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-01618

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Carbon Neutral Islands project.

Question reference: S6O-01635

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Age Scotland's report, Keeping the Doors Open.

Question reference: S6W-12509

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the recruitment of a permanent chair of the board of Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow).

The Scottish Government is pleased to announce that as of 1 December 2022 Andrew Miller will be appointed as the new Chair of the Board FMPG.

Andrew brings a wealth of experience from previous senior positions, including Chair of the Board of Prestwick Airport, and is clear on the strategic and commercial issues for the yard. I am confident his experience will help to deliver Ministerial priorities.

Question reference: S6W-11889

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10940 by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022, whether it has any plans to provide support for parents who cannot access online platforms, such as Parent Club, to access information and advice regarding parent and child rights in relation to the school starting age, and whether it will have a role in providing any other support for parents to help them understand their legal rights to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds.

Question reference: S6W-12013

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the reported reduction of the budget for COVID-19 measures by £116 million, as part of the reprioritisation of spending within Health and Social Care as announced in the emergency budget review on 2 November 2022, what consideration it gave to any impact on equality and fairness resulting from potentially exposing clinically-vulnerable patients to the disease who may be at a greater risk of infection.

The Scottish Government recognised the unprecedented nature of the changes required in the Emergency Budget Review and also published analysis of the equality and fairness impacts of the most substantive in-year adjustments. Given the exceptional circumstances and time constraints under which the Review was undertaken, the summary evidence was necessarily presented at a high level and focused on the most substantial changes.

In the case of the £116m reduction in Covid-related spending, this covers a range of actions on vaccinations, test and protect, PPE and additional capacity to drive down additional costs. It is important to note that the spending reduction is a consequence of reduced prevalence and hospitalisation rates resulted in evidence-based easing of infection prevention and control measures.

However, the impact on inequalities continues to be a focus, and includes measures to ensure uptake rates and activity aimed at reducing vaccine inequalities are not negatively affected.

We will continue to develop equality evidence, as well as mitigations wherever possible for negative impacts, including building on the evidence on inequalities in relation to COVID vaccination, testing and surveillance, for example as set out in the equality impact assessment for the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Strategic Framework update (February 2022).

Question reference: S6W-12221

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11686 by John Swinney on 28 October 2022, whether it will provide detail on what steps it will take to invest in innovation to boost productivity in Scotland.

Investing in our innovative businesses is a key priority of the Scottish Government and we are committed to becoming a world leading, innovation nation, to increasing productivity, growing our economy and creating sustainable, green jobs.

That is why this winter we will publish a new National Innovation Strategy for Scotland, that will set out our 10 year vision for Scotland to become one of the most innovative small nations in the world by 2032.

As investing in our innovative businesses is key to productivity growth, the strategy will introduce a comprehensive and joined up package of investment support.

We will build on the support already available to businesses through our Enterprise Agencies, who since 2017 have distributed around £600m directly to businesses to build their capacity and capability to innovate, and initiatives such as the Digital Development Grant, which since September 2020 has invested almost £50m to over 5,600 SMEs to help them utilise digital technologies and enhance workforce skills.

This will ensure that all of our businesses, people and institutions are ready and able to meet the global economic challenges and opportunities we face over the next ten years.

Question reference: S6W-12154

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered publishing alongside the new Climate Change Plan details of its policies and proposals related to greenhouse gas emissions not addressed by the UK inventory, such as marine carbon.

The next Climate Change Plan must include proposals and policies for the following sectors:

energy supply,
transport (including international aviation and shipping),
business and industrial process,
residential and public (in relation to buildings in those sectors),
waste management,
land use, land use change and forestry, and
agriculture.

We are considering other policies, proposals and actions that could be included in the Plan that are not included in the inventory, such as marine carbon.

Question reference: S6W-12155

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered publishing alongside its new Climate Change Plan details of its policies and views in relation to matters that are reserved, such as oil and gas licences.

As required by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Climate Change Plan will set out proposals and policies regarding the exploitation of fossil fuels.

In addition to setting out those proposals and policies, I intend for the Plan to set out the actions required by the UK Government on reserved matters in order for Scotland to meet its emissions reduction targets.

Question reference: S6W-12106

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the repatriation of funding from the Dick Bequest, which was reportedly gained through slavery in Jamaica and is used to fund educational projects in Aberdeenshire.

The Scottish Government does not have the legal power to direct charitable activity. That is a decision for the charity’s trustees, taking advice as appropriate, including from OSCR, and accordingly the Scottish Government is unable to intervene in this matter.

This government is clear that we must never ignore or seek to hide the difficult aspects of our country’s history and we acknowledge Scotland's complex past, including our involvement in the slave trade.

The working group, “Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums: Addressing our Colonial Legacy” has made recommendations about how best to manage, present and protect elements of our contested or hidden heritage. We are carefully considering our response to these recommendations and will be meeting with its members and Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) to discuss the best ways to take this work forward. As an initial step the Scottish Government has provided £68,000 to MGS, as the museums development body in Scotland, so they can begin to support the sector to address these recommendations.

The Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education Programme is considering how to embed anti-racism in education, including curriculum reform to ensure our historic past is accurately reflected.

Question reference: S6W-11888

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, from the implementation date of the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds, what data it expects to receive from local authorities regarding the number of four-year-olds for whom parents have accessed such automatic deferral funding.

There will be an Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) census in September 2023 which, as in previous years, will collect information on the number of deferrals but not on the age of the children. The new individual level child census, due to take place for the first time in May 2024, will collect data on children registered for funded ELC, including the date of birth of the child. At that point it will be possible to identify how many children registered for funded ELC were eligible under the change in legislation on deferrals. Some local authorities already provide funded ELC for deferred children regardless of the child’s birthday, so we will not be able to identify if these children would have been registered for funded ELC if the legislation was not changed.