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-14621

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether specific funding has been allocated to SEPA to allow it to prosecute any retailers in breach of Deposit Return Scheme regulations.

Question reference: S6W-14626

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that guidance on what would be considered a GS1 compliant barcode within the Deposit Return Scheme has not yet been published; what discussions it has had with (a) Circularity Scotland and (b) SEPA regarding this, and when it expects this guidance to be published.

Circularity Scotland set out the requirement to use a GS1 compliant barcode in 2021 and this has not changed – it is an international standard. The ability to use a UK-wide EAN barcode within Scotland’s DRS was confirmed by SEPA in summer 2022. Guidance on the use of barcode stickers, to support smaller producers who don’t currently use them on their products, will be published shortly by the Scheme Administrator.

Question reference: S6W-14604

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how schools can access free safety gloves, clothing and litter pickers to help keep children safe when participating in litter picks.

The Scottish Government expects local authorities to exercise their statutory responsibilities and deliver a safe environment for all school users.

Generally, local authorities in Scotland will offer schools basic litter picking equipment such as litter pickers and safety gloves. We are also aware that some schools may hold their own litter picking equipment that may have been provided by a variety of sources, for example from a local business or other donor.

Schools can also access litter picking equipment through charity initiatives such as Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Community Clean Up Hubs, which are located across Scotland. Guidance on organising and undertaking a safe litter pick can be found on the organisation’s website.

Question reference: S6W-14788

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08412 by Lorna Slater on 19 May 2022, whether it will provide an update on the total funding allocated to local authorities since the Recycling Improvement Fund was established, broken down by local authority area.

The following figures are correct as at December 2022, when the last Recycling Improvement Fund Board was convened.

Council Area	Number of Funded Projects	Total Funding Award
Aberdeenshire	2	£3,689,328
Aberdeen City	3	£937,515
City of Edinburgh	1	£8,492,841
Clackmannanshire	1	£29,688
Dundee City	1	£87,962
East Lothian	1	£2,747,531
Fife	1	£470,000
Glasgow City	1	£21,202,000
Highland	1	£208,500
Midlothian	2	£166,185
North Ayrshire	2	£82,391
Perth and Kinross	1	£2,644,075
Renfrewshire	1	£346,107
South Ayrshire	1	£90,000
Stirling	1	£234,035
West Lothian	1	£4,047,223
Western Isles	1	£846,012
Total	22	£46,321,393

Question reference: S6W-14789

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08412 by Lorna Slater on 19 May 2022, how many individual bids have local authorities made to the Recycling Improvement Fund since it was established, broken down by local authority area.

The following figures are correct as at December 2022, when the last Recycling Improvement Fund Board was convened.

Local Authority	Number of Bids
Aberdeen City	6
Aberdeenshire	2
Argyll & Bute	2
City of Edinburgh	1
Clackmannanshire	4
Dumfries & Galloway	1
Dundee	3
East Lothian	1
Falkirk	1
Fife	2
Glasgow	3
Highland	2
Midlothian	3
North Ayrshire	3
North Lanarkshire	2
Moray	1
Orkney	1
Perth & Kinross	1
Renfrewshire	3
South Ayrshire	2
South Lanarkshire	3
Stirling	1
West Lothian	1
Western Isles	2
Total	51

Question reference: S6W-15164

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of upskirting were received by Police Scotland in the most recent year for which data is available, broken down by the number that (a) were investigated, (b) resulted in prosecution and (c) resulted in conviction.

The amendment to Section 9 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 provided for offences of 'upskirting' to be prosecuted under subsections (4A) and (4B). The Scottish Government does not hold information on investigations (question (a)). The answer to questions (b) and (c) is provided in the following table.

Please note that the latest available data is for the financial year 2020-21. Data for 2021-22 are expected in Summer 2023 following publication of the 'Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2021-22' statistical bulletin.

Table 1. People prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts under Section 9(4A) and (4B) of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, where main charge, 2011-12 to 2020-21.

Financial year	People prosecuted	People convicted
2011-12	2	2
2012-13	2	2
2013-14	4	4
2014-15	1	1
2015-16	4	4
2016-17	3	3
2017-18	3	3
2018-19	4	4
2019-20	4	4
2020-21	5	4

Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be reflective of long term trend.

Source: Criminal Proceedings database

Question reference: S6W-14661

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what process local authorities will be required to follow to redeem deposits from containers entering the kerbside collection system rather than returned through the deposit return scheme.

The DRS Regulations require that from 2025 at least 90% of scheme articles are to be collected through the scheme, therefore the amount of bottles and cans collected by local authorities is likely to be very low.

Local authorities will have flexibility to decide how to redeem deposits from containers entering the kerbside collection and should contact the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland, for advice and guidance.

Question reference: S6W-14700

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13966 by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2023, how much it has spent each year on advertising the service.

Spend for traditional marketing of the Near Me video consulting service was predominantly undertaken through local Health Boards responsible for ensuring the service is appropriately advertised. Wider communication and promotion of the service has been taken forward through programme costs as part of a collaborative approach to implementation.

However, the Scottish Government have invested in communications for Near Me including online resources, online content and website development, though again this was all managed by core programme staff costs and cross-sector collaboration. The programme utilised existing mechanisms such as tv interviews, press releases and First Minister daily briefings.

The Near Me website ( https://www.nearme.scot/ ) was developed in-house and is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland. £10,000 was spent to develop and update Near Me’s animated videos. These help promote the service and are used as a training resource for both staff and callers. Further spend of £700 was used for the translation of key support and guidance for the public into different languages. Cost was minimised as the work was undertaken in collaboration with the NHS in Wales. The development of an equalities impact assessment (eqia) and public engagement exercise which reached in excess of 5,000 people and 500 organisations were undertaken through core staff costs.

The programme has been working alongside key staff such as receptionists to support increased promotion of Near Me as a choice in how people can access an appointment.

Question reference: S6W-14751

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many families in each NHS board area have been provided with support for running costs for health equipment in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-14746

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what sector-specific skills development plan it has with the renewables energy sector.

Ensuring the development and availability of sector-specific skills is central to a just transition towards reaching our net-zero targets.

We will be taking forward work on sector-specific skills needs for the renewable energy sector as we finalise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan and the refresh of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan.

In addition, through our work on oil and gas analysis, which will be published in due course, we are developing our understanding of the opportunities in sectors across the energy economy, and we will use that to inform future skills work.