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-30679

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what rate of direct cash return it is expecting from any public investment made in support of attracting private investment into nature recovery.

Scottish Government is currently assessing alternative spending models for natural restoration that will seek to encourage greater responsible private investment.

Scottish Government has not set an expected rate of direct cash return that may be derived from these models.

Scottish Government’s approach will focus on maximising the value of public spending to achieve the greatest amount of nature restoration and positive environmental outcomes while ensuring communities benefit from this investment.

Question reference: S6W-30678

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what transparency arrangements it proposes in relation to the sources of private finance into natural capital investments that is supported by public spending, to ensure that any such investment can be fully visible and scrutinised against high-integrity principles, and whether it will provide any financial support to private investment that comes from offshore financial arrangements.

Question reference: S6W-30534

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30086 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 October 2024, whether it will provide details of the reasons why Funeral Support Payment applications were rejected in each year since 2021.

Social Security Scotland communicate the reasons why Funeral Support Payment applications are denied to applicants on an individual basis by letter. Applications can be denied if the client is not eligible or provides insufficient evidence to support their Funeral Support Payment application.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Funeral Support Payment including applications received, application outcomes and payments.

The latest statistics publication for this benefit can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Funeral Support Payment Statistics.

Question reference: S6W-30529

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to allocate towards third sector organisations dealing with domestic abuse in the next funding round, broken down by organisation.

Question reference: S6W-30738

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of its current electric vehicle fleet was purchased through loan or other credit agreements, and, if so, whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) value of those agreements at purchase, (b) amounts outstanding and (c) amount of interest payable on any agreements.

Question reference: S6W-30618

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its timeline for the planned doubling of the Scottish Land Fund to £20 million by 2026.

Question reference: S6W-30356

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29171 by Kaukab Stewart on 3 September 2024, whether it will provide further details of the “restrictions related to legislative competence” that led to the decision to stop work on the proposed, and reportedly widely supported, new public sector equality duty on inclusive communication.

The content of any legal advice is confidential. By long-standing convention, successive Scottish and Westminster Governments have not disclosed the source or content of legal advice other than in the most exceptional circumstances.

However, we have sought to provide some further details of the relevant legal background. There are multiple constraints on the ability to legislate in relation to this matter. Firstly, the Scottish Parliament cannot make laws which relate to a reserved matter. The relevant reserved matter is Section L2 of Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 which reserves the subject matter of “Equal opportunities”. A proposed new duty relating to inclusive communications relates to this reserved matter and therefore falls within one of the limited exceptions to this reservation.

Further, in terms of section 29(2)(c) and schedule 4 of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Parliament cannot make laws which modify the law on reserved matters. The Equality Act 2010 is a law on reserved matters and as such a new duty related to inclusive communications cannot modify any provision of it. Lastly, the enabling power for a new duty was limited to the following (as per section 153 of the Equality Act 2010): regulations which have the purpose of enabling the better performance of listed authorities of their public sector equality duty.

Question reference: S6W-30353

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its commitments on inclusive communication, what alternative legislation or regulations were considered beyond any restrictions identified under the Equality Act 2010, and what the reasons were for any such alternative routes not being pursued.

Our commitment relating to inclusive communication was part of our work considering improvements to the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty (“PSED”) in Scotland, which is contained in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government has limited competence to legislate in relation to equal opportunities including the PSED.

In relation to supporting public authorities to better comply with the PSED, the only available legislation making power Scottish Ministers have is to impose specific duties under the Equality Act 2010, therefore no other alternative legislative route is available.

Question reference: S6T-02160

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Young Enterprise Scotland faces closure due to it withdrawing its support.

Question reference: S6T-02150

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it launched a court appeal against a ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner, in light of this costing tens of thousands of pounds and it reportedly receiving legal advice that it was likely to fail.