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-21621

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its international offices held (a) Burns Night and (b) St Andrew’s Day celebrations, as a means to promote Scotland abroad, in each of the last five years.

Both Burns Night and St Andrew’s Day are important opportunities in the calendar to promote Scotland’s interests internationally: highlighting Scottish culture and food and drink, presenting opportunities to engage a global audience and opening doors for future trade, investment and collaboration.

The figures requested are presented in the following tables. In the past twelve months, when the majority of covid restrictions were no longer in force, eight offices undertook public activity linked to Burns Night in 2023, and all nine did so at events linked to St Andrew’s Day 2022. The planned Burns programme in Paris this year was not able to proceed due to safety concerns in the city at that time.

All our international offices are preparing St Andrew’s Day events for 2023, as part of a programme promoting Scotland internationally throughout the Winter Festivals season leading up to Burns Night in 2024. Diplomatic, trade and investment and cultural engagement delivered by offices in the international network around both Burns Night and St Andrews Day includes joint working with SDI, the FCDO, and other government and external partners both at home in Scotland and in-country, hosting events or representing Scotland at established events.

Covid restrictions from the spring of 2020 through to early 2022 meant that much in-person activity was suspended, and offices collaborated within the network and with other partners to host or promote virtual and online celebrations instead. Some St Andrew’s Day activity for 2022 in Beijing was postponed due to ongoing restrictions, and took place in March 2023.

(a) Burns Night

Year	Number of participating offices
2023	8
2022	5
2021	6
2020	7
2019	5

(b) St Andrews Day

Year	Number of participating offices
2022	9
2021	3
2020	4
2019	5
2018	5

Question reference: S6W-21697

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on which date it plans to publish a draft of the proposed Gaelic and Scots and Scottish Languages Bill.

Question reference: S6W-21521

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what frameworks are in place to ascertain any (a) benefits and (b) consequences of having beavers throughout Scotland's landscape.

Scotland' Beaver Strategy , published in September 2022, aims to assess the biological, environmental, economic and social implications of beavers. This includes the benefits that beavers can bring alongside mitigating any impacts on other species, habitats, physical processes, land use and wider ecosystem services. We aim to use this knowledge to inform decision making.

NatureScot also operates the Scottish Beaver Mitigation Scheme and keep records of where they have been asked for advice or support with mitigating beaver activity.

Question reference: S6W-21487

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the next round of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund will be announced.

Question reference: S6W-21495

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it will reintroduce free COVID-19 lateral flow testing for (a) health and social care staff and (b) the general public.

Targeted testing is in place to support clinical decision making and surveillance. We are working closely with Public Health Scotland, our clinical advisors and the other UK nations to routinely review our position and the clinical advice on COVID-19 in light of new variants. Evidence to date does not support a return to widespread community testing however we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Question reference: S6W-21486

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its move towards parity of support for part-time students that it announced in its Programme for Government 2023-24, whether it plans to implement the recommendation contained in the report of the independent review of student financial support in Scotland that “the Scottish Government works in collaboration with other interested parties, to look at how the key principles of this Review should be best implemented for part-time students and those currently receiving Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)”.

Question reference: S6W-21532

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines (a) it and (b) its agencies have issued to (i) publicly-owned and (ii) privately-owned water companies in each of the last five years, also broken down by the total value of fines issued in each year.

We are unaware of any fines issued by the Scottish Government to Scottish Water in the last five years; there are no privately-owned water companies in Scotland.

Following referral by relevant agencies to the Procurator Fiscal, fines issued in the period are set out below:

Referral by Scottish Environment Protection Agency:

2019 - £600

2020 - £19 000

2021 - £6 700

Referral by Health & Safety Executive:

2020 - £140 000

Additionally, there has been one enforcement undertaking of £53 800 accepted by SEPA in 2021 and a direct penalty of £10,000 to Scottish Road Works Commissioner in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-21485

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which partners in the college sector’s collective bargaining process have yet to provide a formal response to the report, Lessons Learned – resetting national collective bargaining in the colleges sector.

Question reference: S6W-21457

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on implementing a local inheritance tax.

Question reference: S6T-01579

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the reported proposed rationalisation of the Police Scotland estate.