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-16616

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the £202.6 million figure that the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth stated to the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 7 March 2023 (Official Report, c. 14), whether it will provide a breakdown of this figure; whether the figure represented the projected cost of the Ferguson Marine contract or the actual cost, to date, and whether the figure included the (a) £45 million loan payments agreed for Ferguson Marine in 2017-18 and (b) payments from Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited to Ferguson Marine under the original contract of £83.25 million.

The £202.6 million is the cost included in David Tydeman’s letter to NZET committee of 28 September 2022. The breakdown of this figure is:

£202.6m split

	801	802
Cost to complete (m)	94.8	101.6
Contingency (m)	2.7	3.5
Total cost to complete	97.5	105.1

The member will likely be aware that due diligence is ongoing on the costs to complete figure. This figure is the estimated cost to complete both vessels since public ownership. It does not include the £45 million loan payments paid to Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) and it does not include the £83.25 million payment from Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to FMEL.

Question reference: S6W-16645

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicles the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has access to, and how many electric vehicle chargers are available for use by SCTS staff on or within SCTS premises.

Question reference: S6W-16646

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on repairs and maintenance, as outlined in the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service 2022-23 maintenance project list, to (a) Greenock Sheriff Court, including (i) door soundproofing, (ii) court room redecoration and (iii) boiler replacement, (b) roof access and bird netting at Ayr Sheriff Court and (c) Paisley Sheriff Court, including (A) car park relining and (B) the court room fan.

Question reference: S6W-16147

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an estimate of any time-related increases in the overhead costs in 2024 due to the extension of the timescale for delivery of Hull 802 by Ferguson Marine to later in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-16155

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government's Spring Budget announcement regarding the provision of funding support for swimming pools in England, whether it plans to provide similar financial assistance for swimming pools in Scotland, and, if so, what specific support can be directed at pools such as Bucksburn swimming pool in Aberdeen, which is reportedly due to close.

Question reference: S6W-16146

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Deputy First Minister's statement to the Parliament on 16 March 2023, whether it will provide a list of the “design gaps and build errors” regarding Hull 801, which were cited as the cause for the further revision to the timescale for delivery of the vessel by Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6W-16145

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to raise tree-planting rates from 10,000 hectares to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024-25, how many hectares of trees were planted in each of the past five years.

The Scottish Government’s woodland creation target will rise to 18,000 hectares per year by 2024-25, with an annual target for a minimum of 4,000 hectares of this newly created woodland to be native woodland.

Forest Research publishes official statistics for new woodland planting, which includes longer time series data. Data for the number of hectares of woodland planted in the past five years in Scotland is available here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/

Figures for new woodland creation for the past five financial years (1 April to 31 March) are as follows:

Year	England ‎ (thousand ha)	Wales ‎ (thousand ha)	Scotland ‎ (thousand ha)	Northern Ireland ‎ (thousand ha)	UK ‎ (thousand ha)
2017-18	1.50	0.20	7.14	0.21	9.05
2018-19	1.41	0.67	11.21	0.24	13.53
2019-20	2.36	0.08	11.05	0.20	13.68
2020-21	2.05	0.29	10.66	0.28	13.29
2021-22	2.26	0.58	10.48	0.54	13.84

Question reference: S6W-16148

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects to receive an indication of any time-related increases in the overhead costs in 2024 due to the extension of the timescale for delivery of Hull 802 by Ferguson Marine to later in 2024.

As advised in the answer to question S6W-16147 on 11 April 2023, the Scottish Government continues to conduct the necessary and proper financial due diligence on the delivery of 801 and 802, including on the funding request submitted by Ferguson Marine in September 2022 and following the revised delivery schedule submitted by Ferguson Marine in March 2023.

Ministers will update Parliament once this process has concluded.

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-16034

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each year since 2016-17.

Since 2016-2017, Creative Scotland has awarded a total of £17,135,309 to cultural organisations registered in England, £105,996 to those registered in Wales and £22,780 to those registered in Northern Ireland.

The majority of these awards have been made through Creative Scotland’s Open Funds , Screen Funding and the Four Nations International Fund for organisations and productions undertaking activity in Scotland and for organisations who receive funding from Creative Scotland but operate with a UK-wide remit.

Question reference: S6W-16021

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations of the Feeley Review of Adult Social Care that "priority is given to the establishing of the sector level body as a means to take forward the Fair Work recommendations in partnership" and "that body should also take the lead in creating national sector level collective bargaining of terms and conditions".

The Scottish Government have fully accepted the findings of the Feeley Review and we are working in partnership with stakeholders to implement its key recommendations. The Scottish Government are not waiting for the National Care Service to be established before we take action and we have continued to progress a number of key projects to take forward and improve Fair Work principles, including providing an additional £100m to increase the minimum rate of pay for adult social care workers to £10.90 per hour. Work is already underway to develop pay and bargaining arrangements ahead of the introduction of the NCS.

Through the National Care Service (NCS), The Scottish Government is going to continue to take forward its commitments to Fair Work for the social care sector, and to improve pay and conditions for workers, including through of national sectoral bargaining.