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-17009

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in revising its getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) policy and practice guidance, and when it anticipates that the revised GIRFEC policy and guidelines will be complete.

The Scottish Government published a series of refreshed GIRFEC policy and practice guidance to provide practitioners and professionals working with children, young people and their families with the confidence, clarity and practical support to continue to embed the GIRFEC approach.

We are now considering a single planning process for children and young people. A collaborative and pragmatic approach will be taken in the development of any new planning guidance and subsequent impact on statutory and non-statutory plans.

This work is currently on track and progress is set out in our second progress report for the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan published in November 2022.

A further progress update is due to be published in May 2024.

Question reference: S6W-16926

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether scheme articles under the proposed Deposit Return Scheme are deemed to create a new category of waste for the purposes of waste collection services and monitoring.

Question reference: S6W-16748

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider bringing forward an amendment to the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill to include provisions on snaring.

Question reference: S6W-16909

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement with local authorities it (a) has had and (b) plans to have in the next six months, in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme.

We are supporting local authorities to prepare for the introduction of the scheme. Our scheme will mean that local authorities will have less waste to handle, as well as reduce litter and associated clean-up costs, which is good for residents and council budgets. The Scottish Government is supporting Scottish councils to modernise recycling services, and align with our forthcoming deposit return scheme.

The Scottish Government has met regularly with representatives of local authority waste management via the DRS System-Wide Assurance Group that met 13 times since February 2022. Local authorities remain a key partner and will continue to be part of the programme management structures.

Question reference: S6W-17051

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates introducing its proposed bill to legislate to reform the regulation of legal services and whether it will include any provisions that would put into regulation any rules and guidance currently set out on a voluntary basis by the Law Society of Scotland.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on the 20 April 2023. Information about the Bill can be found on the Scottish Parliament website here .

The powers of the Law Society of Scotland are already well established in legislation, within the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 and the provisions of the Bill are intended to improve and modernise their regulatory function.

The Bill will provide for a modern regulatory framework designed to promote competition and innovation while also improving the transparency and accountability of legal services regulation and the legal complaints system in Scotland.

The Bill introduces a modern set of regulatory objectives and professional principles, while incorporating key aspects of the Better Regulation, the Consumer Principles and the Human Rights (PANEL) Principles, that legal services regulators will require to adhere to. The Bill contains provisions setting out how the independent regulatory committee of the Law Society of Scotland should operate, intended to increase transparency and accountability of legal services regulation. The Bill also introduces provisions about how certain businesses that provide legal services should be regulated, introducing entity regulation and with it stronger protections for consumers, intended to complement existing regulation rather than introduce duplication.

The Bill is designed to take a proportionate approach that seeks to balance and deliver the key priorities of all stakeholders. The Scottish Government has committed to continue to work collaboratively with stakeholders in respect of this reform, and throughout the parliamentary passage of the Bill.

Question reference: S6W-17022

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop new Help to Buy schemes for first-time buyers.

The Scottish Government does not plan to reopen or develop new Help to Buy schemes for first-time buyers.

Key findings from the evaluation of the Scottish Government’s shared equity schemes showed that 80% of Help to Buy buyers would have been able to purchase a property which met their needs without financial assistance.

We continue to support home ownership through various interventions to help first time buyers. This includes our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home either through the open market (Open Market Shared Equity) or new build (New Supply Shared Equity). Support is also available through the Self Build Loan Fund.

Question reference: S6W-16821

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many miles of hedgerow have been (a) reinstated and (b) planted through schemes such as the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, in each year for which data is available.

The Scottish Government supports and funds the creation and restoration of hedgerows in Scotland through the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) and the Agri Environment Climate Scheme (AECS).

A breakdown of the total miles of hedgerows reinstated and planted through NRF is not routinely collected and any information about hedgerows is gathered under a more general ‘habitat’ metric, therefore this data cannot be provided.

The total miles of hedgerow that have been reinstated and planted through AECS, in each year, is set out in the following table. There was no hedgerow creation in 2022 as the restricted round in 2021 did not include the hedgerow options.

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020		2021		2023
Planted - Creation of hedgerows (miles)	41	43	57	64	99	3		79
Reinstated - Restoration of existing hedgerows (miles)	3	5	6	9	7	1		4

Please note, the figures above are what was committed to through AECS contracts. This capital item’s unit of measurement is linear metres, and the conversion rate used was 1 metre = 0.00062137 miles.

Question reference: S6W-16908

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the chief executive of Tesco that the Deposit Return Scheme is "not fit for purpose", and what work it is doing to engage with the UK’s main supermarkets on this issue.

Following the announcement of the new launch date, the First Minister and the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity met with senior industry representatives, including the main supermarkets, to discuss the scheme. While Tesco was invited they were unable to send a representative, however the First Minister was able to meet with the Tesco’s CEO and their Head of Communications & Devolved Government Relations in London of 25 April. The Scottish Government is continuing to work with industry, both producers and retailers, to ensure that when Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme launches on 1 March 2024 it works for all.

Question reference: S6O-02195

Asked by: Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authorities to tackle child hunger during the school holidays.

We are providing local authorities with £21.75 million to help families, who are eligible for free school meals on the basis of low income, with the cost of buying food during the 2023-24 school holidays.

This funding forms part of the most generous Free School Meals package anywhere in the UK.

In addition, by the end of this Parliament we are committed to building a system of year-round school age childcare, for those on the lowest incomes, that will integrate food and childcare provision where appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-17478

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16028 by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023, how many times it has disclosed (a) ministerial and (b) official correspondence conducted by WhatsApp in each year since 2019.

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in WhatsApp or similar messaging apps. This responsibility is discharged through the relevant business units who have the responsibility for capturing this information as set out in the Scottish Government Records Management Policy.

The Scottish Government has released such messaging exchanges in response to Freedom of Information requests. However, to ascertain the number of responses which have included such exchanges since 2019, would require officials to individually check every FOI response the Scottish Government has issued since the beginning of 2019. For that reason, this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.