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-24152

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many online clicks its paper, Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?, received in its first month following publication, broken down by (a) main paper, (b) easy read version, (c) each individual language version and (d) audio version.

Our analytics tool logs only record 13 months of data for PDF downloads, so we do not have the data for the easy read and translations of this paper as they were published out with this period.

We have previously answered two FOIs on website visits to the Building a New Scotland Papers:

Paper title : Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/

Main paper publish date : 14-6-2022

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 82,675

Easy read URL : https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/06/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/documents/easy-read/easy-read/govscot%3Adocument/easy-read.pdf

Easy read publish date: 21-8-2022

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

Audio URL: https://youtu.be/oOiOYMYOLYI

Audio publish date : 29-8-2022

Audio link clicks in first month: 13

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/independence-modern-world-wealthier-happier-fairer-not-scotland/documents/

Translation publish date: 14-6-2022

Translation downloads in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

BSL YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKT9Qqg_j-0

Date BSL Version Published: 13-6-2022

Views in first 30 days: 120

Question reference: S6W-24157

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many online clicks its paper, Migration to Scotland after independence, received in its first month following publication, broken down by (a) main paper, (b) easy read version, (c) each individual language version and (d) audio version.

We have previously answered two FOIs on website visits to the Building a New Scotland Papers:

Paper title: Migration to Scotland after independence

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-migration-scotland-independence/

Main paper publish date: 3-11-2023

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 22,790

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-migration-scotland-independence-easy-read/

Easy read publish date: 3-11-2023

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: 2,150

Audio URL: https://on.soundcloud.com/TfSaz

Audio publish date: 3-11-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 20

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-migration-scotland-independence/documents/

Translation publish date: 3-11-2023

Translation downloads in first month:

Arabic: 15

Bengalii: 6

Bulgarian: 2

Cantonese: 13

French: 16

Gaelic: 12

Hindi: 8

Italian: 1

Mandarin: 9

Polish: 1

Punjabi: 4

Romanian: 2

Russian: 6

Spanish: 15

Ukrainian: 4

Urdu: 29

BSL YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPkTZ2ZVv8

Date BSL Version Published: 3-11-2023

Views in first 30 days: 18

Question reference: S6W-24146

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all costs associated with the launch event for its paper, A stronger economy with independence.

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘A stronger economy with independence’ were published in the answer to question S6W-13303 on 16 December 2022. Additionally, there were launch costs for staff and external attendees, a BSL interpreter and audio visual equipment which totalled £1715.80. 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-24150

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all costs associated with the launch event for its paper, An independent Scotland in the EU.

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘ An independent Scotland in the EU ’ were published in the answer to question S6W-23099 on 30 November 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for staff travel, catering and venue costs, which totalled £518.50. 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-24153

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many online clicks its paper, Renewing democracy through independence, received in its first month following publication, broken down by (a) main paper, (b) easy read version, (c) each individual language version and (d) audio version.

Our analytics tool logs only record 13 months of data for PDF downloads, so we do not have the data for the easy read and translations of this paper as they were published out with this period.

We have previously answered two FOIs on website visits to the Building a New Scotland Papers:

Paper title: Renewing democracy through independence

Main paper URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/renewing-democracy-through-independence/

Main paper publish date: 14-7-2022

Main paper views in first month (all pages): 11,948

Easy read URL: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/07/renewing-democracy-through-independence/documents/easy-read-version/easy-read-version/govscot%3Adocument/Easy%2BRead_Final.pdf

Easy read publish date: 23-8-2022

Easy read views or download link clicks in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

Audio URL: https://soundcloud.com/scotgov/renewing-democracy-through-independence-summary-audio

Audio publish date: 25-8-2023

Audio link clicks in first month: 14

Community language landing page URL: https://www.gov.scot/publications/renewing-democracy-through-independence-summary/documents/

Translation publish date: 23-8-2022

Translation downloads in first month: Historic data not available for this period for downloads

BSL YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADdaxuT7TI8

Date BSL Version Published: 21-7-2022

Views in first 30 days: 41

Question reference: S6W-24147

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all costs associated with the launch event for its paper, Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland.

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the paper ‘Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland’ were published in the answer to question S6W-20991 on 18 September 2023. Additionally, there were launch costs for travel, for staff and external attendees, catering and audio visual equipment which totalled £2269.65. 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-24169

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have applied to the VisitScotland Quality Assurance scheme in each year since 2016.

VisitScotland has provided the following data:

Year End Date	Count
end Dec 2016	281
end Dec 2017	196
end Dec 2018	181
end Dec 2019	188
end Dec 2020	116
end Mar 2022	204
end Mar 2023	173

It should be noted that:

The figures show only new applicants in each year, the figures do not include renewals.
Figures include re-joined businesses, meaning those who left the scheme and subsequently re-joined.
Figures show unique sites and one business may have multiple sites.
Reporting period changed in 2021 from calendar to fiscal year.

Question reference: S6W-24163

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of Historic Scotland there were at the end of each month in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-24167

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any performance payments that VisitScotland has awarded to staff at executive level in each year since its creation.

VisitScotland pay all staff in line with the Scottish Government pay guidelines. HR records cover the past six years, these are stored in line with legal requirements of employee record keeping.

VisitScotland’s digitised annual accounts published on VisitScotland.org cover 2012-13 onward. Detailed in these, since (and including) the 2012-13 financial year, no bonus payments have been made to executive level staff. These annual accounts are publicly available by accessing online at https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/annual-corporate-reports/annual-report

Please note that by ‘executive level’, VisitScotland refers to CEO and Director level staff.

Question reference: S6W-24165

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many Historic Environment Scotland sites (a) are earmarked for closure and (b) will receive a decrease in funding over the next 12 months.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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