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 3223 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-15436

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the final version of its Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which is currently open for consultation, and whether it will provide an update on its policy of a presumption against new oil and gas developments.

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is open for consultation until 9 May 2023. The final version of the Energy Strategy and Just Transitional Plan will be published once we have conducted a thorough review of the consultation responses and engaged with the full range of stakeholders. The Scottish Government’s position on oil and gas is part of the consultation process and we will provide an update in the final Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. We are not pre-empting responses.

Question reference: S6W-15313

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to ensure that students from the most deprived areas are able to attend university, in light of reports of a student housing crisis that has led to an increase in student homelessness.

Every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

More students than ever have a place at university, and will benefit from free tuition – saving them up to £27,750 of student debt, compared with their counterparts in England. We continue to invest nearly £2 billion per year in Scotland’s colleges and universities, enabling them to continue to deliver high-quality education and training.

Average student support provided per full-time student was £6,140 in 2019-20 (the latest data available), an increase from £6,010 in 2018-19.

Latest HESA statistics demonstrate the continued strength of our university sector with record numbers of Scottish Students in 2021-22.

Once again, we have a record high number of students from deprived areas with 5,595 Scots entering university (+80 on previous year) - up 41% since the establishment of the Commission on Widening Access by this Government. This illustrates the important work achieved in supporting people into Higher Education.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in placement of students in accommodation or in the provision of student accommodation, whether that is university halls of residence, private purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) or private rented tenancies.

However, we are determined to improve supply, accessibility, affordability and standards across the private rented sector; and our review of purpose built student accommodation, which is looking at issues including supply and affordability, is nearing conclusion. We look forward to receiving the recommendations of the cross-sectoral PBSA Review Group in due course.

We are also committed to introducing new prevention of homelessness duties as part of a forthcoming Housing Bill. The bill will include new duties on public bodies to ‘ask and act’ about housing situations. We are exploring what is possible in relation to colleges and universities to be part of this. It will also include changes to existing legislation to allow local authorities to intervene at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness.

Question reference: S6O-02017

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with its Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, including in relation to expanding free school meal provision.

Question reference: S6W-15468

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people currently employed in the public sector are paid at least £10.90 an hour or an equivalent salary.

The Scottish Government has supported payment of the real Living Wage in our Public Sector Pay Policy since 2011. Data from the 2022 Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE) shows that 97.6% employees in the whole Scottish public sector (devolved and reserved) earn at least Real Living Wage or more. The recent increase to the real Living Wage to £10.90 per hour should be applied as part of public sector pay settlements from April 2023. The 2023 ASHE data (expected to be released in October / November) will show the proportion of employees who are paid the £10.90 Real Living Wage in the Scottish Public Sector.

Question reference: S6W-15463

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the independent report of the detailed analysis of the future prospects for the North Sea and how Scotland's energy activity aligns with its climate change commitments, as referred to in the Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which is currently open for consultation.

The analysis was published on 3 March and can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-system-transition-independent-analysis/ .

This publication is an independent report, reviewed by an independent panel, which provides a significant volume of evidence and analysis and will contribute to our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in energy transition. To allow stakeholders to fully consider this material before responding, the consultation period for the draft ESJTP has been extended by 5 weeks, and will now close on 9 May.

Question reference: S6W-15227

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported trend of incidents of youth violence in Scotland being filmed and circulated across social media platforms, what action Police Scotland (a) can and (b) will take to ensure that such videos are immediately (i) removed from social media and (ii) investigated, and whether it will allocate funding to create community safe spaces for young people in Scotland who are experiencing bullying.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone lives free from violence, in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.

For Police Scotland to take any action, the uploading images of violence would be deemed criminal if they breached the evidential threshold of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in terms of sharing grossly indecent, obscene, menacing character or offensive messages etc.

The removal of offensive content is the responsibility of the social media platforms themselves and can be done by users flagging the content as breaching the community guidelines/terms and conditions. There are report/removal tools operated by Police Scotland’s partner organisations to remove content from the internet, however these are generally aimed at indecent images.

We are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement, an increase of over £793 million compared with the 2022-23 budget. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate financial resources available to them, including on youth services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-15250

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to tackle any health inequalities related to HIV, in particular among people who inject drugs.

Reducing health inequalities continues to be a top priority for the Scottish Government, and we recognise that particular efforts are needed for vulnerable populations, such as people who inject drugs. We know that stigma can stop people accessing the support they need and that stigma can manifest in many ways and in many settings. That is why Scottish Government recently facilitated a campaign to challenge the stigma which too often negatively impacts upon those who use drugs. In addition to this campaign, on World Aids Day 2022, the Public Health Minister announced the development of a national awareness raising campaign focused on reducing historical stereotypes associated with a positive HIV diagnosis.

Further to these campaigns, the HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal highlighted that equitable access and uptake of key prevention measures is required to avoid amplifying existing inequalities. Reducing health inequalities will be a key consideration for the HIV transmission elimination implementation group as they assess and prioritise the recommendations contained within the proposal.

Question reference: S6W-14878

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Priority Action to 2030 in its draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045, to continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes, adequately reflects the goals and targets for species recovery in the outputs from the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and whether it will increase the ambition and priority given to targeted species recovery programmes in its draft strategy.

The Priority Action in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes’, is one of several actions that supports the recovery and protection of vulnerable species in Scotland, and will help us to meet Goal A and Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are committed to continue protecting vulnerable species, and are determined to step up our ambition in taking action to support nature-friendly farming, fishing and forestry, and to expand, restore and connect existing protected areas, to ensure high quality landscapes for all species across Scotland to thrive, and adapt to our changing climate.

Question reference: S6W-14641

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to protect people who might be vulnerable to the force-fitting of prepayment meters by energy companies.

Question reference: S6W-15251

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) individual or (b) public body the HIV transmission elimination implementation group will be answerable to.

The HIV Transmission Elimination Implementation Group will be responsible for assessing and prioritising the recommendations contained within the HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal.

The group is currently being formed and will be co-chaired by Professor Nicola Steedman, the Scottish Government’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Dr Dan Clutterbuck, Lead Clinician for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Lothian Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh.

The formal governance and reporting structures are still to be agreed upon and will form part of the discussion at the first meeting, which is scheduled for the end of March.