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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 42072 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-03869

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-03419

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 operates.

Question reference: S6W-03530

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West 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 what steps it is taking to address any broadband coverage reliability issues in rural communities in North Ayrshire.

Through the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme we delivered fibre broadband to over 951,500 premises across Scotland with over 841,600 of those now capable of accessing superfast speeds of 30 Megabits per second (Mbps). Of these, over 27,000 fibre connections have been delivered in North Ayrshire.

Through the Reaching 100% (R100) programme we will build upon this by delivering universal access to superfast broadband, regardless of remoteness or rurality – including rural communities in North Ayrshire.

Through a combination of the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial coverage we will ensure that anyone who wants a superfast connection of 30Mbps and above by the end of 2021 can have one.

Question reference: S6W-03470

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much money it has been allocated by the UK Government in relation to Brexit, also broken down by how much of this it has now spent.

From 2017 to the end of 2021 we have received a total of £194.8m in EU Exit preparation consequentials.

Spend, both in preparation and post-EU Exit, has been on staff supporting activities such as legislative preparations, and supporting stakeholders and partners, including businesses, cultural bodies, higher education institutes, local government and the third sector.

We have consistently targeted our spending responsibly and appropriately to mitigate against the negative impacts of exiting the EU and we have allocated our spend to deal with the concurrent impacts of Covid and EU exit.

Question reference: S6W-03477

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the finding by the Equality and Human Rights Commission that the SQA was not meeting its responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty will be taken into account when a final decision is made on appeals that are awaiting a decision following the 2020 National Qualifications.

Following previous calls from stakeholders, I carefully considered the position and concluded that there was no way to reopen, or widen out grounds for appeal for the 2020 appeals process in a fair and equitable manner to all learners.

This decision was announced via a parliamentary question on 21 June 2021 and can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-00913 .

The EHRC’s findings refer to historic omissions at the SQA. Learners can be assured that SQA complied with its equalities duties regarding the awarding of National Qualifications over the last two years including those relating to the 2020 appeals process.

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.

Question reference: S6W-03453

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 its position is on setting a target for preparing waste for re-use.

Question reference: S6W-03474

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 measures it is taking to ensure that local authorities carry out their duty to collect and manage waste.

Waste management and collections are the responsibility of local authorities and they are best placed to make decisions regarding the provision of waste and recycling services in their area. As democratically elected bodies it would not be appropriate for Scottish Ministers to get involved in the day to day running of Scottish Councils.

We continue to work closely with local authorities, COSLA and other partners to support waste reduction, increased reuse and recycling and responsible waste management. This includes making our first investments from the £70m Recycling Improvement Fund to support local authorities in improving recycling infrastructure, and developing a route map to help achieve our 2025 targets and beyond. We are also working with local government to review the Household Recycling Charter’s Code of Practice, to help make it easier for householders to recycle the right things and encourage high levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling, and reuse.

Question reference: S6W-03345

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 21 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the timetable for the delivery of the MV Glen Sannox ferry.

Question reference: S6W-03452

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 proportion of local authority waste centres have facilities capable of receiving items for re-use, also broken down by item category.