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-01963

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it achieved its plan to complete the development of 12,000 hectares of woodland in 2020-21.

National statistics (UK) released on 17 June show that 10,660 hectares of new woodland was created in Scotland in 2020/21, the equivalent of over 21 million trees in the ground and around 80% of all trees planted across the UK

However COVID restrictions, combined with heavy rain and snow across most of Scotland in March, resulted in unavoidable delays to planting. Despite this we achieved 89% of the woodland creation target in 2020-21 and the remaining 11% was planted during the remainder of the planting season in April, May and June, during the first 100 days

Question reference: S6W-02114

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review unsuccessful Tenant Hardship Loan Fund applications for suitability to apply to the grant fund announced in June 2021 to support tenants struggling to pay their rent as a direct result of COVID-19.

No. The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is administered separately on behalf of the Scottish Government. Where an applicant is unsuccessful they are provided with information on where they can get further advice and on alternative support available. The loan and the grant are not interchangeable.

The tenant grant funding cannot be paid in advance of need and is based on a needs assessment by the local authority taking into account all the circumstances of an individual.

Question reference: S6W-02584

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the allocation of the £10 million being provided to schools to improve ventilation and CO2 monitoring, also broken down by how many schools in each local authority have received this funding.

Distribution of the £10 million funding has now been agreed with COSLA leaders.

Each local authority will receive an equitable share of the funding on the understanding that it is used for its intended purpose. These include covering the costs of CO2 monitors, including any purchased to date specifically for school CO2 monitoring, and expert staff. However, it is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, and it will be for them disseminate the funding to their schools.

A previous allocation of £90 million COVID logistics funding was also provided to local authorities for uses including improved ventilation.

Question reference: S6W-02380

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it reduced the budget under the heading, Cultural Collections, by £3.5 million in its 2021-22 budget, compared with its 2020-21 budget.

Within the Cultural Collections budget line for 2021-22 the 3 National Collections (National Galleries of Scotland, National Library of Scotland, and National Museums Scotland) saw increases to resource budgets of over £1 million to support the public sector pay settlement.

There was a reduction to capital budgets within the cultural collections and other cultural capital lines of £4.75 million due to the profile of capital commitments. In 2021-22 the capital allocation for the cultural collections decreased due to the commitment to the Scottish National Gallery project reducing compared to 2020-21; and completion of some capital commitments for National Museums Scotland.

The Other Cultural Capital budget line saw a reduction of £3.4 million due to the Scottish Government completing its funding commitments to several capital projects in 2020-21. These include the Paisley Museum project with £2 million committed in total, £750k of which was provided in 2020-21; Citizens Theatre project with £2 million committed in total, £1.25 million of which was provided in 2020-21; and Burrell Collection project with a £5.75 million total commitment including £650k in 2020-21, and an uplift of £750k in Covid emergency support delivered in 2020-21.

Question reference: S6W-02126

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to Historic Environment Scotland to enable historic sites to be made safe for reopening to members of the public, and what the timescales are for the reopening of these sites.

Historic Environment Scotland has responded to address the precautionary closures within the funding already available. The Scottish Government provided Historic Environment Scotland with £72.9m in 2020-21 and are providing £55.9m to support Historic Environment Scotland in 2021-22. We are also providing this financial year a further £20m in covid consequentials, taking our total support in 2021-22 to £75.9m, an increase of £3m from 2020-21.

The Scottish Government will continue to discuss the closures with Historic Environment Scotland, whose programme of prioritised inspections will inform a timescale for reopening.

Question reference: S6W-02112

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether Tenant Hardship Loan Fund debtors will have a right to convert their loan to a grant.

No, there is no right to convert a loan to a grant. The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is an interest free loan paid to remove the risk of eviction. Debtors have demonstrated their ability to make loan repayments during the application process.

The tenant grant funding cannot be paid in advance of need and is based on a needs assessment by the local authority taking into account all the circumstances of an individual.

Question reference: S6W-02115

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2021

As at 6 September, against a total of 1051 applications there have been 481 unsuccessful applications[1], representing 46% of total applications.

Within the unsuccessful applications there were 158 social rented sector tenants and 323 private rented sector tenants.

We do not hold a breakdown of unsuccessful applications by local authority although this information is gathered at initial application level in the following table.

Number of applications per local authority
Local authority	Total	Social	PRS
#N/A	13	2	11
Aberdeen City	52	18	34
Aberdeenshire	28	14	14
Angus	10	1	9
Argyll & Bute	6	4	2
Clackmannanshire	11	8	3
Dumfries & Galloway	19	6	13
Dundee City	57	19	38
East Ayrshire	46	22	24
East Dunbartonshire	5	2	3
East Lothian	12	3	9
East Renfrewshire	5	1	4
Edinburgh, City of	132	23	109
Falkirk	28	8	20
Fife	54	17	37
Glasgow City	179	74	105
Highland	23	4	19
Inverclyde	16	7	9
Midlothian	10	3	7
Moray	13	5	8
North Ayrshire	31	11	20
North Ayshire	1	1	0
North Lanarkshire	52	22	30
Orkney Islands	2	2	0
Perth & Kinross	43	21	22
Renfrewshire	34	5	29
Scottish Borders	10	2	8
Shetland Islands	2	0	2
South Ayrshire	30	7	23
South Lanarkshire	51	17	34
Stirling	10	5	5
West Dunbartonshire	27	12	15
West Lothian	39	22	17
Total	1051	368	683

[1] Includes 19 applications rejected because of non-eligibility for funding.

As at 3 August, against a total of 1009 applications there have been 458 unsuccessful applications, representing 45% of total applications.

Within the unsuccessful applications there were 153 social rented sector tenants and 305 private rented sector tenants.

We do not hold a breakdown of unsuccessful applications by local authority although this information is gathered at initial application level and is as follows:

Number of applications per local authority
Local authority	Total	Social	PRS
#N/A	10	2	8
Aberdeen City	52	18	34
Aberdeenshire	27	14	13
Angus	10	1	9
Argyll & Bute	5	3	2
Clackmannanshire	11	8	3
Dumfries & Galloway	18	5	13
Dundee City	53	18	35
East Ayrshire	44	21	23
East Dunbartonshire	3	1	2
East Lothian	12	3	9
East Renfrewshire	5	1	4
Edinburgh, City of	127	23	104
Falkirk	27	8	19
Fife	52	15	37
Glasgow City	171	71	100
Highland	23	4	19
Inverclyde	15	7	8
Midlothian	10	3	7
Moray	13	5	8
North Ayrshire	31	11	20
North Ayshire	1	1	0
North Lanarkshire	46	17	29
Orkney Islands	2	2	0
Perth & Kinross	42	21	21
Renfrewshire	32	4	28
Scottish Borders	10	2	8
Shetland Islands	2	0	2
South Ayrshire	30	7	23
South Lanarkshire	51	17	34
Stirling	10	5	5
West Dunbartonshire	25	12	13
West Lothian	39	22	17
Total	1009	352	657

Question reference: S6T-00139

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the use of face-to-face GP appointments.

Question reference: S6T-00127

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the ongoing industrial disputes with ScotRail.

Question reference: S6F-00230

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2021

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on HIAL’s proposed centralisation of air traffic control services.