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-30537

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of the Chief Entrepreneur.

The Chief Entrepreneur has been fundamental to the development of some of our most ambitious economic policies, including but not limited to: the building of a new policy agenda embodied by the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review; the Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint report to enhance the economic impact of our universities and colleges, and promote the teaching of Computer Science in schools; the Pathways report to increase women’s participation in entrepreneurship; and the delivery of Techscaler, a programme central to our ambitions to create one of the finest state-funded entrepreneurial systems in the world dedicated to the creation of high-growth businesses.

Question reference: S6W-30391

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether minimum unit pricing has reduced the consumption of alcohol among hazardous and harmful drinkers.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) independent evaluation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol estimated that our world-leading policy reduced wholly alcohol-attributable deaths by 13.4% and was likely to have reduced hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol by 4.1%.

There was strong and consistent evidence of a reduction in alcohol consumption following MUP implementation, and that the reduction in consumption was driven by the heaviest purchasing households, leading to the conclusion that MUP was well targeted. As MUP was estimated to have resulted in a decrease in alcohol-attributable deaths and hospital admissions related to chronic conditions, the evaluation took this as further evidence to suggest that MUP has reduced consumption in those that drink at hazardous and harmful levels.

Overall, the evidence supports that MUP has had a positive impact on health outcomes, including alcohol-related health inequalities.

Question reference: S6W-30375

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have received funding from the Nature Restoration Fund, and what the value is of that funding, broken down by local authority area.

The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) makes funding available through two main strands: the competitive strand administered by NatureScot, and the Edinburgh Process strand, which provides direct allocations to Local Authorities and National Parks.

In total, to date, 220 projects have been offered funding from the competitive strand of the NRF, including 28 NRF-funded Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) projects. This represents a total of £33,366,872 in committed funding.

The following table sets out by local authority area the 183 projects awarded competitive funding to the end of March 2024, the period for which data is currently available. We do not hold information about the amounts of funding offered in this format and this does not include the NRF-funded SMEEF projects referred to above.

Local authority	Number of NRF competitive strand supported projects (as of end of March 2024)
Aberdeen City	1
Aberdeenshire	12
Angus	6
Argyll and Bute	11
Clackmannanshire	3
Dumfries and Galloway	13
Dundee City	1
East Ayrshire	5
East Dunbartonshire	1
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Edinburgh, City of	7
Eilean Siar	3
Falkirk	1
Fife	14
Glasgow City	2
Highland	28
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray	1
North Ayrshire	4
North Lanarkshire	3
Orkney Islands	3
Perth and Kinross	12
Renfrewshire	1
Scottish Borders	11
Shetland Islands	1
South Ayrshire	2
South Lanarkshire	1
Stirling	10
West Dunbartonshire	1
West Lothian	2
Scotland-wide / multiple areas	23

The Edinburgh Process strand of the NRF has provided a total of £17 Million in direct allocations to Local Authorities and National Parks to date, between 2021-22 and 2023-24. A further £5 Million was distributed to Local Authorities in 2023-24 to support the development of Nature Networks. The following table provides a breakdown of the Local Authority awards. However, each council is responsible for using this funding on locally determined biodiversity priorities, in line with the principles of the Edinburgh Process. We do not therefore hold a centralised record of the number of individual projects supported by the Edinburgh Process strand in each local authority area. Not included in the table is an additional £1 Million which was made available as a competitive fund for local authorities in 2022.

Local Authority	Rounded Allocation (£m)
	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	3-year total	Nature Networks 2023-24
Aberdeen City	0.128	0.135	0.135	0.398	0.135
Aberdeenshire	0.268	0.213	0.223	0.704	0.223
Angus	0.095	0.15	0.153	0.398	0.153
Argyll & Bute	0.108	0.238	0.245	0.591	0.245
Clackmannanshire	0.067	0.091	0.098	0.256	0.098
Dumfries & Galloway	0.135	0.257	0.245	0.637	0.245
Dundee City	0.109	0.086	0.086	0.281	0.086
East Ayrshire	0.172	0.102	0.103	0.377	0.103
East Dunbartonshire	0.079	0.132	0.133	0.344	0.133
East Lothian	0.109	0.11	0.112	0.331	0.112
East Renfrewshire	0.084	0.061	0.061	0.206	0.061
Edinburgh, City of	0.264	0.161	0.136	0.561	0.136
Eilean Siar	0.018	0.124	0.128	0.270	0.128
Falkirk	0.183	0.179	0.174	0.536	0.174
Fife	0.416	0.378	0.306	1.100	0.306
Glasgow City	0.487	0.132	0.124	0.743	0.124
Highland	0.258	0.328	0.338	0.924	0.338
Inverclyde	0.088	0.16	0.153	0.401	0.153
Midlothian	0.081	0.103	0.106	0.290	0.106
Moray	0.101	0.124	0.123	0.348	0.123
North Ayrshire	0.166	0.19	0.178	0.534	0.178
North Lanarkshire	0.369	0.274	0.278	0.921	0.278
Orkney Islands	0.016	0.054	0.053	0.123	0.053
Perth & Kinross	0.166	0.176	0.177	0.519	0.177
Renfrewshire	0.157	0.102	0.100	0.359	0.100
Scottish Borders	0.12	0.161	0.164	0.445	0.164
Shetland Islands	0.016	0.079	0.081	0.176	0.081
South Ayrshire	0.105	0.096	0.095	0.296	0.095
South Lanarkshire	0.264	0.188	0.273	0.725	0.273
Stirling	0.097	0.114	0.114	0.325	0.114
West Dunbartonshire	0.102	0.126	0.129	0.357	0.129
West Lothian	0.172	0.176	0.184	0.532	0.184
TOTAL	5	5	5	15	5

Question reference: S6W-30439

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many green jobs have been created directly as a result of Just Transition funding.

The Just Transition Fund has allocated £75 million to date, supporting a cross-sector portfolio of projects ranging across sectors like energy, agriculture, digital innovation and construction while also supporting communities across the North East and Moray to create jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

This includes £9.7 million on a package of skills interventions supporting the transferability of workforce across sectors to meet the needs of the net zero transition including: a digital offshore energy skills passport; and an Energy Transition Skills Hub.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold overall figures relating to employment outcomes or job creation as a result of our funded programmes. We are currently commissioning an independent evaluation which will help to determine this and the impact of the Fund to date, in due course.

Question reference: S6W-30420

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met industry stakeholders to discuss workforce planning for renewable energy projects.

The most recent discussion on workplace planning for renewable energy projects took place at The Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) on 18 September 2024, where members discussed barriers and opportunities in relation to skills and the workforce for the offshore wind industry.

We will continue to engage with industry stakeholders to plan for a multi-skilled energy workforce that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system.

Question reference: S6W-30346

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland has corresponded with the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner about the reported proposals to deploy live facial recognition technology in Scotland, and, if so, whether this correspondence was undertaken before the Chief Constable outlined the proposals to the media.

Question reference: S6W-30345

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy live facial recognition systems in Scotland, what its response is to the European Parliament's reported decision to classify the use of real-time biometrics in public spaces as posing an unacceptable risk.

Question reference: S6W-30335

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Professor Angela Daly's reported comments that live facial recognition technology is "not fit for purpose" and is "generally unethical", in light of the reported proposals by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy the technology in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30538

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit a new Chief Entrepreneur.

Question reference: S6W-30417

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group to discuss employment and training initiatives for the renewable energy sector.