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-14310

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many potholes there are on the road network.

Transport Scotland, through its Trunk Road Operating Companies and Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all potholes that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. These are defined as Category 1 defects within the term maintenance contract, which also sets out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale with permanent repairs required 28 days. The number of Category 1 potholes identified and awaiting repair changes daily in response to ongoing inspections and repair work.

The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes identified and repaired in each of the last five whole years.

Financial Year	Number of Potholes
2017-2018	13,354
2018-2019	11,989
2019-2020	12,660
2020-2021	12,949
2021-2022	9,679

Question reference: S6W-14309

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure for the £147.471 million allocated to Other Board Services and Miscellaneous Income as part of the line for Covid-19 Funding and Other Services (restated) in the draft Scottish Budget 2023-24.

Despite the UK Government stepping back from COVID funding from 2022-23, there remain COVID related pressures and costs across the system. The 2022-23 health budget provides for test and protect, PPE and the ongoing vaccination programme, including costs relating to delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations and the extended seasonal flu vaccination as well as staff, venues and storage. The £147.471 million represents the net of these costs once partially offset by income related to dental and miscellaneous services which is also included in this budget line.

Question reference: S6W-14292

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the suitability of the Scottish supply chain to support the manufacture of (a) reverse vending machines and (b) component parts, as part of the delivery of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-14293

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13162 by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022, whether it will provide a list of the industry stakeholders, including trade associations and businesses, that the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has met with to discuss the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme, and when such meetings took place.

Question reference: S6W-14277

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-01324 by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022, what evidence it used to substantiate the statement that “we expect the vast majority of buildings that will be assessed to be found to be safe” prior to any form of building assessment for combustible cladding materials.

Buildings within the scope of the Cladding Remediation Programme will be subject to a process of increasing assessment scrutiny.

A baseline assessment will identify those buildings which require a full assessment based on an evaluation of fire risk.

The proportion of buildings identified as requiring a full assessment is likely to be low when considering the total number of eligible buildings. This assessment is in line with a House of Commons analysis of the scale of the problems in England.

Single Building Assessments are demand-led and are free for all buildings with residential flatted properties regardless of tenure.

Question reference: S6W-14294

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13230 by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022, over what period the data used for the modelling by Zero Waste Scotland was collected from local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-14233

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent to date on a Biodiversity Investment Plan, as set out in the new Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, and how many civil servants have worked on delivering this.

Following the recent publication of the draft biodiversity strategy, a delivery plan is now being developed and this will include the development of an investment plan. The delivery plan is being led jointly by Scottish Government and NatureScot officials, drawing on engagement from key policy areas and across a wider network which includes significant stakeholder engagement. No expenditure has therefore been directly devoted to the development of the Biodiversity Investment Plan yet.

Question reference: S6W-14232

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any external organisations or individuals have provided paid consultancy services to date in relation to the development of a Biodiversity Investment Plan, as set out in the new Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, and, if so, which external organisations or individuals have done so.

Question reference: S6W-14476

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any (a) grant funding and (b) loans provided by Architecture and Design Scotland for each year since 2007-08.

Architecture and Design Scotland works to help deliver Scottish Ministers’ policies and objectives for the built and natural environment by providing advice, resources and advocacy, and through a programme of projects and initiatives. It does not provide grants or loans to external organisations.

In 2014-15 Architecture and Design Scotland facilitated the Stalled Spaces Scotland project on behalf of Scottish Government which provided funding to local authorities to enable stalled space projects to be delivered with communities. The following table details the local authorities and amounts awarded. Those organisations were required to match fund the award.

Local Authority Area	Funding awarded (£)
Angus	10,000
Argyll and Bute	5,000
East Dunbartonshire	15,000
East Renfrewshire	10,000
Fife	12,000
North Ayrshire	15,000
Renfrewshire	10,000

Question reference: S6W-14489

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an estimate of how long it will take Registers of Scotland to clear any backlog of title holders who are awaiting copies of their title deeds.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that, following the impact of the pandemic, RoS has stabilised and started to improve the position this year, in line with the strategy set out in their Corporate Plan .

RoS has committed to clearing the stock of older casework within the duration of the current Corporate Plan. RoS is in fact slightly ahead of target on their strategic objectives and the series of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to measure progress. KPI statistics are published quarterly on the RoS website .