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-15006

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Network Rail has presented a revised proposal to Transport Scotland for the proposed North Hanover Street improvement project at Glasgow Queen Street Railway Station, following its deferral in the 2020 Scottish Government Capital Spending Review.

Question reference: S6W-14906

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) homeowners have disputed and (b) buildings have been the subject of disputes of, the findings of a single building assessment to date.

Question reference: S6W-15955

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s Final Report of the Exotic Pet Working Group, including its recommendations to (a) introduce a "positive list" of species that are legally permitted to be kept as pets and (b) ban the importation of wild-caught animals for the pet trade.

Question reference: S6W-15628

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what grant support it is providing to Larkhall and District Volunteer Group to ensure that the organisation has sustainable funding for the services that it provides for the local community.

In 2022-23 Larkhall and District Volunteer Group have received:

£108,467 from our Plugged-in Communities fund to support the purchase of a zero emission community transport vehicle, we also provided a grant of £1,999 from our EV infrastructure fund which supported the purchase and installation of electric vehicles infrastructure to support the new vehicle.
They have successfully applied for £5,704 in continued support from the Open Fund for their Shopping Buses project, delivery of which will extend in to 2023/24.
They have also claimed £3,259.30 through the Network Support Grant.

Question reference: S6W-15473

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what powers are available to (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies to take action to address empty homes in Scotland.

The range of powers include:

Compulsory Purchase Orders - that enable local authorities and public bodies to compulsory purchase land or buildings.
Provision within Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 for local authorities to issue a work notice requiring a home owner to bring a sub-standard home into a reasonable state of repair.
Statutory nuisance provision within Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008 which can be used by local authorities and public bodies.
The Council Tax (Variation for Unoccupied Dwellings)(Scotland) Regulations 2013 (S.S.I. 2013/45) – enables local authorities to vary the level of discount on certain homes that have been empty for more than 6 months and to remove the discount and charge a premium on certain homes that have been empty for 12 months or more.

Question reference: S6W-15928

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government’s legislation to introduce compulsory pet cat microchipping in England to help reunite lost cats with their owners, whether it plans to introduce similar legislation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats recommends that all cat owners should consider neutering and microchipping their pets as the best way of being reunited with their rightful owners, should they be separated.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has established a working group to consider the microchipping of cats and the UK Government’s recently published draft legislation. Scottish Ministers will carefully consider their findings once published.

The Scottish Government remains willing to consider areas where consistent changes to legislation in all GB administrations will improve the welfare of kept animals and strengthen the prospects of separated animals being returned to their families.

Question reference: S6W-15783

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12361 by Mairi McAllan on 1 December 2022, whether it will provide an update regarding the date on which it anticipates that the goose management policy review report will be published.

As set out in the answer to S6W-15782 on 20 March 2023, stakeholders will be consulted on a draft report in April. Following this the Steering Group will produce a final report which will be submitted to Ministers and published in due course thereafter.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-15714

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average administration cost per payment of the Scottish Child Payment has been to date, including both start-up costs and ongoing costs of administration.

As Social Security Scotland staff and systems are organised to provide more than one form of assistance, it is not possible to separately identify the cost of Scottish Child Payment administration.

In November 2022 the Scottish Child Payment was increased from £20 to £25 and extended to under 16s providing support to thousands of low income households.

The Scottish Government expect to spend £442 million on directly tackling child poverty through the Scottish Child Payment during 2023-24, this is significantly more than the £226 million expected to be spent in 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-15713

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the administration cost has been to date of delivering the (a) Social Security Scotland agency and (b) Scottish Child Payment.

Social Security Scotland’s administration costs are published in our Annual Report and Accounts . This document is laid before the Scottish Parliament annually.

Since 2018 our Annual Report and Accounts have recorded administration costs of:

2018-2019 - £12.8 million (part year)

2019-2020 - £36.0 million

2020-2021 - £130.3 million

2021-2022 - £194.9 million

These figures are the total cost of the organisation, which includes the cost of administering the Scottish Child Payment.

As Social Security Scotland staff and systems are organised to provide more than one form of assistance, it is not possible to separately identify the cost of Scottish Child Payment administration.

Question reference: S6W-14965

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for eligible businesses.

The Scottish Government is providing £11.6 million in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to administer the Scottish LEZ Support fund.

The LEZ Support Fund for households is a part of this LEZ Support Fund, and does not have separate admin costs. The following table therefore represents the whole LEZ Support Fund, this similarly applies to PQ S6W-14972 and PQ S6W-14963.

The administrative costs (which include EST staffing costs) are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.

Financial year	Administration cost	Funding being delivered through EST	Output
2020-21	£381,000	£1,759,738	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2021-22	£334,277	£3,706,925	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2022-23 (year to date)	£471,892	£4,695,326	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.