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-07201

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported decision of the UK Government to reduce business rates for renewable technologies, whether it has conducted any assessment of the potential impact of a similar policy intervention in Scotland.

Under the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (Scotland) Regulations 2000, solar panels, wind turbines and storage batteries are already exempt from rating where they are used for the generation, storage, transformation or transmission of power, where the power is mainly or exclusively ‘for distribution for sale to consumers’.

The Scottish Government delivers the most generous non-domestic rates relief for renewable generators that offer community benefit, as well as to all small scale hydro generators. Responding to the climate crisis, we are also expanding eligibility for the Business Growth Accelerator to include the installation of solar panels as a qualifying property improvement. The Business Growth Accelerator provides relief for 12 months on the rateable value increase associated with a qualifying improvement that has been made to a property.

We await the outcome of the UK Government’s Business Rates Review: Technical Consultation with interest.

Question reference: S6O-00909

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Climate Change Committee's latest report Is Scotland Climate Ready?, which states that progress in delivering climate change adaptation measures in Scotland has stalled.

Question reference: S6O-00870

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland’s economy has a workforce ready to make the most of opportunities that the transition to net zero and the wider low carbon economy can offer.

Question reference: S6O-00852

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of jobs in offshore wind and the wider green economy.

Question reference: S6O-00785

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce any adverse effects of food waste on climate change.

Question reference: S6F-00776

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to recent reported criticism of its plans for its Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6O-00685

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to mitigate the effect that reduced access to physical activity during lockdown has had on the health of young people.

Question reference: S6O-00656

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment criteria it will use to determine whether the Access Bikes scheme represents good value for money.

Question reference: S6F-00665

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022

To ask the First Minister what data the Scottish Government has collected on the number of people diagnosed with cancer, and the stage at which they were diagnosed, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this compares with pre-pandemic data.

Question reference: S6O-00595

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gives, as part of its cross-government COVID-19 strategic reviews, to long-term strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.