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-15893

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce the tender awards for the Climate Just Communities programme, and what percentage of the £36 million Climate Justice Fund will go towards this initiative.

Question reference: S6W-15929

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15344 by Lorna Slater on 10 March 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding (a) what communication it has had with drinks suppliers outside of Scotland to inform them of the Deposit Return Scheme, and (b) which companies it has informed of the scheme in each of the last 12 months, also broken down by country or region.

Question reference: S6W-15947

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consult on removing the 50kW threshold above which permitted development rights do not apply for solar panels on commercial rooftops.

Question reference: S6W-15847

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in digital technologies within the cultural sector in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government has invested in digital technologies within the cultural sector through direct funding, programmes and sponsorship of public bodies such as Creative Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. Therefore, what follows is not an exhaustive list.

Digital technologies are vital to all businesses in realising their ambitions and supporting the growth of the Scottish economy. Through our Digital Development Grant and Digital Development Loan, £7.1 million of funding went directly to over 500 businesses that recorded themselves to be within the Culture sector over the last five years.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government launched the Creative Digital Initiative (CDI), a £1 million digital support programme for creative and cultural businesses. It was developed in partnership with Creative Scotland, the Enterprise agencies and Skills Development Scotland. CDI supported creative and cultural businesses to develop their digital capabilities, improve their digital skills in and enhance their creative opportunities as they responded to the challenges imposed by COVID-19.

During Covid-19, the Museums and Galleries Scotland Digital Resilience Fund supported adoption of digital technologies within the culture sector and was administered by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS). This funding provided much needed support for the sector to support the purchase of equipment necessary to enable work from home and provision of digital access to museum collections and activity. It paid out £110,806 to 67 museums in 2020.

Digital and digital engagement is also a key area of work for Creative Scotland. An overview of projects funded with a focus on digital activity is compiled in their Annual Reviews. Creative Scotland is currently finalising the review for 2021-22 and it is due to be published shortly.

In 2020-21, Creative Scotland funded 188 projects with a focus on digital activity, with a total award of £5.2 million. This is an increase on 2019-20 – when 21 projects with a focus on digital activity were funded, to a total of £847,993.

In 2018-19, Creative Scotland funded 36 projects with a focus on digital activity, with a total of £935,471.

In 2017/18, Creative Scotland made 40 awards through our Open and Targeted Funding programmes to the value of £1.2 million, with one third of those focussed on work with children and young people using digital tools creatively.

These awards are a mix of both Scottish Government Grant in Aid funding and The National Lottery.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government delivers support for the historic environment through sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland. As Historic Environment Scotland’s spending on digital technology for the historic environment is an operational matter for them, I would invite the member to write to HES Chief Executives Office at [email protected] to request the information.

Question reference: S6W-15698

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation by the Children’s Parliament that the Scottish Government should stop alcohol sponsorship of events at which children may be present.

It is crucial that the voices of children and young people are at the heart of developing our next steps on alcohol policy.

Our recent consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion directly references the recommendations of the Children’s Parliament and contains a section, and questions, on potential restrictions on alcohol sponsorship of events.

The consultation closed on 9 March. An independent contractor will comprehensively analyse the responses and publish a report. We will then further consider possible restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-15826

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in the West Scotland region had registered with the Deposit Return Scheme by 1 March 2023, and how this compares with the number of businesses that were expected to register.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

As the Deposit Return Scheme regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is required to publish a list of all producers registered with the scheme before the scheme launches in August.

This list will be searchable by producer name, business address, date registered, registration number, and brand information in cases where the producer does not use their name and address on their packaging.

Question reference: S6W-15740

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated specifically to support the delivery of welfare advice in each of the last five financial years.

The Scottish Government has invested a total of £14,751,739 since 2018 to support the delivery of specific Welfare Advice Services in Scotland. The amount for each year is as follows:

Year	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Amount	£3.1 m	£2.32m	£2.9m	£3 m	£3.3 m

In addition to supporting the provision of specific welfare advice services, the Scottish Government has also invested over £8m since 2018 in the Money Talk Team service provided by Citizens Advice Scotland and their network of bureaux to provide a range of advice including a combination of income maximisation, welfare benefits and specialist debt advice.

Question reference: S6O-02092

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on investment in research and coordinated care services to support those living with long Covid.

Question reference: S6O-02088

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes are required to be built to meet the needs of rural communities in the Highland and Islands.

Question reference: S6O-02093

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the Learning for Sustainability Action Plan in educational settings in the north east.