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-30663

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Flood Risk Management Plans submitted to it by local authorities, under the provisions of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, have been scrutinised and signed-off by experts with relevant expertise in all aspects of a scheme, including hydrology and civil and structural engineering, and who are fully independent and therefore not employed by the project proponents or by its appointed consultants, and, if this is not the case, whether it will undertake such scrutiny itself.

Flood Risk Management Plans are developed by SEPA, which has the expertise to do so as Scotland’s Strategic Flood Risk Management Authority.

It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection schemes. However, the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act sets out a specific set of circumstances where the Scottish Ministers may consider a scheme if they receive notice from a local authority under Schedule 2 of the Act.

Should Ministers decide that they wish to consider a scheme, a Public Local Inquiry would be held by a Reporter. The Reporter would hear evidence on all relevant considerations, including from relevant experts, before making a recommendation. Ministers would then consider the recommendation of the Reporter before making their decision.

Question reference: S6W-30666

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the standard of protection in Flood Risk Management Plans, under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, should encompass the views of the beneficiaries, particularly the local community’s perceptions of the level of risk that is desirable and acceptable, and, if so, how this should be determined.

It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection scheme, including the selection of an appropriate standard of protection. This is because each place is unique and bespoke solutions are required.

Schedule 2 of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 sets out the local authority’s responsibilities in terms of public consultation as part of the notification of a flood protection scheme. However, we would expect local authorities to engage with their local communities on relevant design considerations throughout the development process.

Question reference: S6W-30675

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that value for money is achieved by the flood protection schemes that it is funding in full or partly.

It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection schemes. As such, it is for the local authority to ensure that its individual project is value for money and has a robust business case.

Individual local authorities are responsible for managing their finances in a prudent and sustainable way, ensuring the delivery of best value to the public for the services they provide. The Scottish Government provides grant funding to support local authorities in this responsibility through the general capital grant.

At a programme level, a joint COSLA/ Scottish Government Flood Risk Management Funding Working Group has been set up to discuss funding and governance of flood resilience actions in Scotland. The group includes representatives from COSLA, SEPA, local authority Directors of Finance and flood officers, and the Scottish Government. This group have been tasked with making recommendations to improve affordability, learn lessons for future programmes, and discuss future funding arrangements. This includes consideration of VfM.

Question reference: S6W-30672

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, prior to progressing a flood protection scheme to the objections stage, and where any proposals other than the deemed planning authority-granted elements are included in presentations to the community, what its position is on whether planning permission for such proposals should be obtained prior to their inclusion in the final presentation to the community.

Section 57(2B) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 provides that once a flood protection scheme is confirmed (whether by the local authority or the Scottish Ministers), the Scottish Ministers are to direct that planning permission for the development is deemed to be granted, subject to any planning conditions which Ministers may specify.

The implementation of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 is a matter primarily for local planning authorities.

Question reference: S6W-30190

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the report, The Ethical Basis of the Scottish Health and Wellbeing Census, 2021-22, by Lindsay Paterson, Emeritus Professor of Education Policy at the University of Edinburgh, which outlines ethical failings in how data was gathered, how it will give all children and families the right to request deletion of their data, and whether it will commit to deleting all data gathered, in light of the reported concerns that it is unfit to be used by ethical researchers.

The Scottish Government takes the privacy of citizen’s data very seriously and is committed to ensuring that the personal data we hold complies with the Data Protection Act and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

The UK GDPR gives individuals the right to have personal data erased, and requests for deletion can be made to the data controller(s) of the personal data. However, the right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.

The right to erasure does not apply if processing is necessary for some specific purposes, including for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority, or for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research, historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing.

Question reference: S6O-03846

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the participation of disabled people in the economy is of significant benefit.

Question reference: S6O-03745

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comments by Glasgow Disability Alliance that the Disability Equality Plan lacks the ambition, meaningful actions or commitments needed to improve disabled people's lives.

Question reference: S6O-03670

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of its position on the re-introduction of peak fares on ScotRail trains.

Question reference: S6W-28465

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19319 by Mairi McAllan on 11 July 2023, when the UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy will be finalised and adopted, and what it is doing to safeguard cetaceans in the meantime.

A public consultation on the UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy took place in 2021 and we are working on amendments to the strategy, in partnership with the other UK administrations and the working group, ahead of implementation in early 2025.

These amendments include the addition of a number of species of whale and dolphin that are regularly sighted in UK waters and updates to the evidence base and the areas identified where further action can be taken. In the meantime, the Scottish Government continues to take action to improve the conservation of UK cetaceans.

We recognise that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose a risk to our iconic marine life and remain committed to tackling this issue in our waters.

We are working in partnership with the UK Government and other administrations on implementing the bycatch mitigation initiative.

Through the Future Catching Policy, Scottish Ministers will be delivering on their obligations to minimise and, where possible, eliminate bycatch of sensitive species as part of wider efforts to ensure the sustainability of our fishing fleet.

As our first priority, we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures to reduce unwanted catch and bycatch of sensitive marine species, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.

Question reference: S6W-28464

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25394 by Mairi Gougeon on 6 March 2024, whether it will provide an up-to-date timeline for introducing public consultations on proposed fisheries management measures within offshore and inshore marine protected areas that do not currently have measures in place.

Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 180 sites is a complex and challenging process.

We are working to put in place fisheries management measure for MPAs as quickly as possible and we plan to consult on fisheries management for offshore MPAs this summer. We are aiming to carry out the public consultation on fisheries management measures for inshore MPAs as soon as possible.