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-26581

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy has taken, since entering her post, to implement the recommendations of the New Deal for Business Group.

Question reference: S6W-26580

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which of Scotland’s trade unions the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy has met with since entering her post, and when.

Question reference: S6W-26582

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy has taken, since entering her post, to set up the Small Business Unit.

Question reference: S6W-26584

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22036 by Neil Gray on 19 October 2023, what action it has taken in relation to its commitment to improve its collection and reporting of data on how women are supported by Scotland’s business support systems and how its actions are closing the gender gap and widening participation in entrepreneurship.

Question reference: S6W-26086

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 25 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support, including for (a) start-up costs, (b) introduction payments and (c) marketing support and promotional campaigns, (i) it and (ii) VisitScotland has paid, or allocated, to airlines since 2017, broken down by the (A) airline and (B) route.

Transport Scotland, VisitScotland and Scottish Development International work as one Government team to help Scotland’s airports grow international connectivity.

In the case of target routes and strategic markets, support takes the form primarily of collaborative marketing activity. Transport Scotland and VisitScotland invest together in a programme of marketing activity delivered primarily by VisitScotland and in collaboration with the airline concerned. Where the airline elects not to invest cash in this activity, the collaboration may take the form of in-kind support. We do not provide support for start-up costs or introduction payments.

All relevant airlines serving Scotland benefit from the increase in awareness and demand generated by VisitScotland’s own core destination campaigns in key markets which include the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, China. Additionally, and providing specific support to those airlines returning to Scotland post-pandemic, Transport Scotland and VisitScotland funded a Fly Direct campaign in the spring of 2022, promoting all airlines serving Scotland’s airports direct from these markets plus the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Australia. In the spring of 2023 and of 2024, VisitScotland has continued to include direct access messaging in its campaigns with partners including Expedia and Skyscanner.

For reason of commercial sensitivity it is not possible to itemise each route and the level of support provided, but the net investment by Transport Scotland and VisitScotland, including with that of specific fly direct campaign activity, is provided in the following table.

	Transport Scotland /VisitScotland net investment
2023-24	£518,000
2022-23	£273,000
2021-22	£1,010,000
2020-21	£45,000
2019-20	£189,000
2018-19	£700,000
2017-18	£974,000
2016-17	£436,000

Question reference: S6W-26080

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how progress towards the 58 actions published in its The Entrepreneurial Campus report will be monitored, and when any progress report will be published.

The Scottish Government has been progressing delivery of the 10 year Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint through integration with existing policies. This includes brokering new partnerships between Techscaler and key universities, aligning with the National Innovation Strategy, 13 funded projects via the Ecosystem Fund as well as a £5.5m uplift to the University Innovation Fund. These activities will be monitored and reported on through existing mechanisms as well as case studies to demonstrate the use of the uplift.

Question reference: S6W-26071

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24181 by Neil Gray on 16 January 2024, how many jobs it anticipates will be created as part of the £500 million commitment to offshore wind supply chains.

Offshore wind was highlighted by the First Minister’s Investor Panel as the single most important opportunity for attracting capital to Scotland and raising Scotland’s wider investment profile. Our up to £500m strategic investment will stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of our world-leading offshore wind sector. It is key to unlocking the commitment made by ScotWind developers to invest an average projection of £1.5bn into Scotland per project.

We will ensure we invest this capital in the projects that are going to help us deliver our priorities and bring maximum economic impact – supporting market certainty, helping to create a highly productive, competitive economy, providing thousands of new jobs, embedding innovation and boosting skills.

It is widely accepted that offshore wind represents a significant opportunity to create thousands of good Scottish jobs. Based on the evidence available and assumptions made in individual studies, a range of economic impact from offshore wind deployment in Scottish Waters could be set at 10,400 jobs – 54,000 jobs.

We also want to ensure a just transition that takes our existing skilled workforce and supply chain with us. We will drive forward offshore wind skills development – working with stakeholders to focus on the opportunities for diversification and skills transfer from our oil and gas sector, in line with our commitment to a Just Transition.

Question reference: S6W-26079

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the innovation scorecard, which is part of its National Innovation Strategy, will be published.

The National Innovation Strategy included an action to publish an annual innovation scorecard. These key metrics will enable us to track our progress towards becoming one of the most innovative small nations over the next decade.

The framework for the scorecard, showing current performance, was published as part of the Strategy document in June 2023. The next iteration of the scorecard will be published later this year, when the full set of latest statistics and indicators become available.

Question reference: S6W-26069

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what metrics will be used to evaluate Investment Zones, and how often progress will be monitored.

The Scottish Government is working collaboratively with the UK Government to establish a monitoring and evaluation framework to cover the Investment Zones in Scotland.

The information and metrics included within the framework will be determined by the detailed proposals provided by the Regional Economic Partnerships in Glasgow City and North East Region. The proposals are currently in progress, but will focus on the overall policy goals including innovation and fair work, and will link to the outcomes set out in the Investment Zones Technical Document , published on 8 December 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26070

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of interventions that have been implemented in Scotland's two Investment Zones to date.

The Scottish and UK Governments are collaborating with the Regional Economic Partnerships for the Glasgow City Region and the North East of Scotland, as they develop compelling and complementary propositions for Scotland’s two Investment Zones. The proposals are still in development, but once finalised they will provide detail of sector, geography, and chosen interventions. We expect to have more information when that process completes.