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-15436

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the final version of its Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which is currently open for consultation, and whether it will provide an update on its policy of a presumption against new oil and gas developments.

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is open for consultation until 9 May 2023. The final version of the Energy Strategy and Just Transitional Plan will be published once we have conducted a thorough review of the consultation responses and engaged with the full range of stakeholders. The Scottish Government’s position on oil and gas is part of the consultation process and we will provide an update in the final Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. We are not pre-empting responses.

Question reference: S6O-02017

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with its Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, including in relation to expanding free school meal provision.

Question reference: S6W-15227

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported trend of incidents of youth violence in Scotland being filmed and circulated across social media platforms, what action Police Scotland (a) can and (b) will take to ensure that such videos are immediately (i) removed from social media and (ii) investigated, and whether it will allocate funding to create community safe spaces for young people in Scotland who are experiencing bullying.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone lives free from violence, in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.

For Police Scotland to take any action, the uploading images of violence would be deemed criminal if they breached the evidential threshold of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in terms of sharing grossly indecent, obscene, menacing character or offensive messages etc.

The removal of offensive content is the responsibility of the social media platforms themselves and can be done by users flagging the content as breaching the community guidelines/terms and conditions. There are report/removal tools operated by Police Scotland’s partner organisations to remove content from the internet, however these are generally aimed at indecent images.

We are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement, an increase of over £793 million compared with the 2022-23 budget. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate financial resources available to them, including on youth services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-15468

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people currently employed in the public sector are paid at least £10.90 an hour or an equivalent salary.

The Scottish Government has supported payment of the real Living Wage in our Public Sector Pay Policy since 2011. Data from the 2022 Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE) shows that 97.6% employees in the whole Scottish public sector (devolved and reserved) earn at least Real Living Wage or more. The recent increase to the real Living Wage to £10.90 per hour should be applied as part of public sector pay settlements from April 2023. The 2023 ASHE data (expected to be released in October / November) will show the proportion of employees who are paid the £10.90 Real Living Wage in the Scottish Public Sector.

Question reference: S6W-15463

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the independent report of the detailed analysis of the future prospects for the North Sea and how Scotland's energy activity aligns with its climate change commitments, as referred to in the Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which is currently open for consultation.

The analysis was published on 3 March and can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-system-transition-independent-analysis/ .

This publication is an independent report, reviewed by an independent panel, which provides a significant volume of evidence and analysis and will contribute to our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in energy transition. To allow stakeholders to fully consider this material before responding, the consultation period for the draft ESJTP has been extended by 5 weeks, and will now close on 9 May.

Question reference: S6W-14878

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Priority Action to 2030 in its draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045, to continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes, adequately reflects the goals and targets for species recovery in the outputs from the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and whether it will increase the ambition and priority given to targeted species recovery programmes in its draft strategy.

The Priority Action in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes’, is one of several actions that supports the recovery and protection of vulnerable species in Scotland, and will help us to meet Goal A and Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are committed to continue protecting vulnerable species, and are determined to step up our ambition in taking action to support nature-friendly farming, fishing and forestry, and to expand, restore and connect existing protected areas, to ensure high quality landscapes for all species across Scotland to thrive, and adapt to our changing climate.

Question reference: S6W-15155

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14330 by Lorna Slater on 8 February 2023, when it anticipates that Zero Waste Scotland's urgent review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes will report.

Question reference: S6W-14639

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) energy companies and (b) their representatives on issues regarding the force-fitting of prepayment meters.

While policy on energy markets is a matter reserved to the UK Government and the responsibility for supplier guidance sits with Ofgem, the Scottish Government opposes the forced installation of prepayment meters, which increases the risk of self- rationing and self-disconnection. The additional costs associated with prepayment meters also lead to increased debt.

We are engaging with Ofgem regarding its request to suppliers to immediately halt forced installations and remote switching to prepayment meters until 31 March 2023, as well as its consultation on the rules and guidance on the use of prepayment meters by suppliers. We will use this engagement to ensure that the rights and interests of Scottish consumers are fully considered.

Last year, the First Minister chaired two energy summits which were attended by energy suppliers. We continue to build upon the progress made at these summits, and are looking to suppliers for assurance that they are exploring all possible options to support struggling customers, especially those living in vulnerable circumstances.

Question reference: S6W-14603

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on proposing parliamentary business on days when strike action is being taken by workers in the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-15078

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the compatibility of the forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020.

The Scottish Government has been following the agreed process for excluding the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) regulations from the Internal Market Act and it has been the subject of discussion with UK Government for many months.

Our original proposal back in 2021 was for an exclusion for both single use plastics and DRS to avoid duplication of effort. This was rejected by UK ministers, resulting in a narrow exclusion for single-use plastics only, and the ongoing process since October 2022 to secure a specific DRS exclusion.

On 28 February 2022 we published correspondence between the Scottish Government and UK Government on this and the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister to seek the UK Government’s continuing constructive support in finalising the terms of an exclusion where it was needed. You can access the correspondence here: Internal Market Act: correspondence - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .