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-19087

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the parameters and methodology of its electricity systems modelling analysis that was used to inform its draft Energy Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-19082

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average capacity factor is of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19080

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the most expensive strike price is under the Contracts for Difference scheme for an operational wind farm in Scotland, given in (a) 2012 prices and (b) current prices, and when that contract was signed.

Question reference: S6W-18874

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of any requirement for an enabling regulatory environment, which would allow a blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading platform to function through the legal recognition and protection of incorporeal moveable property.

Question reference: S6W-18873

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the use of distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence to facilitate the trading of renewable energy between households, and, if so, what assessment it has made of the use of such technology.

Question reference: S6T-01462

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to support local communities that have recently been affected by water shortages.

Question reference: S6W-18435

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that it has spent nearly £220,000 setting up the Deposit Return Scheme to date, how much it budgeted for setting up the scheme.

The Scottish Government has spent £218,565.83 in setting up the Deposit Return Scheme since 2018. This includes the costs associated with consultation, publication of regulations and associated documents, evaluations, independent reviews and assurance.

The costs associated with the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) are met from the wider Zero Waste budget. For that whole Zero Waste budget the Scottish Government budgeted £40.2m in 2021-22, £42.9m in 2022-23 and £46.9m in 2023-24. DRS is a very small part of those budgets which, as a whole, support major circular economy delivery programmes including implementation of Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map, Extended Producer Responsibility, incineration research, landfill remediation, recycling, single-use plastics, litter and flytipping and funding for Zero Waste Scotland to support delivery of SG objectives.

Question reference: S6W-18396

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what specific action it has taken to achieve its aim to deliver a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030, since first making the announcement.

The draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km driven in Scotland by 2030 published in January 2022 outlines our approach to achieving this. A period of engagement and consultation followed publication, and the analysis and consideration of the consultation responses have shaped the final route map which will pe published in the coming months. The route map was co-produced with CoSLA, in recognition of the importance of local-level interventions, and we will continue to work closely with local and regional partners to achieve this commitment.

The route map contains over 30 national-level interventions, and recognises the need to shift towards sustainable alternatives to car use. We know that to reduce car use, public transport has to be available, affordable and accessible so, as part of the Fair Fares Review, a pilot to remove ScotRail peak fares on all routes will start in October. In addition, £421.8 million has been allocated in funding for bus services and concessionary fares in 2023-24, providing up to 2.3 million people in Scotland with access to free bus travel. This is part of a total of over £2 billion spent on supporting public transport by the Scottish Government annually.

Question reference: S6W-18397

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what practical steps it (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to deliver a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030.

The answer to question S6W-18396 on 12 June 2023 to the member outlines some of the practical measures being undertaken in order to achieve this commitment, and deliver a fairer, greener transport system for everyone in Scotland. However, given the Scottish Government recognises the need to go further in order to meet our statutory climate goals, and we are committed to finding ways to make alternative travel modes more attractive, and supporting people to take fewer journeys by car. The evidence is clear travel behaviours can only be changed on the required scale through a broad combination of interventions, including infrastructure, incentives and regulation.

As outlined in the draft 20% car KM reduction route map, we have commissioned research exploring equitable options for demand management to discourage car use. This will form the basis of a Demand Management Framework by 2025. The most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are currently reserved, and the recent rises in the cost of motoring underline the unfairness of the current, regressive motoring tax regime. We will continue to press the UK Government for a fair and progressive future transport tax system that better incentivises the transition to zero-emission vehicles, reduces unnecessary journeys and raises revenues to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel.

The Scottish Government plans to continue with the approach outlined, and the updated 20% route map which will be published in the coming months will provide further detail on how we will deliver this commitment.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-18390

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the view of the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Robert Chote, in his letter of 7 December 2022 to Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, that the claim that Scotland has 25% of Europe's potential offshore wind resource was "poorly constructed" in the Scottish Government's 2010 publication that made the claim.