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-12323

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ensure that there is a sufficient number of teachers at Dargavel Primary School, in Bishopton.

Local councils are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

During the pandemic, the Scottish Government provided an additional £240m to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff. We have since committed further permanent funding of £145.5m a year to further support education staffing.

Question reference: S6W-12321

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding support it plans to make available to Renfrewshire Council to ensure that Dargavel Primary School, in Bishopton, can accommodate the reported larger than estimated school roll.

We are taking the capacity issues at Dargavel Primary School very seriously.

We are aware that Renfrewshire Council is currently working on a long-term solution for the school, and has committed to engaging with parents and carers on proposals. My officials will continue to engage with the Council throughout that process. To date, the Council has not requested any assistance from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-12422

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to procure the C-19 YRS app to help people with Long COVID manage their symptoms.

NHS National Services Scotland is currently conducting a procurement process to robustly assess digital products available to support the assessment and screening of people with long COVID, and determine which one is best placed to meet the needs highlighted by NHS Boards.

This national procurement process is expected to identify a preferred supplier shortly, after which licences for the selected product would be procured.

Question reference: S6W-12398

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will be represented by any (a) Scottish Ministers, (b) elected politicians and (c) officials at the World Cup in Qatar.

Question reference: S6W-12336

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider making a regulation in exercise of the power conferred by sections 17(2), (3) and (3ZA) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to test a 30 mph speed limit on the length of the M8 between Junction 22 and Junction 15, which is the area originally designated as the Glasgow Inner Ring Road, in order to assess its impact on traffic congestion and the reportedly dangerous levels of vehicle noise and emissions pollution in the inner urban area of Glasgow caused by both the current 50 mph limit and scale of the motorway infrastructure.

Question reference: S6W-12364

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that Transport Scotland may entrust the provision of Caledonian Sleeper passenger services to a company owned and controlled by the Scottish Ministers and make a direct award of a public service contract in that regard, and in light of Article 5 (2) or Article 5 (6) of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007, whether it will award the contract to operate the Caledonian Sleeper service to a company owned by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-12257

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the reopening of the railway between Dumfries and Stranraer.

An option for reopening the rail line between Dumfries and Stranraer was assessed as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). The outcome of this was that this option did not form part of the strategic transport investment recommendations within STPR2.

Instead, recommendations set out in STPR2 for rail focus on the decarbonisation of the remainder of the network; measures to increase the amount of freight travelling by rail, including on the key routes in South West Scotland serving Stranraer and Dumfries; and on improving connectivity between our major cities.

However, there remains a path for regional or local rail projects to come forward, and Transport Scotland will consider these subject to a strong business case being developed in accordance with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and suitable funding being available.

Question reference: S6W-12274

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08565 by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022, which states that 124 affected families had been contacted directly by NHS Lothian and offered a retest by that point, how many (a) families had been contacted directly by NHS Lothian and offered a retest of their child, (b) affected children had had a retest of their hearing or other appropriate audiological intervention, (c) affected children had an appointment but had not been seen and (d) affected children had been found to have a previously unidentified or misidentified hearing impairment as a result of having had a retest of their hearing, by 1 November 2022.

Question reference: S6W-12139

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on promotion of the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme to date, broken down by spend on the national marketing campaign and spend on other costs.

A national marketing campaign for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme was launched in autumn 2022. This has helped to increase awareness and understanding of the scheme and encouraged more young people to apply. PR and marketing activity was also undertaken during COP26 between October and December 2021 to promote the scheme ahead of its launch.

The following table provides the spend as at 15 November 2022 (inclusive of VAT where applicable) for the two campaigns.

In addition, stakeholder communications to over 300 public, transport, private and third sector organisations has been undertaken throughout 2022 at no additional cost.

	Spend (as at 15 Nov 2022)
National Marketing Campaign Autumn 2022	£932,475
COP26 PR and Marketing Autumn 2021	£204,656
Total	£1,137,131

Question reference: S6W-12360

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the impact on Scotland on whether the climate compatibility checkpoint design, published by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 22 September 2022, is sufficiently robust in relation to allowing the approval of new oil and gas fields, in light of the International Energy Agency report, Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, which states that no new oil and gas fields are required to limit global warming to 1.5C.

My response to the UK Government consultation in March made clear that any credible and effective package of conditionality tests must include both domestic and international dimensions - extending to at least all of the six tests outlined in the consultation document.

The First Minister also called on the UK Government for a four nations’ discussions to agree on a final Climate Compatibility Checkpoint process which was ignored. The UKCCC said that any effective and credible climate compatibility checkpoint for offshore oil and gas licensing must extend beyond new licensing rounds to also cover fields that are already consented but not yet in production.

It is extremely disappointing that the Climate Compatibility Test proposed by the UK Government is limited to new exploration, and that the bar has been set so low in terms of the Test itself. It is particularly unfortunate that the Climate Compatibility Checkpoint fails to consider the impact of emissions associated with the use as well as the production of fossil fuels on the world’s climate commitments made in Paris and reaffirmed in the Glasgow Climate Pact.

It is a lightweight version of the Test consulted upon earlier this year.