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-08688

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has chosen a model whereby it provides grants to fund Single Building Assessments rather than commissioning this work to be carried out directly on its behalf.

A grant model was used to enable a quick start to the programme and to test the viability of an arm’s length delivery approach based on established principles behind Scotland’s property systems. Interim learning from this approach shows there is a need to move to a model based on directly procured contracts to speed and scale delivery and at lower overall risk. This change was announced to the Scottish Parliament by myself on 12 May 2022 - Update on cladding remediation programme: Cabinet Secretary's statement - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-08690

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Welsh Government’s plans to establish a support scheme to allow leaseholders to sell their property and where appropriate provide the option for them to either move on or rent the property back, which, reportedly, is to be funded by the Development Bank of Wales, what plans it has to establish such a scheme in Scotland, and whether it has explored the establishment of such a scheme with the Scottish National Investment Bank.

Question reference: S6W-08678

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings of the Cladding Stakeholder Group the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has attended since the group was established.

Question reference: S6W-08595

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to measure the success of its Super Sponsor scheme for Ukrainian refugees.

The Super Sponsor scheme was set up to provide a quick and safe route for displaced people from Ukraine. It is a national response that has rapidly established a round-the-clock operation, supported by multi-agency teams, local authorities, CoSLA and the third sector to support displaced Ukrainians and mare sure they are treated with compassion and care and their complex needs met.

We are working closely and collaboratively with our partners to ensure we rapidly respond to opportunities and resolve challenges and issues as they emerge, and ensuring that stakeholders and the direct experiences of those arriving in Scotland feeds directly into continuing to improve our programme.

Question reference: S6W-08773

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to each of the recommendations in the Community Land Scotland report, Community Wealth Building and a Just Transition to Net Zero, which was published in May 2022.

We welcome Community Land Scotland’s supportive commentary on the strategic Community Wealth Building (CWB) approach to economic development into all aspects of ownership and governance of land in Scotland.

CWB has a role to play in ensuring our journey towards net-zero is fair for all and that we achieve a just transition to an economy focused equally on prosperity and wellbeing. This includes the use of Land and Property, one of five key pillars of the CWB model.

To advance Community Wealth Building in Scotland, we have committed to introducing legislation during this Parliamentary session. This will involve consideration of a wide range of views and proposals.

Question reference: S6W-08815

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many domestic home fire safety visits have taken place in each of the last 10 years and, if there has been a decline, (a) for what reason the number has reduced and (b) what impact this has had on the number of households at risk of fire.

Question reference: S6W-08814

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the proposed reduction in the number of fire investigators in the east and north of the country will impact on the quality of service provided.

Question reference: S6W-08684

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to bring forward legislation in similar terms to the Building Safety Act 2022, which was recently passed by the UK Parliament.

The Building Safety Act 2002 is bringing forward a new regime for high rise buildings in England following Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of the building regulation system there, which concluded that the system was broken.

The reviews of compliance and enforcement and fire safety standards in Scotland following the Edinburgh schools report and the Grenfell Tower fire did not reach the same conclusion, but did recommend that strengthening of the system should be undertaken. The Building Standards Futures Board is leading change to improve our system through work streams on Digital Transformation, Workforce Strategy, Certification Strategy, Compliance Plan, Verification Delivery Model, Technical Strategy and Verification Standard.On 22 April new regulations were laid in Parliament to improve the safety of cladding on new buildings in Scotland and to ensure that replacement cladding, beyond minor repair, meets the current standards.

Scottish Government is committed to using all tools at its disposal to encourage and enforce measures by developers and other key actors to ensure buildings are remediated, cost-effectively and at pace. This could include raising additional revenue where there is an anticipated shortfall – to ensure equity between homeowners in unsafely cladded buildings with linked developers, and those without. We will explore the necessity of additional revenue raising as part of the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord – announced to the Scottish Parliament on 12 May 2022 - Update on cladding remediation programme: Cabinet Secretary's statement - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-08668

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the overall percentage weighted score is for bids for Green Freeports in Scotland that have, or will only have, contracts with companies that have recognition agreements with trade unions.

The framework for assessing applications for Green Freeport status is described in the joint bidding prospectus published on 25 March, which can be accessed at Green Freeports in Scotland: bidding prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . Applicants’ commitments in relation to fair work practices will be considered under the lead objective: promote regeneration and high quality job creation. Only applications which achieve a high score on this objective will be shortlisted for ministerial consideration.

Question reference: S6W-08596

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the reasons why there are restrictions on when a Veterans Railcard can be used for travel on off-peak journeys prior to 10.00 am on weekdays in Scotland, while these restrictions are not associated with other railcards.