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: S6O-01697

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter signed by over 500 businesses asking for the Deposit Return Scheme to be delayed beyond next summer.

Question reference: S6O-01695

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support off-gas-grid households during the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6O-01681

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its Covid Recovery Strategy considers the needs of rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-12659

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce tighter rules regarding local authorities, its agencies and businesses partnering with security and technology firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese government, such as Hikvision and Dahua Technology.

Question reference: S6W-12592

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the current (a) timescales, (b) plans and (c) legislative changes it plans to propose to reform the dual role of the Lord Advocate, in their capacity as head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and as a minister in the Scottish Government and its principal legal adviser, in line with its commitments to do so.

The Programme for Government published in September 2021 covered this Parliamentary session running up to March 2026. Within it, there is a commitment as follows:

'The Scottish Government’s law officers, amongst other roles, act as the head of the independent prosecution service and as members of the Scottish Government. We will consult on whether the prosecution and government functions of the law officers should be separated.'

Work is continuing to progress towards a Scottish Government consultation. Development of the consultation will be informed by an initial phase of expert research, which is currently underway. This research will ensure a detailed baseline understanding of the many distinct roles and functions of the Law Officers and will provide information on how the functions of Law Officers operate in other countries.

Question reference: S6W-12408

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-12102 by Kevin Stewart on 16 November 2022, how much in surplus COVID-19 reserves it has recouped from Integration Joint Boards to date.

With reference to S6W-12070 on 16 November 2022, we continue to work with IJBs to understand their financial forecasts. Therefore, no COVID-19 reserves have been recouped to date.

Further detail will be communicated later in the financial year at an IJB level and the process and timetable will follow through further communications.

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-12430

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider providing insurance for MSPs, similar to the policies offered to MPs, including professional indemnity insurance.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body currently maintains the following types of insurance that extend to MSPs:

Employers’ liability
Public / Products Liability
Travel and personal injury

There is currently no provision for Members in respect of professional indemnity insurance and there are no current proposals to expand the existing suite of insurance provision. If any such proposals were to be made, consideration would need to be given to the guidance on insurance set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and budget implications generally. In place of insurance, the SPCB approved the Legal Advice Scheme. This Scheme allows the SPCB’s Legal Services function to provide advice to Members subject to certain conditions and exclusions, either directly or through supporting the provision of advice by People Services or Standards Clerks. This covers legal disputes, claims or actions raised against Members when acting in their parliamentary or constituency role; advice in relation to employment of Members’ staff; and advice in relation to Code of Conduct issues.

Question reference: S6W-12650

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the reported cost overrun of the Cairngorm funicular railway repairs will have an impact on the funding available to other outdoor ski centres.

The cost of repairing the funicular has been met by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Scottish Government following approval of the business case by HIE’s Board and Scottish Ministers. Funding was ringfenced for this purpose and did not impact the funding available to other outdoor ski centres. Following the identification of the cost increases, additional funding has been provided by the Scottish Government to HIE in the current financial year. This has been funded by emerging underspends elsewhere across the capital budget and does not therefore impact on the funding available to other outdoor ski centres.

Question reference: S6W-12470

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much its Justice Directorate has spent on external management consultants in (a) 2012 and (b) each year since 2016.

The Justice portfolio has spent a total of £301,853.07 on external management consultants in 2012 and 2016-2019. This data relates to direct spend by the Scottish Government and does not include expenditure on consultancy services by public bodies. There was no spend on management consultancy services in the years 2020-2022. A breakdown of these costs is provided in the following table:

Year	Total	Business area
2012	£216,511.61	Police and Fire policy
2016	£3,904.60	Digital evidence sharing capability
2017	£26,973.46	Digital evidence sharing capability Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) job evaluation

	£2,000
2018	£51,168	Roadmap for transformation of the criminal justice sector
2019	£5,200	Independent Review into Police Complaints

Question reference: S6W-12667

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on proposals for extending fibre broadband coverage to the Uig area of the Isle of Lewis under the R100 programme.

According to Scottish Government records, there are a total of 361 properties in the Uig community council area. As of 5 December 2022:

234 properties are within R100 North contract build plans, with build expected to be completed no later than 2028.
127 properties are not included within R100 North contract build plans and, therefore, are eligible for a main voucher – worth up to £5,000 – through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS).
The Scottish Government’s address checker ( www.scotlandsuperfast.com ) shows the most recent plans and timescales for residential and commercial properties across Scotland with regards R100 contracts and R100SBVS.