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-00777

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-05899

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much investment it has made into active travel initiatives in Stirling since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-05901

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) affordable and (b) social rent homes have been (i) acquired and (ii) built in Stirling since 2017, and how much funding it provided for this purpose.

The following table details affordable unit completions in Stirling since 1 st April 2017 to 30 th September 2021 by (i) new build and (ii) off the shelf.

	Financial Year					Total Homes
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22*
New Build	53	82	10	49	35	229
Off the Shelf	18	16	63	182	11	290
Rehabilitation	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total Homes	71	98	73	231	46	519
* up to end of September (Q2)

The Scottish Government publishes annual Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) Outturn Reports. These Outturn Reports provide details of completed housing units by tenure and contain details of all Resource Planning Assumptions by local authority area, as well as actual outturn expenditure. You can access the Outturn Reports for 2017-18 to 2020-21 from this link - More homes: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This web page also includes a link to the published Resource Planning Assumptions for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-06003

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a definition, criteria and public guidance in relation to climate-friendly, sustainable and healthy diets, and whether these will be developed by September 2022.

There is public guidance available – the Eatwell Guide – to help people make healthier food and drink choices and which is supported by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). The Eatwell Guide has been assessed by the Carbon Trust as having an appreciably lower environmental impact than the current UK diet. To expand the value of the Eatwell Guide, FSS have recently published Eat Well, Your Way , an online resource which translates Eatwell Guide advice into practical tips and advice. The resource highlights dietary changes which can impact sustainability and FSS plan to further embed sustainability in the resource in the coming year.

We recognise that the public have an interest not only in where their food comes from, but how it is made and whether it is produced in an environmentally sustainable way. For this reason, we currently working with members of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to carry out initial scoping work on a single marketing brand for Scottish food and drink produce, Sustainably Scottish. This brand would be available to Scottish based producers, manufacturers and suppliers who can satisfy stringent criteria on provenance and low carbon operations.

We have set up an Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board to work with farmers and crofters as we develop future policy and to support them to produce food in a way that benefits nature and the climate. To support that vision we have set up a National Test Programme, supported by £51m of Scottish Government funding, to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

This range of initiatives, and others, contribute to Scotland being a Good Food Nation. The Good Food Nation Bill will provide an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy and will put in place measures to ensure that reliable access to nutritious, locally sourced, locally produced, good quality food is a practical everyday reality for everyone in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-05904

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Forthside green heating network project cost; when work was completed, and what its position is on the impact on Stirling of the project.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project cost £5,124,000. The Scottish Government provided £2,005,331 through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The work was completed in August 2019.

The district heating network serves a number of buildings in Stirling, including St. Modan’s High School, Forthbank Stadium and Conference Facilities, the Peak Leisure Centre, the Robertson Trust Barracks Development, Jubilee House (owned by Volunteer Scotland) and Moray House.

The project brings several benefits to Stirling, including:

a 10% savings to end users compared to their heating costs using traditional boilers;
reduction in associated operational costs, including servicing and boiler replacement;
income generation to Stirling Council over 40 years;
wider community benefits include local job creation, upskilling and regeneration of the local area.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project has scope for expansion, including to future proposed development at the Public Sector Innovation Hub and Heritage Hub.

Question reference: S6W-05995

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received funding through Individual Training Accounts in each year since their inception.

The Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) replaced the Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) and were launched in October 2017. Since their launch in 2017 the following numbers of individuals have received funding and training through the scheme:

Financial year:	October 2017 - March 2018	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	April 2021-1st February 2022
Confirmed claims	7087	20572	13380	7756	9494

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the number of individuals applying for ITAs and utilising the available funding, however numbers, as indicated on the table above, have started to recover again this year.

Question reference: S6W-06012

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether women who need transvaginal mesh removal surgery will still be eligible for surgery cost reimbursement if their surgery is booked prior to the Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill receiving Royal Assent, but with the surgery taking place after Royal Assent has been received.

Following the successful conclusion of stage 3 of Parliament’s consideration of the Bill, the Government will now take steps to put in place a scheme in which it will specify a cut-off date. There is no requirement under the Bill, however, for surgery to have taken place before the date that will be specified, only that the mesh removal surgery must have been arranged by that date. The Bill mandates that the date specified in the scheme must not be a date earlier than that of Royal Assent.

Question reference: S6W-05968

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue letters of guidance to Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council outlining its expectations for collaborative working to implement skills alignment, which was recommended in Audit Scotland’s report, Planning for Skills.

Letters of Guidance are issued by the Scottish Government to its public bodies annually. The letters set clear Ministerial expectations on our priorities for the year ahead.

The letters to both Skills Development Scotland and to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have a clear emphasis on the need for shared working on skills planning; recognising the commitment as set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the SFC Review of Coherence and Sustainability to build capacity and a more systematic approach to the way we collectively plan coherent tertiary education and skills provision and investment, so that it responds better to current and future needs. The Letters of Guidance will draw on the Shared Outcomes Framework that is currently being developed and which will set out clearly the intent for collaborative projects, connected to the National Performance Framework and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation priorities, and include milestones, objectives, impacts and measures for each of these projects.

We expect that the letters will be issued in Spring 2022 once the budget for 2022-23 has been approved by parliament.

Question reference: S6W-05930

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons no requests have been granted for victims to attend parole board hearings since this was permitted in March 2021.

The measures that the Parole Board had to take in response to COVID, to ensure the safe working of staff and others, meant that it has not been feasible to facilitate arrangements for a victim to observe a Tribunal. The Parole Board rules require proceedings to be kept confidential which means that a member of staff needs to be present, with the victim observing by video link.

The Parole Board has however, used this time to put in place the mechanisms needed to allow this to happen when it is safe to do so. In light of the relaxation of the working from home guidelines from 1 February 2022, the Parole Board has indicated that it will now begin to consider requests to observe hearings, with a view to testing first before moving to full implementation in the Spring. Granting of requests to view a Tribunal is a matter for the independent Parole Board following consideration of representations from the prisoner.

Question reference: S6W-05970

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards establishing outcome-focused, common monitoring criteria with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council, which it committed to do in the 2017 Enterprise and Skills Review.

I meet jointly with the Chairs and Chief Executives of both agencies to discuss progress in collaborative working on skills every 6 weeks.

This is supported by an assurance group, chaired by Senior Civil Servants and including the Senior Responsible Officers for all collaborative skills projects.

A Shared Outcomes Framework that defines the collaborative projects, sets out strategic objectives, key milestones, deliverables, impacts and measures is currently being developed by the Scottish Government and both agencies to enable more effective monitoring and reporting of joint action in this area .