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: S6F-02180

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the First Minister what priority the Scottish Government gives to protecting Scotland's environment.

Question reference: S6F-02174

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02175

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-18051

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether entitlement to the Small Business Bonus Scheme should be granted automatically to eligible ratepayers, as opposed to it having to be claimed for.

Public bodies have a duty to manage public finances appropriately and this includes ensuring that procedures for administering relief are suitably robust.

Most reliefs generally require an application to be made to the local authority except for universally available reliefs. This is because applications help local authorities determine whether a property is eligible for a particular relief.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme relief is available for properties where the rateable value of the property does not exceed £20,000 and where the rateable value of all of the ratepayer’s properties does not exceed £35,000 and where the property is not used for an excluded purpose.

An application for Small Business Bonus Scheme relief therefore requires ratepayers to declare information regarding their non-domestic properties in Scotland, allowing local authorities to determine whether the eligibility criteria for the relief is met.

Question reference: S6W-17986

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the Minister for Transport has confirmed that Amey has carried out repairs to potholes on the A90 between Fraserburgh and Peterhead and that the operating company is currently programming permanent repairs, when it expects (a) Amey to have concluded the programming of permanent repairs and (b) the permanent repairs to have been completed.

As part of the ongoing management and maintenance of the A90 trunk road, Amey Ltd (Transport Scotland’s operating company for the North East area of Scotland) prepares and delivers a 1-year programme of works, based upon the findings from their continual inspections of the network. These can include larger carriageway resurfacing schemes, more localised patching works or individual pothole patch repairs.

This 1-year programme is agreed with Transport Scotland before the start of the financial year and as with all programmes of this nature, remains under review depending on the findings of subsequent inspections and any reprioritisation.

In terms of resurfacing works on the A90, schemes at Crimond, South of Crimond and South of St Fergus were completed during the last financial year (2022-23). These schemes provided an investment of £1.2 million on the A90 between Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

Additionally, Amey has programmed the following patching schemes for delivery in 2023-24 in the A90 Fraserburgh to Peterhead area.

Route	Location	Brief Description of project	Construction Start Date	Construction End Date	Value
A90	Berryslacks	Machine Patching	01-08-2023	30-08-2023	£30,000
A90	South of Leask	Machine Patching	01-08-2023	30-08-2023	£30,000
A90	Lunderton Layby to St Fergus Cemetery	Machine Inlay Patching	01-09-2023	30-09-2023	£150,000
A90	South of St Fergus	Machine Inlay Patching	01-09-2023	30-09-2023	£150,000
A90	Logie Lodges to B9033	Machine Inlay Patching	01-09-2023	30-09-2023	£150,000
A90	Cortes Village	Machine Patching	01-11-2023	30-11-2023	£30,000
A90	Philorth	Machine Inlay Patching	01-11-2023	30-11-2023	£60,000

As noted in our recent correspondence, my reply of 20 April referred to thirty Category 1 defects between Fraserburgh and Peterhead, which Amey had temporarily repaired to make safe. Since then, 9 of these were permanently repaired within the following 28 days. For the remaining defects, engineers have reviewed and determined that, on this occasion it is more effective to undertake more substantial patching at these locations. Given the proximity and nature of these locations, this approach will capture a wider area of repair than singular repairs, adding longevity but with less disruption to the travelling public.

Question reference: S6W-18006

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Target Ovarian Cancer's recent report, Pathfinder Scotland: Faster, further, and fairer, what steps it is taking to address the reported variation in (a) survival and (b) access to surgery.

Question reference: S6W-18126

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what licensing provisions Forestry and Land Scotland has in place regarding the disturbance of red squirrels during commercial forestry operations.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) take the protection of priority species within our woodlands, such as red squirrels, very seriously, and when appropriate conduct their operations out with the Red Squirrel breeding season to avoid disturbance.

FLS adhere to the industry guidance set by the Scottish Government forestry regulator, Scottish Forestry, and where necessary apply for and follow the species licencing process regulated by NatureScot. They are recognised as a trusted and competent land manager and have an agreed licencing process in place that reflects that recognition.

FLS have rigorous planning systems, checks and procedures with accompanying guidance to ensure all regulations and licence requirements to protect species are followed.

Question reference: S6W-18087

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many electronic messages it has sent to the National Records of Scotland to be archived, since the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.

Question reference: S6W-17993

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17458 by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2023, what its position is on whether the extension of the current operating hours of the Glasgow Subway is an opportunity to improve public transport services in the city, and whether it is a consideration in the planning of the wider Clyde Metro by Transport Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18014

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authorities have written off school meal debt in each year since 1999.

The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as the management of debt is an issue for education authorities and their finance departments.

The Scottish Government is aware, however, that Glasgow City Council announced at the end of March that it would write off outstanding school meal debts at all schools under its management at a cost of around £300,000 to the council; City of Edinburgh Council cancelled £64,000 of outstanding school meal debts in August 2022 and, earlier this month, councillors at Midlothian Council announced they had cancelled all outstanding school meal debts in the area totalling around £32,000.

Local authorities also have the power to make discretionary offers of free school meals to families, where they are experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances, if they do not meet the regular eligibility criteria.

COSLA, working with partners from across Local Government, have developed a set of good practice principles for the management of school meal debt, which were published on 20 February 2023. The intended audience for these principles is local authority staff across a range of departments (including education, catering, finance and debt collection) as well as Head Teachers, class teachers and other school staff. The principles can be accessed through the following link: COSLA Publish Good Practice Principles for Managing School Meal Debt - 20th February 2023 | COSLA .