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-11777

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10334 by Mairi Gougeon on 13 September 2022, what proportion of the £564 million Common Agriculture Policy payments in 2021 was specifically allocated to support wool farmers.

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments are not specifically allocated to wool farmers. Sheep producers in Scotland are however eligible for a number of CAP support schemes including the Basic Payment Scheme (payments total circa. £418 million), Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (payments total circa. £62 million) and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (payments total circa £7 million).

Question reference: S6W-11624

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much the First Minister’s trip to the United States of America on 16-17 May 2022 cost.

Question reference: S6W-11561

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 in deaf children’s education.

Under the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, the Scottish Government has a British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan in place for 2017 to 2023 with 70 actions across ten long-term ambitions. The Scottish Government published the BSL Progress Report on 27 October 2021, which provided an update on the implementation of the National Plan. It shows progress on a range of fronts, including education, BSL/English interpreting, and public life. The report outlines how Scottish Government has funded BSL Partnership organisations to engage with and support public bodies in developing their BSL plans and notes important developments such as the decision that Scotland’s 2022 census would ask 'can you use BSL?' for the first time.

We will develop a new BSL National Plan for 2023 to 2029, which is due for publication in October 2023, and will undertake engagement and consultation to inform priorities.

Question reference: S6W-11478

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on what basis it awarded a contract to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP, which is reportedly worth £46,749, in relation to National Care Service VAT Support.

Question reference: S6W-11986

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11985

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11718

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether liquified natural gas-fuelled ferries have a role to play as part of its decarbonisation and net zero targets.

Question reference: S6W-11720

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out into the viability and effectiveness of hydrogen-fuelled ferries.

Question reference: S6W-11658

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in the (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde local authority area are eligible to receive a free laptop or tablet, and, of those, how many (i) have received and (ii) are yet to receive a free laptop or tablet.

The following table shows how many pupils are in each of the named local authorities (taken from the most recent pupil census data from 2021) and how many devices have been distributed by these local authorities, using £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21. In total, this funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and 72,000 devices for learners across all local authorities.

Local Authority	Pupils (2021 pupil census)	Devices Distributed (via SG digital inclusion funding 2020/21)
North Ayrshire	17,887	1,734
Inverclyde	9,805	1,107

Individual local authorities across Scotland have also undertaken their own digital inclusion schemes. The latest information we have available indicates that almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland.

We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-11678

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10792 by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Booking.com since 1 March 2022, and for any such bookings, what the (a) lowest, (b) highest and (c) average cost per night is, and what the (i) shortest, (ii) longest and (iii) average length of a stay in a hotel is.