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-24888

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its work on international engagement, what recent contact it has had with the Turkish government, including any requests for meetings from either side, and what plans there are for representatives of the two governments to meet.

The Scottish Government has enjoyed a number of recent engagements with Government of Türkiye on issues ranging from tackling climate change, to boosting trade and investment and increasing tourism and cultural collaboration. This type of international collaboration, recently articulated through the publication of our new International Strategy, will continue to make a substantial, positive impact on the delivery of the Scottish Government’s domestic objectives and on the lives of people in Scotland and internationally.

Question reference: S6W-25477

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23936 by Fiona Hyslop on 10 January 2024, notwithstanding that it has not yet made a decision on the procurement route, whether it has conducted any assessment of the estimated cost difference between the direct award of a contract and a competitive tendering process; when it expects the decision to be made on the procurement route, and when it expects to update the Parliament on the decision.

Question reference: S6O-03149

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT Group/EE regarding the proposed closure of its Greenock call centre.

Question reference: S6W-24736

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of conducting the latest Scottish Household Survey (SHS), and how much it cost to conduct the SHS in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Household Survey costs in the following table cover both the social survey (approximately 10,500 households interviewed per year) and the physical survey (approximately 3,000 residential properties inspected per year). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 3,000 households were interviewed for the 2020 social survey, and the 2020 and 2021 social surveys were carried out by telephone rather than by the usual face-to-face method. There was no 2020 physical survey, and the 2021 physical survey inspections were external only, with information on internal aspects of the property collected from the householder by telephone.

Survey fieldwork year	Cost (excluding VAT)
2014	£1.94 million
2015	£2.01 million
2016	£2.12 million
2017	£2.08 million
2018	£2.47 million
2019	£2.53 million
2020	£1.35 million
2021	£2.48 million
2022	£2.68 million
2023	£2.74 million

Question reference: S6O-03062

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to local authorities from its 2024-25 Budget.

Question reference: S6W-24848

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost is of safety-critical or otherwise vital repairs required on all closed Historic Environment Scotland assets and facilities that are required to be carried out before those assets and facilities can be reopened to the public.

Question reference: S6W-23936

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the procurement process for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme, what assessment it has made of the estimated cost difference to it between the direct award of a contract and a competitive tendering process.

Question reference: S6W-23901

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for the processing of claims at Social Security Scotland.

The most recent Adult and Child Disability Payment statistics show improvement, with more applications being processed in the last quarter than at any time since the benefits were launched – underlining the strong progress Social Security Scotland are making.

The most recent published statistics show the average processing time for Scottish Child Payment and Adult Disability payments had both reduced, but we recognise there is more to do.

It was announced in the budget that we will invest £6.3 billion in social security benefits and payments, over £1 billion more than in 2023-24 – our single biggest increase on record in social security funding.

Social Security Scotland now administers 14 benefits to the people of Scotland, helping deliver our national mission to tackle child poverty and inequality, treating people with dignity, fairness and respect, and ensuring people receive the benefits they are due. 94% of clients rate their overall experience of receiving benefits as good or very good.

Question reference: S6O-02936

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the proposed closure of Paisley, Ferguslie Park, Greenock, Bishopbriggs and Milngavie police stations.

Question reference: S6W-23281

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has requested confidential commercial information from Scotland Excel in the course of 2023, and, if so, what information it has requested, for what purpose, and whether Scotland Excel complied with the request.

As part of our National Mission to reduce deaths and improve the lives of people impacted by drug use, the Scottish Government commissioned Scotland Excel, as the centre of procurement expertise in local authorities, to undertake market analysis and engagement with Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships to consider the different routes available to the Scottish Government for developing a national approach to commissioning residential drug and alcohol services.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government did not request confidential commercial information from Scotland Excel as part of this work in 2023. Any information gathered by Scotland Excel as part of this work was done with the knowledge that this would be shared with the Scottish Government in order to inform the market analysis report. As a result, information such as pricing schedules were shared with the Scottish Government in a confidential manner.