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-20271

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland.

The Citizens’ Assembly for Scotland published its final report in January 2021. The Scottish Government published a detailed response on 23 November 2021. Since then, Scottish Government’s commitments on participatory and deliberative democracy have been developed through the Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (IPDD) working group, which published its recommendations on 25 March 2022. Scottish Government published a response to on 27 March 2023 and work is ongoing to deliver the commitments set out.

This work is included in the Citizens’ Participation and Public Petitions (CPPP) Committee’s scrutiny remit. Since Spring 2022, the CPPP Committee has been undertaking a Public Participation Inquiry – it will publish its final report in September 2023, and plans to follow this with a debate in Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-20272

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Circularity Scotland shared any draft company policies with it, and, if so, what draft policies were shared and on what date.

A range of policy documents were shared with the Scottish Government by Circularity Scotland (CSL) during the application process for the scheme administrator role for the Deposit Return Scheme. Documents which supported the scheme administrator application by CSL were the subject of an Environmental Information Request and subsequent review, details of which are published on our website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200298347/.

Question reference: S6W-20291

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the full list of changes in Affordable Housing Supply Programme: Process and procedures MHDGN 2023/01 compared to MHDGN 2022/02.

Question reference: S6W-20340

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm which minister has responsibility for textiles.

Question reference: S6W-20295

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any benchmarks or grant limits attached to the £60 million national acquisition programme.

Question reference: S6W-20096

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to roll out initiatives similar to the Just Transition Fund, which is primarily focused in the north east and Moray, for communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is providing £4.3m of funding in 2023-2024 to expand the network of Climate Action Hubs across the country. The Hubs empower communities to engage in collective climate action, supporting peer-to-peer learning and helping groups to take advantage of funding opportunities. The network has now been expanded with Climate Action Hubs in Highland, Orkney and Shetland (Highlands & Islands Climate Hub), Fife, Moray and the Outer Hebrides in addition to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire (NESCAN). In most other areas of Scotland, hubs are expected to launch by the end of the financial year, ensuring wide coverage of the country.

The Scottish Government is also committed to supporting the growth of community energy through CARES, which aims to help communities engage in and benefit from the energy transition to net zero. The scheme has advised over 900 organisations and offered £60 million in funding to over 680 projects. It has supported the installation of 57.9MW of renewable energy, and has supported a wide range of projects from community owned wind and hydro to decarbonising community buildings and installing solar PV on faith buildings.

The Scottish Government also supports communities through other initiatives, for example the Investing in Communities Fund (ICF), a multiyear communities fund that is delivered as part of the Empowering Communities Programme. The fund targets the most disadvantaged communities to deliver projects, services and activities that address poverty and disadvantage on their own terms.

Question reference: S6W-20134

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any specific funding was provided for the cleaning of the air conditioning systems at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and, if so, how much was allocated.

Question reference: S6W-20124

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on whether any risk assessment was undertaken in respect of any potential corrosion of cadmium piping at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and the possibility of a carcinogenic being released as a result of any such corrosion.

Question reference: S6W-20458

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its report, Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: Final Report and Recommendations, what specific actions it will take with (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords to help increase the number of allocations to homeless households.

We are in discussions with the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, COSLA and Shelter Scotland to agree how to increase the number of allocations to homeless households in the next two to three years to support our commitment to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation. We welcome this positive engagement and we will report on the outcomes in due course.

Question reference: S6W-20379

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its national acquisition programme will be subject to the Scottish Government’s Principles for Programme and Project Management, and what the programme's relationship will be with the affordable housing supply programme.

As stated in the answer to S6W-20375 on 16 August 2023, the national acquisition programme will be run as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme which aligns with the Scottish Government’s Principles for Programme and Project Management.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers