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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5O-04667

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government when the conclusion of the review of the upgrade to the Sheriffhall roundabout will be published.

Question reference: S5W-31819

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 30 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in establishing the working group to promote bioeconomy that was referred to in the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology; how many meetings the group has held; who the members are, and whether it will publish a progress report before January 2021.

I am pleased to report that the Scottish Industrial Biotechnology Development Group (SIBDG), which includes representatives from industry, academia and government, continues to meet and deliver the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology. The SIBDG appointed a new industry chairperson, Professor Nik Willoughby of Horizon Proteins, earlier this year.

There is an action in the National Plan to set up a bioeconomy work group under the theme of public engagement. Under the new chair, the SIBDG work groups – including the creation of additional ones - are being reviewed. In the meantime, public engagement work on bioeconomy continues to be a priority for the larger group.

The National Plan is reviewed and refreshed regularly by Scottish Enterprise. The most recent refresh was in 2019, and it will next be refreshed in 2022. Progress is reported and published directly in the refreshed plans. Updates on biotechnology and bioeconomy activity can be found in the IBioIC quarterly newsletter which is published online ( https://ibioic-publications.com/newsletter-summer-2020 ). SIBDG has met 7 times since the plan refresh last year, most recently on 3 September 2020.

SIBDG group participants are represented as follows:

Ingenza Ltd

Argent Energy Ltd

Bouygues Group

Xanthella

Cellucomp

Ineos

Kerry Cell Nutrition

The Austin Company Ltd

Celtic Renewables

3F Bio

Clearfleau

GSK

Enva Group

Horizon Proteins

Marine Biopolymers Ltd

National Collection of Industrial Food and Marine Bacteria services (NCIMB)

Scotch Whisky Research Institute

National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) Consulting

World Council on Industrial Biotechnology

Forestry Commission

Drochaid Research Services

University of Dundee

University of Glasgow

University of Edinburgh

Heriot Watt University

Imperial College London

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC)

Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Government

Scottish Development International

Skills Development Scotland

Zero Waste Scotland

Question reference: S5F-04429

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2020

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government can guarantee that everyone who has been referred for a winter flu vaccination will be able to get one.

Question reference: S5W-31803

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent funding (a) ministerial, (b) officials' and (c) special advisers' travel to Scottish Development International offices in each year since 2010.

Currently there are 37 Scottish Development International overseas offices in 25 countries across the world.

We do not centrally hold costs of travel to Scottish Development International offices for Scottish Government officials.

Travel expenses for Special Advisors can be found at the following links:

Travel expenses for Scottish Government Ministers can be found at the following links:

Question reference: S5W-31801

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities' (a) own population data and (b) 2014 National Records of Scotland population figures it used when calculating the funding required for the proposed 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

The multi-year revenue and capital funding package to deliver the expansion of early learning and childcare was agreed by Scottish Ministers and COSLA Leaders on 27 April 2018. The details of the agreement were laid in SPICe at the time (Bib number 59732).

The revenue funding was based on local authorities’ estimates of the cost of the expansion adjusted to reflect inflation and the National Records of Scotland (NRS) population projections (2014). Therefore all the population projections used for determining the funding required to deliver the expansion were based on the 2014 NRS population projections. These population projections represented the best information available at local authority level at the time the estimates for the funding required to deliver the expansion were produced.

Question reference: S5W-31707

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30413 by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 July 2020, when it expects to engage with stakeholders to support the development of the wild salmon strategy.

Question reference: S5W-31563

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 17 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the target response time is for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and how many times this target has not been achieved in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S5W-31565

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 17 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many fire appliances have been removed from service in the last year due to (a) staff unavailability and (b) budget restraints.

Operational decisions on the allocation of resources are a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board and Chief Officer. Fire and Rescue appliances can only be safely deployed when they have a full crew available. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service operates an Appliance Withdrawal Strategy for a variety of reasons including training, sickness absence and special leave. This strategy allows SFRS to deploy appliances in a flexible way to ensure that effective fire and rescue cover is maintained at all times to Scotland’s communities.

Question reference: S5W-31564

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 17 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) false alarms and (b) hoax calls the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has responded to in the South Scotland parliamentary region in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S5O-04590

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what talks it has had with the EU regarding the potential impact of Brexit on Scotland’s fisheries.