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: S6O-03373

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the transport secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential impact on Scotland’s aviation industry of any proposals to levy an air departure tax on short-haul flights in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26300

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26130 by Gillian Martin on 19 March 2024, as part of its work to explore other avenues with the onshore renewables industry to maximise benefits flowing into communities, whether it has specifically considered maintaining community benefit schemes and community shared ownership agreements as a condition of the sale or transfer of all onshore renewables projects.

The Onshore Wind Sector Deal includes an industry commitment to making community benefit agreements binding at the point of Financial Investment Decision, and to maintaining community benefits and shared ownership agreements as a condition of sale or transfer of a wind farm.

This is supported by a joint Scottish Government and industry commitment to establish a standard approach to the management of community benefits funds and to establish a national register of community benefits and community shared ownership, to ensure transparency and effective reporting.

Question reference: S6W-26049

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 25 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) how many meeting room bookings within the Scottish Parliament estate have been made in each of the last two years, broken down by those that were made by (a) ministers or ministerial staff, (b) SPCB staff, (c) non-ministerial MSPs or MSP staff and (d) anyone else.

There were 6983 meeting room bookings in 2022 and 8852 bookings in 2023.

For the purposes of this response these numbers have been adjusted to reflect bookings for meetings only. Bookings for activities such as MSP sponsored events, maintenance, broadcasting checks, set up times etc. were filtered out to leave the following totals:

5817 meetings in 2022 broken down as:

ministers or ministerial staff 312
SPCB staff, 4599
non-ministerial MSPs or MSP staff * 835
anyone else 71 (CPGs)

7505 meetings in 2023 broken down as:

ministers or ministerial staff 964
SPCB staff, 5343
non-ministerial MSPs or MSP staff * 1060
anyone else 138 (CPGs)

*It was not possible to identify non-ministerial MSPs as a separate group. Therefore, the category MSP/MSP staff includes Ministers acting in their capacity as an MSP and includes all Members who have been a Minister for all or part of each year.

Question reference: S6W-26136

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many gigawatts worth of battery storage developments have secured planning permission to date.

Scottish Ministers have deemed planning permission to be granted to 4.931 GW of Battery Energy Storage System developments made under section 36 of Electricity Act 1989, across 17 applications.

Scottish Ministers cannot report on planning permission awarded to Battery Energy Storage System developments with a capacity of 50MW or under, as these are determined by individual local planning authorities.

Question reference: S6W-26132

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers non-domestic battery energy storage to be a "small scale renewable" under the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) policy 11(a) sets out that development proposals for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emissions technologies will be supported. These include energy storage, such as battery storage and pumped storage hydro, and also small scale renewable energy generation technology. Battery storage can exist at a range of different scales.

Where a policy states that development will be supported, it is in principle, and it is for the decision maker to assess the characteristics of a proposed development, to take into account all relevant policies and to determine what weight to attach to policies on a case by case basis.

Question reference: S6W-26128

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the development of a national strategy for energy storage developments in the context of planning.

Following extensive engagement and consultation, and then approval by the Scottish Parliament, we published and adopted our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) in February 2023. NPF4 signals our key priorities for ‘where’ and ‘what’ development should take place at a national level and is combined with national planning policy on ‘how’ development planning should manage change. NPF4 Policy 11 (Energy) provides support for all forms of renewable energy development onshore and offshore, including energy storage.

Following a comprehensive consultation process, we will publish our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan by Summer 2024. It will set out our vision for a future net zero energy system that delivers affordable, secure and clean energy and provides high quality jobs and economic opportunities.

Question reference: S6W-26127

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the spatial principles in the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) in order of priority.

It would not be appropriate for us to rank the National Planning Framework 4 Spatial Principles in order of priority. NPF4 comprises a package of policies and an integrated strategy to bring together cross-cutting priorities and achieve sustainable development. NPF4 should be read as a whole and is part of the statutory development plan. The application of all Spatial Principles will collectively support the delivery of sustainable, liveable and productive places. The Spatial Principles should be reflected within local development plans and will be taken forward in different ways across Scotland, reflecting the diverse character, assets and challenges of our places.

Question reference: S6W-26131

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for battery storage sites were granted by the Energy Consents Unit between 2013 and 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26134

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact on land value in rural areas of its reported decision to consider battery storage developments as generating stations in relation to planning consents under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

A letter was issued by the Chief Planner regarding consents and variations to planning permission for energy generating ancillary uses on 27 August 2020. This letter confirmed that the Scottish Government considers a battery installation to generate electricity and should therefore be treated as a generating station.

No specific assessment on potential impacts to land value in rural areas has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6O-03266

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the former chairman of Prestwick Airport resigned his post to lead a bid to purchase the airport.