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-19425

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards decarbonising the Fife Circle railway line by 2024.

Decarbonisation of Fife rail services was not planned to complete by 2024. Development work for future electrification in Fife is currently underway. Some advance work is being carried out between Haymarket to Dalmeny to facilitate the future electrification of Fife.

The timescale for decarbonisation of the Fife Circle route will be considered through the Final Business Case submission of the project and as part of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan refresh scheduled for later in 2023.

The Scottish Government has authorised the investment of c.£30m for a new feeder station at Thornton in Fife. This will provide power to the planned electrification. This feeder station is scheduled to be operational in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-19362

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18699 by Fiona Hyslop on 19 June 2023, whether it will outline the specifications in the £4 million call-off contract that it has awarded to Turner and Townsend under the Engineering and Technical Consultancy Framework.

Transport Scotland publishes the results of all regulated procurements through contract award notices on the Public Contracts Scotland website. The call-off contract awarded to Turner and Townsend for work associated with the provision of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, was awarded under the Scotland Excel, Engineering and Technical Consultancy Framework, Lot 9, Project and Commercial Management. This can be viewed via the Scotland Excel website through the contract register, ref 0820.

Question reference: S6W-19717

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the advertising spend that Historic Environment Scotland allocates to promote each of its sites.

Question reference: S6W-19716

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm the total amount that Historic Environment Scotland has spent on advertising its sites, in each year since it was founded in 2015.

Question reference: S6W-19443

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18957 by Fiona Hyslop on 22 June 2023, how much (a) public and (b) private investment has been allocated so far, broken down by funding recipient.

A total of £4,480,000 of public funding has been allocated so far by Transport Scotland through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. This is an allocation of £140,000 to each Scottish local authority to enable the development and delivery of public electric vehicle charge point strategies and infrastructure expansion plans. The development of strategies and infrastructure expansion plans will precede capital projects which are expected to commence in 2024, that will seek to draw in private investment from Charge Point Operators as part of the overall £60m funding of the programme.

Question reference: S6W-19361

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration the CHFS3 Project Team in Transport Scotland’s Ferries Unit will give to the recommendations affecting islands connectivity in the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2.

Question reference: S6W-19408

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that employee ownership is understood and promoted to business owners by (a) Scottish Government agencies, (b) business support organisations and (c) further education bodies.

Co-Operative Development Scotland (CDS), operating within Scottish Enterprise, continues to work to raise awareness of the value of co-operative and employee ownership models, provides specialist advice and support to businesses and community groups who want to adopt those models and supports company growth through collaborative and employee ownership business models.

Industry leadership group Scotland for Employee Ownership champions employee ownership across Scotland, raising awareness of the employee ownership model and providing a voice for the sector in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19411

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to enable employee-owned businesses to access growth funding.

Question reference: S6W-19346

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, as it relates to Scotland, what engagement it has had with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regarding improving the clinical trials system across the UK.

Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office is fully engaged with UK partners, including the MHRA, on improving the clinical trials system across the UK. In addition to facilitating inputs from across the Scottish clinical research community to the MHRA’s recent public consultation on clinical trials legislation, officials are engaging regularly through cross-UK fora with MHRA and other UK partners to ensure that any updated regulations and their supporting guidance work well for Scotland, and as part of a streamlined, efficient, and innovative UK-wide clinical trials system.

Question reference: S6W-19574

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18270 by Michael Matheson on 1 June 2023, whether it will provide a list of all future meetings in 2023 of the short-life working group, established by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSNCYPC) to carry out a robust workforce review and mapping exercise of posts across the network.

The Workforce Short Life Working Group set up through the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) has now concluded and no future meetings are planned.

As agreed by the MSN Board a Workforce Planning and Development Group will be established to review the pharmacy and Allied Healthcare Professional lead roles which were proposed as part of the 2020 workforce plan but have yet to be recruited to. This Group will also focus on education and training for the wider MSN CYPC community.