07058 by Neil Gray on 14 March 2022, whether it will provide further details of the steps that it has taken to ensure that Hong Kong residents coming to the UK through the British National (Overseas) visa scheme are encouraged to resettle in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00934

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported ongoing shortage of social housing since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-07159

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a public register of all businesses operating within Scottish freeports will be published.

The Green Freeport governance body will need to maintain a record of all the businesses operating, or applying to operate, within the tax site. That record must be kept up-to-date, contain information about the beneficial owner of the business, and be readily accessible to law enforcement agencies, including HMRC and the National Crime Agency.

We are discussing the issue of publication of information by the Green Freeport governance bodies with the UK Government.