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-18659

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any formal or informal expressions of interest for the purchase of Ferguson Marine in the last 12 months, and, if so, what its response was to any such offer.

Question reference: S6W-18638

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue ScotRail has received from each of its 20 car parks that charge for parking in each year since 2018, broken down by car park name.

Question reference: S6W-18260

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the details of all expenditure that has been paid to contest concluded civil cases relating to prosecutions arising from the administration of Rangers FC.

The costs are recorded against all the civil cases relating to the prosecutions arising from the acquisition and administration of Rangers FC. The table below details expenditure from both the concluded and pending actions and includes legal costs and expert evidence instructed by the Crown and excludes the settlements (which are detailed in the following table) and staff costs. Please note that staff costs are not routinely recorded against individual cases as staff frequently work across a number of different workstreams concurrently.

Costs directly attributable

to Rangers Civil Cases

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

Total

Total non-staff costs

excl. settlement

188,848.67

165,715.97

675,538.31

725,587.66

1,397,390.12

2,543,080.38

5,696,161.11

Question reference: S6W-18688

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government at what annual income a person resident in Scotland will pay more in income tax than a person on the same income in other parts of the UK.

Question reference: S6W-18682

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17987 by Gillian Martin on 30 May 2023, which materials or energy sources will supply electricity and gas to homes and businesses in Scotland when renewable energy provision is either low or non-supplying on any given day.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan sets out that in 2030, Scottish electricity demand that is not met from domestic renewable electricity generation could be met by other sources including energy storage, abated CCGT, or hydrogen. We anticipate that cross border transfers of electricity and interconnection to the wide diversity of technologies across the continent will continue to play a role.

Scotland has long been a net exporter of electricity. In 2022, Scotland exported 20.3 TWh, and imported around 1.5 TerrWatt hour of electricity, meaning that net exports of electricity were approximately 18.7 TerraWatt hours in 2022.

As well as scaling up renewables, we are taking action to our energy demand including our commitment to raise energy efficiency standards – so that all homes achieve at least EPC C by 2033. We are consulting this year on reforms to EPC for both domestic and non-domestic sectors to give more meaningful information on energy use. Over this Parliament, we have budgeted £1.8 billion to support the heat transition – that includes support for householders, businesses and communities.

In The Warren Report, (Jul/Aug 2022) Andrew Warren, chair of the British Energy Efficiency Federation said [QUOTE]: “My advice to Whitehall is simple. Whether you take the high road or you take the low road, you had best be copying Scotland’s initiatives.

Question reference: S6W-18734

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reform planning laws to require planning permission to be granted before a freestanding public house can be demolished.

Permitted development rights (PDR) apply to, amongst other things, the demolition of buildings, including public houses.

Our PDR review is ongoing. We consulted in 2019 on what we considered to be the priority areas for the review. The fourteen development types identified at that stage did not include demolition. A programme for a phased review of development types was then established. This programme is itself subject to periodic review as circumstances and priorities change.

The main focus of the current Phase 3 consultation is new and extended PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment, in light of the cost and climate crises.

Question reference: S6W-18781

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2022-23, whether it has introduced new workforce models that increase capability and capacity to deliver digital mental health therapies in health boards through the development of digital therapy teams.

The workforce model has been developed in response to the growing demand for digital mental health services. The model consists of additional clinical and administrative staff that will improve local expertise on digital mental health, provide in-house support for patients and support the future delivery needs of these services. Discussions on the recruitment to digital therapy teams in Boards are underway.

Question reference: S6W-18637

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand fast-charging points for electric vehicles (EV) beyond the 56 railway stations that currently have them, and how many new EV chargers, fast or otherwise, have been installed in car parks operated by ScotRail in each year since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-18635

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand the use and availability of React technology at more railway stations, in order to support visually impaired people.

ScotRail advise that currently there is no plan to install more REACT technology at more stations. New adaptable Smart wayfinding technology that uses GPS location is being trialled and subject to positive feedback, a decision will be made by ScotRail as to whether that can be installed at more stations. At Dundee, ScotRail has partnered with RNIB and MyEyes (iKi Technologies) to test this technology linking the Museum and the train station.

Question reference: S6W-18672

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills has received the final report of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment.