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-01325

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take in light of reported figures showing that sexual and violent crime in Scotland has risen significantly over the last five years.

Question reference: S6F-01315

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the First Minister, in light of the loss of life as a result of road traffic incidents on the A9 over the summer, on sections of the road that have not been dualled, what plans the Scottish Government has to publish a timetable setting out when the dualling of the A9, and A96, will be delivered.

Question reference: S6F-01311

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01310

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-10265

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09275 by Tom Arthur on 12 July 2022, how many homes are proposed to be built as part of each successful application, and, of those, how many homes will be (a) partly and (b) fully funded.

The following table outlines how many homes are proposed to be built as part of each successful application for the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP provides funding to cover capital costs associated with remediating and unblocking long-term vacant and derelict land sites. Additional funding to support the delivery of new homes, where this is part of the project proposals, is considered as a part of the application process by the independent investment panel.

Applicant	Round	Project Proposal	Award	Homes proposed	Funding arrangement
City of Edinburgh Council	1 (2021-22)	Western Villages Granton	£619,661	444	Part
Clyde Gateway	1 (2021-22)	Dalmarnock Riverside Park	£750,000	0	NA
East Dunbartonshire Council	1 (2021-22)	Kirkintilloch Community Sport Complex	£836,000	0	NA
East Renfrewshire Council	1 (2021-22)	Levern Water Revival	£1,084,661	0	NA
Falkirk Council	1 (2021-22)	Lionthorn Bing Greenspace Project	£563,621	0	NA
Glasgow City Council	1 (2021-22)	Belle Gro'@ The Meat Market	£450,474	0	NA
Glasgow City Council	1 (2021-22)	Transforming Avenue End Road Greenspace	£417,812	0	NA
Inverclyde Council	1 (2021-22)	6FootLab	£69,000	0	NA
South Lanarkshire Council	1 (2021-22)	Clyde Cycle Park	£296,000	0	NA
South Lanarkshire Council	1 (2021-22)	ONECarluke Community Growing	£84,150	0	NA
City of Edinburgh Council	2 (2022-23)	Greendykes North affordable housing	£623,713	133	Part
Clyde Gateway	2 (2022-23)	D2 GRIDS	£664,000	0	NA
East Dunbartonshire Council	2 (2022-23)	Twechar Canal Regeneration Project	£614,925	15	Part
Glasgow City Council	2 (2022-23)	Hamiltonhill Green Infrastructure Project	£924,911	0	NA
Glasgow City Council	2 (2022-23)	Ruchazie Greening and Growing project	£670,000	0	NA
Inverclyde	2 (2022-23)	Carwood Street Food Growing Project	£69,500	0	NA
Inverclyde	2 (2022-23)	HSCP Community Learning	£990,000	0	NA
North Ayrshire Council	2 (2022-23)	Annickbank Innovation Campus, Irvine Enterprise Area	£400,000	0	NA
North Lanarkshire Council	2 (2022-23)	Glenmanor Greenspace	£230,911	0	NA
West Dunbartonshire Council	2 (2022-23)	Community Food Growing – Former Bonhill PS	£100,000	0	NA

Question reference: S6W-10274

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses (a) have signed up to and (b) are eligible for the Scotland Loves Local gift card scheme, broken down by local authority area.

All businesses with a bricks and mortar presence in their community are eligible to sign up, except for gambling and betting businesses. As of 16 August 2022, 3,839 businesses have signed up to the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card scheme. The table below details the number of businesses that have signed up to the scheme by local authority area.

	Scotland Loves Local Registered Merchants

Aberdeen		234
Aberdeenshire		112
Angus		35
Argyll and Bute		117
Clackmannanshire		14
Dumfries and Galloway		92
Dundee		141
East Ayrshire		218
East Dunbartonshire		88
East Lothian		139
East Renfrewshire		51
Edinburgh		261
Falkirk		164
Fife		116
Glasgow		843
Highland		142
Inverclyde		16
Midlothian		31
Moray		119
Na h-Eileanan an iar		42
North Ayrshire		45
North Lanarkshire		75
Orkney		9
Perth and Kinross		170
Renfrewshire		120
Scottish Borders		32
Shetland		3
South Ayrshire		127
South Lanarkshire		102
Stirling		51
West Dunbartonshire		48
West Lothian		82
		3,839

Question reference: S6W-10266

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what steps it is taking and (b) how it is working with local authorities and further and higher education institutions, to encourage the uptake of a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme by young people in schools, colleges and universities.

Transport Scotland has recently undertaken a significant engagement exercise with local authorities, in partnership with the Improvement Service and National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). This has allowed us to assess offline application processes, including capacity and uptake of applications through schools, and we have provided additional support to facilitate this where it has been requested.

We have provided a communications toolkit and promotional materials to local authorities, schools, further education bodies and a wide range of other stakeholders. Engagement has been positive with the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Universities Scotland, Colleges Scotland, and others, who have aided in the promotion of the scheme to students through college and university networks.

Transport Scotland also launched freebus.scot in May to help improve communications about the scheme, simplify information about the application process, emphasise the benefits of the scheme, provide tips for safe travel and, ultimately, increase uptake across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10272

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to spend on the A77 in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S6W-10268

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals in Scotland are currently prohibited from donating blood, because they received a blood transfusion after 1980.

Question reference: S6W-10269

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the extent to which there is a risk of transmitting Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease through a blood donation from an individual who received a blood transfusion after 1980.

In 2004, the UK Advisory Committee on Microbiological Safety of Blood and Tissues for Transplantation (MSBT) advised that people who have received a blood transfusion since 1980 should no longer be allowed to donate blood in order to reduce the risks of transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) via a blood transfusion. The then Scottish Executive accepted those recommendations.

The Scottish Government now takes its advice on blood safety from the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), which has replaced MSBT as the expert Committee advising Ministers on these matters. This matter is therefore for SaBTO to advise on and they have not suggested that this policy should change. In 2019, SaBTO advised (in its Paediatric Components Working Group report) that certain measures originally implemented to reduce risks of transmission of vCJD were no longer required; however, it advised that all other vCJD risk reduction measures should remain in place.