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: S5W-12420

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many parliamentary questions it has answered regarding exempting (a) Police Scotland and (b) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from VAT, and returning the money paid; how many letters it has sent to the UK Government on the matter; how many times it has asked to meet UK ministers to discuss this, and how many of these requests were granted, and how many (i) ministerial speeches and statements have been made and (ii) news releases it has issued.

Scottish Ministers have raised the unfair treatment of police and fire VAT with their UK counterparts on numerous occasions face to face.

The amount of unrecovered VAT incurred by the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service between April 2013 and March 2017 was in the order of £140m. This could see a cost to the Scottish public purse of £280 million by the end of the current parliamentary session in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government has answered six parliamentary questions regarding the ability of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to recover VAT.

There have been four oral parliamentary questions raised on this matter. For reference, these are:

S50-01080. Answered on 07 June 2017.
S50-00719. Answered on 01 March 2017.
S50-00345. Answered on 16 November 2016.
S40-04412. Answered on 03 June 2016.

There have been two written PQs. For reference, these are:

S5W – 09050. Answered on 12 May 2017.
S4W – 04819. Answered on 12 January 2012.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Thirteen letters have been sent to the UK Government. Of these, six contained requests for meetings, five of which were consented to by the UK Government. One request was rejected as it fell during a pre-election period.

The thirteen letters included:

07 June 2012. Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Justice to Chancellor of Exchequer.
21 June 2012. Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Justice to Exchequer Secretary to Treasury.
28 November 2014. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to the Chancellor of Exchequer.
03 March 2015 Letter from Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland.
09 March 2015. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to the Chancellor of Exchequer.
01 November 2015. Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Justice to Home Secretary.
20 November 2015. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to the Chancellor of Exchequer.
08 January 2016. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to Chief Secretary to Treasury from DFM.
14 February 2016. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to the Exchequer Secretary to Treasury.
17 March 2016. Letter from Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to Chief Secretary to Treasury.
12 November 2016. Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
10 February 2017. Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution to the Chancellor of Exchequer.
12 November 2017 Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

We do not routinely hold information in relation to references made to Police and Fire VAT during ministerial speeches and statements.

The Scottish Government issued two news releases on this issue on 14 February 2017 and 1 August 2017.

Question reference: S5O-01422

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve connectivity in the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency.

In addition to the coverage provided by commercial suppliers, the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme has now provided fibre broadband access to 2,435 premises in the Edinburgh and Northern and Leith constituency, that would not otherwise have been covered. The vast majority of these premises are capable of accessing speeds of 24 megabits per second and above.

The Scottish Government has also made a commitment, unique within the UK, to deliver 100% superfast broadband access across Scotland by 2021. Any home or business that will not have superfast broadband delivered commercially or through programmes such as DSSB will be eligible for investment.

Question reference: S5W-11620

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to local authorities to help development of autism (a) strategies and (b) action plans.

The majority of the funding the Scottish Government provides to local government is by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resource available to it according to local needs and priorities. This includes the £1.12m given in the financial year 2012/3 as part of the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

The Scottish Government intended that the £35,000 given to each local authority would support the development of local autism strategies and associated actions plans. Alongside this the Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Strategy Mapping Report, which can be accessed here http://www.autismstrategyscotland.org.uk/strategy/key-documents.html. One of the aims of this project was to provide each local authority with a ‘service map’ of their area, to in turn inform the development of the their local autism action plans and strategies.

The Scottish Government has funded a National Co-ordination Team based in Strathclyde University to support the Scottish Autism Strategy’s implementation at a local level. We appreciate that localities are at different stages in developing autism services to meet local need.

Question reference: S5O-01352

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group.

Question reference: S5W-11265

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5O-01280

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase social housing in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S5W-10808

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Scottish Expert Advisory Panel on the Collaborative Economy and its potential to regulate short-term let properties marketed through platforms such as Airbnb.

The Scottish Expert Advisory Panel on the Collaborative Economy is considering a number of themes including peer to peer accommodation, which was discussed at their meeting on 21 June 2017. The panel are due to present their conclusions and any recommendations to Scottish Ministers by the end of the year.

To ensure an open and transparent process, papers and minutes are published at. https://beta.gov.scot/groups/scottish-expert-advisory-panel-collaborative-economy/

Question reference: S5W-10567

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the power to implement rent pressure zones will come into force.

Question reference: S5W-09975

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have come to Scotland through the Syrian Resettlement Programme.

Scotland has welcomed over 1,800 people under the UK Government's Syrian Resettlement Programme since October 2015.

Official statistics for the Syrian Resettlement programme are published quarterly by the Home Office. The latest set of statistics was published on 25 May 2017 and covered the period to 31 March 2017. Those statistics show that from October 2015 to March 2017, 1,661 Syrian refugees arrived in Scotland under the Programme.

Question reference: S5W-09536

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support refugees living in Scotland to enrol at university.

Students or prospective students living in Scotland who have been granted refugee status, or another form of asylum (such as Humanitarian Protection), are eligible to apply to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for payment of their tuition fees and financial help towards living-costs. This support is available for those who are, or aim to be, engaged in higher education at a university or college in Scotland.

In addition to free tuition, our support package for students provides a minimum income guarantee of £7,625 for students on the lowest incomes. This is comprised of a combination of bursaries and loans. Eligible students with a household income of less £19,000 can apply for a bursary of £1875 for each year of study. The remainder of the guarantee is comprised of a student loan. All eligible students, irrespective of financial circumstances are eligible for a living-cost loan of up to £4,750 a year.