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-03537

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had with short-term lets businesses and sole traders in (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde regarding its proposed short-term lets licensing scheme and planning control area legislation.

In developing proposals for the regulation of short-term lets we have engaged extensively with a range of stakeholders across Scotland, including short-term let hosts and operators and organisations representing their interests, through three public consultations, the Short-Term Lets Stakeholder Working Group and through other meetings with Ministers and officials. Across the three public consultations, we have received over 3,000 responses, of which over half were from hosts and operators, and considered over 1000 letters and e-mails from all types of stakeholders. We have engaged directly with self-caterers, B&B owners and Airbnb hosts. We do not have this data broken down by area.

Question reference: S6W-03494

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to raise public awareness of the new regulations on interlinked fire alarms, and how the new fire alarm requirements will be enforced from February 2022.

The Scottish Government has undertaken a comprehensive awareness raising campaign across a range of channels including TV, radio and digital to ensure people are aware of the new legislation and to encourage compliance. This includes material to support third sector stakeholders and leaflets in public libraries. The target audience is all adults in Scotland and the campaign was forecast to reach 95.2% of those.

Because this is a safety measure, we hope most people will see the benefits of it. Local authorities have broad statutory responsibility for tackling substandard housing in their area, and for major defects they can require home owners to carry out work, but any intervention must be proportionate and we do not expect them to go beyond advising home owners about fire alarms. Legislation allows people a reasonable time for bringing homes up to standard. No home owner will be penalised for non-compliance. We will however collect data on fire alarms in Scottish homes in future iterations of the Scottish House Condition Survey.

Question reference: S6W-03364

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors imports and exports of honey bees.

All imports of Queen Honey Bees into GB must be notified through the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS) and Scottish Government officials monitor the system daily.

The Scottish Government bee health inspectors and bee health diagnostic team at SASA ensure that all imports of Queen Honey Bees are compliant with the post import requirements of returning the original cages and attendant bees within 5 days of arrival for testing for notifiable pests and diseases.

In addition to the import certification requirements, Scottish Government bee health inspectors carry out risk based post import checks.

Equivalent procedures are in place for exporting bees from Scotland. Export certification requirements are dependent on the country of destination and are currently certified by Scottish Bee Inspectors.

Question reference: S6W-03080

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on the potential impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill on refugees who enter the UK by irregular means, and any implications this may have for Scotland and for refugees that settle in Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution and External Affairs and I met with the then Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts on 16 June 2021 to discuss the New Plan for Immigration. This was prior to the introduction of the Nationality and Borders Bill at Westminster on 6 July. Scottish Government Ministers have had no subsequent discussions with UK Government Ministers on the Nationality and Borders Bill.

The First Minister wrote to the Home Secretary on 26 July, setting out significant concerns about the implications of the Nationality and Borders Bill, including measures which propose to differentiate between refugees and treat them differently based on their journey to the UK and not their protection need.

I wrote to the Home Secretary in further detail on 1 September. That letter is available on the Scottish Government website: Nationality and Borders Bill: letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government to Secretary of State for the Home Department - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-03362

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it takes to ensure that people who wish to take up beekeeping are made aware of its guidance on importing and exporting bees.

International trade represents a risk for the spread of pests and diseases of honey bees. To protect the health of bees in Scotland we have a framework of legal requirements and trade rules to minimise these risks.

Scottish Government works with the Animal and Plant Health Agency's (APHA) National Bee Unit (NBU) in providing guidance on their website Beebase - Beekeeping information resource for Beekeepers (nationalbeeunit.com) including a section on import and export requirements.

Specific guidance for export and import of honey bees following changes made after EU Exit is also available on the SG website: Importing bees into Scotland: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) )

As part of the Honey Bee Health Strategy changes in policy are discussed with stakeholders in advance and highlighted to beekeepers through articles in the Scottish Beekeepers Association magazine and the Bee Farmers Association magazine, talks to local associations and Bee Health training days.

Question reference: S6W-03869

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-03644

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many holiday vouchers have been given to carers through the ScotSpirit Holiday Voucher Scheme since its launch, and what steps it has taken to promote uptake.

Since this Scheme to help low income families and unpaid carers take a break in Scotland, opened for sign-ups in mid-August we have already seen 35 families (including 73 children) on a break for the current October school holidays.

VisitScotland, working with charity partners (Family Holiday Association, Shared Care Scotland and Carer Centre Network), is managing the promotion and distribution of the scheme to families and carers through their existing channels, including social media.

The scheme has only recent launched to families and carers and recipients will have until December 2022 to redeem the vouchers.

Question reference: S6W-03637

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many cyberattacks have taken place on public bodies in each year since 1999.

In December 2017, the Scottish Government introduced a cyber incident reporting procedure to notify the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre of cyber incidents with the purpose of providing support to affected Scottish public sector bodies.

The Scottish Government cannot confirm the number of incidents prior to 2018 as there was no equivalent process in place encouraging Scottish public sector organisations to report cyber incidents to the Scottish Government.

Table 1. Number of incidents reported to the Scottish Government by the Scottish public sector bodies under the Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents procedure since 2018

Year

2018

2019

2020

2021

up to 13 October

Number of incidents reported

Question reference: S6W-03420

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many websites it has launched in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-03451

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of how much of the resources being presented at waste centres is considered to be fit for re-use.

This information is not held centrally and no recent specific analysis has been undertaken.

UK wide analysis was carried out in 2012 by WRAP on the reuse potential of furniture and electrics collected at Household Waste Recycling Centres. The data shows just below 50% of furniture was assessed as re-usable and over 40% of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment collected was assessed as suitable for re-use. This number rose to 60% as suitable for reuse following minor repair.