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-25681

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for the implementation of the key actions in its International Education Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-25679

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its International Education Strategy will facilitate the recognition of Scottish qualifications and degrees internationally.

Question reference: S6W-25575

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what workforce modelling has been carried out regarding an energy policy that has a presumption against any oil and gas exploration.

Oil and gas continue to play an important part in Scotland’s energy transition. The Scottish Government’s focus is on reducing emissions in line with climate change goals, meeting our energy security needs and ensuring a just transition for workforces as North Sea oil and gas resources decline. As part of this approach, our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) consulted on a presumption against new exploration for oil and gas. Fields that are already identified and progressing through the licensing process towards production would be subject to a robust Climate Compatibility Checkpoint. Following a comprehensive consultation process, the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will be published by Summer 2024.

In support of the draft ESJTP, the Scottish Government commissioned Ernst and Young to undertake a programme of work to better understand energy requirements as we transition to net zero. This programme of work, which was overseen by an independent panel of experts and has been published in full ( Publication of the outputs from a programme of work to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero - Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), includes detailed economic analysis and projections of jobs for Scotland’s offshore energy transition. Findings include that, with the right support as part of a just energy transition, the number of low carbon jobs in Scotland is projected to rise from 19,000 in 2019 to 77,000 by 2050 - delivering a net gain in jobs across the energy production sector overall.

Question reference: S6W-25576

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out any economic impact analysis regarding an energy policy that has a presumption against any oil and gas exploration.

Question reference: S6W-25462

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-03036 by Angela Constance on 31 January 2024, whether the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs is aware of the reported correspondence between the recognised trade union at HMP Kilmarnock, Community, and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), in which the union explicitly states its concerns, regarding the transfer of the prison, on behalf of its members, and whether the (a) cabinet secretary and (b) SPS has responded to these concerns.

Question reference: S6W-25383

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24645 by Mairi McAllan on 2 February 2024, whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether an impact assessment was conducted regarding the removal of all funding from the "Green Economy" budget, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

Further to the response I gave on 2 February, in a particularly challenging fiscal landscape, the Scottish Government has had to take difficult decisions to deliver balanced and sustainable spending plans for the 2024-25 financial year.

The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland. Our block grant funding, derived from the UK Government’s spending decisions, has fallen by 1.2 per cent in real terms since 2022-23 and our capital spending power is due to contract by almost 10 per cent in real terms over five years.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in the former Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition portfolio has been legally and contractually committed, and I have ensured that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system. This has been compounded by continuing high inflation, which has further reduced our room for manoeuvre.

It is within these challenging circumstances that we have had to make difficult decisions to achieve a fiscally sustainable budget.

As I indicated, the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment were published alongside this Budget. These impact assessments not only analyse the budget and the impact of the decisions contained in it, they also consider the process of making those decisions, and how we make sure the needs of all people are actively considered. The Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition portfolio was actively engaged in the analysis and production of these assessments.

Question reference: S6W-25382

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24647 by Mairi McAllan on 2 February 2024, whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether an impact assessment was conducted regarding the £38.7 million reduction to the "Climate Change and Land Managers Renewables Fund" budget, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

Question reference: S6W-25080

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government under whose ministerial direction the redactions to the Hamilton Report were made; whether it will provide the name of the lead official in charge of such redactions; how many civil servants were involved in the process of redaction; whether it will provide, where possible, the (a) names and (b) job titles of those civil servants; whether any special advisers were involved in the redaction process and, if so, whether it will provide their (i) names and (ii) job titles.

No ministerial direction was made in relation to the redactions to the Hamilton Report. The Ministerial Code sets out the appropriate process for any referrals by the First Minister to the independent advisors. In accordance with that process, the former Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, was the Minister with overall responsibility however he had no involvement in the redaction process.

The report was redacted for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the court orders, and to redact any personal data where processing of personal data would not be lawful under data protection law, by the Scottish Government’s Organisational Continuity Team. None of the civil servants from the Organisational Continuity Team was a special adviser and no Special Advisers were involved in the redaction process of the Hamilton Report.

Please note we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested relating to names. This information is personal data of a third party, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-25079

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide full details of the timetable leading up to the redacted version of the Hamilton Report being issued to the public on 22 March 2021, including (a) when the report was delivered to it by James Hamilton, (b) when information was redacted from the report and (c) whether there was more than one process of redaction.

In preparation for issuing Mr Hamilton’s report, civil servants seconded to the Secretariat applied draft redactions in the period 15 to 21 March 2021. The Scottish Government received Mr Hamilton’s final report on 22 March 2021 at 00:02. The report was then redacted by civil servants in the Organisational Continuity Team for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the court orders made by Lord Woolman and Lady Dorrian and to remove any personal data where processing of personal data would not be lawful under data protection law.

The report was published on the same day, 22 March 2021, in line with the commitment given to Parliament on 4 March 2021 by Nicola Sturgeon , at https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code

Question reference: S6O-03207

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with North Lanarkshire Council to improve the school estate.