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-02775

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on increasing diversity on the board of (a) the National Theatre of Scotland, (b) the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, (c) Scottish Ballet, (d) the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and (e) Scottish Opera since it published its 2020 Culture Strategy for Scotland.

The five National Performing Companies are the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera.

They each receive direct funding from the Scottish Government and are committed to increasing diversity, including in the recruitment of members to their board.

In February 2020, A Culture Strategy for Scotland was published. One of the aims it sets out under the theme of strengthening culture focusses on working in partnership to increase diversity in the sector, sharing new approaches and codes of practice that ensure skills development and board membership have diversity at their core.

All the NPCs continue to demonstrate their commitment to increasing diversity on their boards.

The board of the National Theatre for Scotland has over recent years made appointments which increase representation of people with disabilities and those of ethnic diversity. The company has published its plan to become an anti-racist organisation , with transparent and ambitious targets set for the next three years, including staff and board representation, programming and audience development.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra assembled a Diversity Committee to undertake a diversity audit following advice from London Music Masters (a charity bringing music to minority communities). They are currently engaging Roger Wilson of Black Lives in Music to lead a piece of work to identify current policy and practice in relation to race equality and diversity objectives within the organisation.

Scottish Ballet is engaged in a partnership with Intercultural Youth Scotland, to address the need for greater diversity throughout the organisation, including on the Board. They are following the guidelines set out by Ballet Black on driving anti-racism within the dance sector. They have also recently engaged with Inc Arts and are beginning to utilise their “Toolkit” programme which is expected to impact on the diversity of Board representation.

The Board of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has recently established a working group to review progress and consider specific actions and initiatives it could embed across the organisation relating to improving Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The Working Group is led by the Chief Executive with members drawn from the Board, Senior Management Team and the Orchestra. The Board is currently undertaking an open, advertised recruitment process for up to 2 Lay Directors. Interviews are scheduled to take place in November. A Youth Advisory Council (16-24 year olds) has also recently been established with an initial membership of 19. This aims include to advise the Board on issues and strategies relevant to a younger and increasingly diverse range of audiences and stakeholders.

Scottish Opera have recently maintained the gender balance of their Board. They currently have 7 female and 5 male Directors. They have recently recruited a new board member of Scottish/Chinese heritage. Additionally, they have recently appointed Peridot Partners to assist in their search for trustees of more diverse backgrounds, aiming to add a further new trustee to the Board by mid December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-02740

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the UK Government Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, and what its position is on introducing a similar initiative.

The Scottish Government believes that, where appropriate, family cases should be resolved outwith court.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), which gained Royal Assent on 1 October 2020, contains the following provisions:

Section 23, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to set up a scheme to make assistance available so that individuals can meet the costs of alternative dispute resolution procedures; and
Section 24, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to arrange a pilot scheme for mandatory alternative dispute resolution meetings.

The provisions are at Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Work has progressed in these areas, but the provisions will take time to implement. A report on the Scottish Ministers' progress between 1 October 2020 and 1 April 2021 is available: First_Report_Children_(Scotland)_Act_2020_.pdf (parliament.scot) .

We are aware of the UK Government Family Mediation Voucher Scheme and will consider if any lessons can be learnt from this scheme when implementing the 2020 Act provisions.

The Scottish Government gives funding to Relationships Scotland , who provide a number of services including family mediation.

Question reference: S6W-02778

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it has supported Arts Culture Health and Wellbeing Scotland in meeting the aim to "expand and develop", as set out in the 2020 Culture Strategy for Scotland.

The £10,000 grant awarded to Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) to scope the development of the Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland (ACHWS) supported the network to develop an infrastructure, systems and develop a brand identity that would help the network to build their network membership base and their partnerships across the UK.

The grant also supported online events, held in partnership with VHS, such as; Caring, Creativity and Connectedness, The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Older People and The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Young People. The events promoted knowledge exchange, raised awareness of the network and extended the reach and influence of the network.

Officials from the Scottish Government continue to attend ACHWS meetings to offer support to help build further partnerships across policy and cultural organisations.

Question reference: S6W-02835

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to make island tourism more sustainable.

Sustainability, across all three pillars; social, environmental and economic, is central to Scotland’s Economic and Tourism Strategies. Measures we are taking to ensure sustainable islands tourism include:

£30 million of investment over the next five years to ensure delivery of the National Islands Plan. This will support a range of areas including tourism, infrastructure, innovation, energy transition and skills - informed by our learning of how island communities have responded and adapted to COVID-19.

Delivery of the 2018-19 Programme for Government to develop an Islands passport to encourage more sustainable tourism to Scotland’s inhabited islands. The project was soft launched earlier this year with good collaboration with many islands and tourism stakeholder groups.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has also committed £3m to target young people through job placements particularly in the islands and west coast and support delayed community-led projects (due to COVID-19) supporting innovation in tourism leadership.

HIE is also investing £1.25m to support tourism’s transition to net zero, this includes decarbonising key tourism assets in some of their most remote regions, such as Fair Isle and Uist.

Question reference: S6W-02734

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria (a) musicians and (b) venues will be required to meet to be eligible for support from the Scotland on Tour fund.

The criteria for the fund is currently being developed by the Scotland on Tour steering group, which is made up of representatives from the music industry, the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland. Detailed guidance will be published shortly, with artists, venues and festivals able to apply to the fund in October 2021.

The music industry is a key part of Scotland’s culture sector and makes a significant contribution to our economy. It is vital that we support Scottish artists as they continue to recover from the pandemic, and we want to ensure that this fund is as widely accessible as possible.

Question reference: S6W-02769

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to the 2021-22 Arts Alive programme.

Question reference: S6W-02777

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided each year to Arts Culture Health and Wellbeing Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00185

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not commit to introducing a Crofting Bill in its Programme for Government.

Question reference: S6W-02517

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to re-establish the Crofting Bill Group in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-02738

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the distribution of its first round of funding to refurbish play parks, broken down by local authority area.

The funding distribution and allocations are provided in the following table:

Local Authority	Renewing every Play Park in Scotland - Initial capital allocation for 2021-22

Aberdeen City	188,000
Aberdeenshire	296,000
Angus	108,000
Argyll and Bute	76,000
Clackmannanshire	47,000
Dumfries and Galloway	140,000
Dundee City	125,000
East Ayrshire	112,000
East Dunbartonshire	102,000
East Lothian	108,000
East Renfrewshire	102,000
Edinburgh, City of	414,000
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	29,000
Falkirk	147,000
Fife	344,000
Glasgow City	525,000
Highland	234,000
Inverclyde	65,000
Midlothian	98,000
Moray	92,000
North Ayrshire	118,000
North Lanarkshire	324,000
Orkney Islands	24,000
Perth and Kinross	140,000
Renfrewshire	158,000
Scottish Borders	113,000
Shetland Islands	28,000
South Ayrshire	94,000
South Lanarkshire	298,000
Stirling	84,000
West Dunbartonshire	81,000
West Lothian	186,000

SCOTLAND	£5,000,000