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-26120

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to question S6W-25694 by Tom Arthur on 4 March 2024 and S6W-25695 by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2024, what consideration it has given to amending the conditions of grants, loans and its contracts with third parties to preclude parties that have transferred jobs overseas, commonly referred to as offshoring, from such support and agreements.

Contract terms & conditions are focused on the delivery of the contract, and are proportionate and relevant to the contract subject matter. Procurement rules require equal treatment, transparency, and proportionality in public procurement processes, precluding the exclusion of companies who conduct their business lawfully.

Grants entered into by Scottish Ministers and any public body subject to the Scottish Public Finance Manual are subject to the principles set out in the manual and have appropriate terms and conditions applied to protect public resources.

Question reference: S6W-25935

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reported oil leak in Glen Fruin, responded to by SEPA on 2 January 2024, what information it can provide on the exact scale of the leak, including (a) how it happened, (b) how long the clear-up is expected to take, (c) when the road restrictions are expected to be lifted and (d) what is being done to protect salmon, trout and other wildlife in the River Fruin and Loch Lomond.

SEPA have been regularly monitoring the Fruin Water since 3 January 2024, following reports of a small quantity of light crude oil surfacing from an underground pipeline. They will continue to do so until the clean-up is concluded.

The exact scale of the leak, the extent of contamination and the duration of the remediation work, will not be known until the results of the ground investigation have been presented to SEPA alongside the remediation options appraisal. This is expected by May.

The Glen Fruin road (C70) was closed by Police Scotland as a precaution following the discovery of an oil leak on 2nd January 2024. However, access through Glen Fruin will remain unaffected during the remediation phase.

Minor localised environmental impacts have been recorded and a range of precautionary measures have been installed at SEPA’s request. No significant impact has been detected with respect to water quality, migratory salmonids (salmon/trout) or to other wildlife within the Fruin Water or Loch Lomond.

Question reference: S6W-25420

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23536 by Mairi McAllan on 14 December 2023, when the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (CMPP) governance review will conclude.

Further to the answer provided to PQ S6W-23536, the timeline and development of the governance review of the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (CMPP) is a matter for the CMPP. While it is the role of Scottish Government to provide support to regional partnerships in development of their draft regional marine plans, changes to the membership, governance and constitution of the CMPP is the subject of paragraph 1 in the Schedule of the Clyde’s Ministerial Direction. When and if changes are finalised by the partnership, they will notify Scottish Ministers of these as soon as reasonably practicable and without delay as per Schedule 1 of the Delegation of Functions (Regional Marine Plan for the Scottish Marine Region for the Clyde) Direction 2017.

Question reference: S6W-25695

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Thermo Fisher Scientific has recently announced a high number of staff redundancies in Scotland after having received substantial sums of public money, and what its position is on whether any companies that move jobs overseas to reduce costs should be disqualified from applying for future public grants and funding.

I was concerned to learn of potential job losses at Thermo Fisher Scientific. I am due to speak with the company in the near future to discuss the situation. Additionally, officials in Scottish Enterprise are actively engaging with Thermo Fisher Scientific to ensure that the business explores available options to retain as many jobs as possible. In the unfortunate event that any individuals should be facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE.

Grants and loans entered into by Scottish Ministers and any public body subject to the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) are subject to the principles set out in the manual and have appropriate terms and conditions applied to protect public resources.

Question reference: S6W-25694

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value is of any (a) contracts and (b) grants awarded to Thermo Fisher Scientific by Scottish public bodies in each of the last five years.

A full breakdown of the total number and value of contracts awarded to Thermo Fisher Scientific for the last five fiscal years covering all Scottish public bodies is provided in the following table.

Year	Number of Contracts	Total Contracts Value
19-20	11	£1,428,668.49
20-21	22	£17,619,595.56
21-22	20	£4,016,757.72
22-23	17	£113,420,984.14
23-24	11	£14,217,082.43
Total	81	£150,703,088.34

No grant payments have been made to Fisher Scientific UK Limited (Thermo Fisher) directly from the Scottish Government in the last five fiscal years. The Scottish Government can only provide their own grant data as the information requested is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-25638

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of East Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Transport Strategy 2020-25 and Local Development Plan 2 both committing to safeguarding land for an Allander rail station between Milngavie and Hillfoot, what its position is on whether it supports East Dunbartonshire Council’s aspiration for a new station at this location when funding and other factors allow.

Currently the Scottish Government has no evidence to support a new Allander rail station.

East Dunbartonshire Council undertook a transport appraisal in 2018 for the A81 corridor which concluded none of the rail options offered sufficient value for money. My officials at Transport Scotland engaged extensively with East Dunbartonshire Council as part of the Council’s work to develop their Local Development Plan. This included providing advice to the Council on the transport appraisal required to justify any new strategic transport infrastructure, including rail stations.

We are not aware of East Dunbartonshire Council having any plans to revisit their transport appraisal work. However, if a robust business case is presented for rail proposals, such proposals will be considered by Transport Scotland, subject to Scottish Government’s priorities, our rail investment strategy, affordability and other competing priorities.

Question reference: S6W-25010

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the appointment of Edel Harris OBE to chair the Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment, how the review will progress, and how (a) members of the public and (b) organisations can best provide their views to the review.

The independent review will consider the current rules and experience of delivery in the first year of Adult Disability Payment and will take no more than 18 months to complete. Whilst it is for the chair of the review to decide how to conduct it, the review remit requires engagement with disabled people and stakeholders, including members of the former Disability and Carer’s Benefits Expert Advisory Group (DACBEAG).

Question reference: S6W-24396

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23928 by Jenni Minto on 3 January 2024, when it plans to bring forward secondary legislation to enable the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

The secondary legislation to enable HIS to regulate independent healthcare services, including non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which are provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from premises other than registered pharmacies and/or outwith the terms of NHS contracts, will be brought forward by the end of Summer 2024.

The scoping of further regulation of non-surgical cosmetics procedures, including consideration of the level of training required to perform these procedures, is underway.

Question reference: S6W-24741

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the latest position is of the four-day working week public sector pilot, as outlined in its Programme for Government.

The Scottish Government can confirm today work has commenced on the 4 Day Working Week Public Sector Pilot to assess the wellbeing, environmental and productivity benefits a 4 Day Working Week could bring.

We have appointed Autonomy as our expert partner to support the pilot. The team involved in this project have previous 4 Day Working Week pilot experience including from the Valencian Government pilot, and the Icelandic public sector pilot.

The South of Scotland Enterprise 4 Day Working Week pathfinder work is being folded into Autonomy’s methodology, and engagement will continue with other public bodies interested in participating in the 32-hour working week pilot.

Autonomy will also provide support and evaluate organisations moving to a contractual 35 hour working week. This will capture valuable insights from a wider range of public bodies on different shorter work week models and be included in the 4 Day Working Week evaluation report.

Question reference: S6F-02735

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2024

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on how the Scottish Government will continue to protect tenants in the private rented sector after the expiry of the rent cap under the Cost of Living (Tenants Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.