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: S6O-04278

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is collaborating with third sector organisations regarding the provision of mental health, wellbeing and emotional support in schools.

Question reference: S6O-04258

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the public inquiry into the investigation of Emma Caldwell's murder.

Question reference: S6O-04256

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential impact on the provision of library services in Mid-Scotland and Fife of the proposed local government settlement for 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-33479

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to address the causes of surgical cancellations at NHS Grampian, including staff shortages and equipment availability.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any specific issue other than some local stand down of orthopaedics to allow for orthopaedic trauma cases to proceed. Cancellations were predominantly due to cannot attend and did not attend or unwell to proceed with limited cancellations due to winter surge in mainly orthopaedic elective areas. The member may wish to contact NHS Grampian for more information.

Question reference: S6W-33194

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average grant rate was for a social new-build property delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) the first half of 2024-25, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) registered social landlord new builds.

The following table provides the average grant rates for Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and Local Authority social rent new build homes approved through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) between April 2022 and end September 2024.

Financial Year	RSL Social Rent New Build Homes Average Grant per Home (£ million)	Local Authority Social Rent New Build Homes Average Grant per Home (£ million)
2022-2023	0.120	0.095
2023-2024	0.140	0.113
2024-2025	0.134	0.104

Please note this table is based on management information and that RSL social rent new build homes approved using Charitable Bond Donations have been excluded from these figures.

Question reference: S6W-33193

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its announcement that it will deliver 8,000 new affordable homes in 2025-26, how many of these properties will be (a) social new-builds, (b) acquisitions, (c) other affordable properties and (d) voids brought back into use.

Question reference: S6W-33228

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what formulation is used when setting the value of the living grant for trainee educational psychologists; whether inflation is taken into account, and whether this has been reviewed since the grant was introduced in 2018.

In partnership, the Scottish Government and COSLA provide £2m investment per year to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists.

The formulation for this investment takes into account the number of students, the tuition fees paid for each student, individual membership to the British Psychological Society and an allocation to help students with living costs associated with studying.

The living costs grant is not income assessed, is not indexed to inflation and does not need to be paid back.

The grant has been reviewed since 2018 and the amount was agreed with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists.

Question reference: S6W-33167

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the maintenance of the A90 is conducted in a way that minimises disruption to road users.

Our Operating Companies are required to undertake a series of activities aimed at improving journey time reliability by minimising the risk of disruption to the operation of the trunk road network.

To minimise disruption, we programme work to take place during quieter periods whenever possible. Due to the strategic importance of Scotland’s trunk road network, our Operating Companies are required to minimise the potential disruption and inconvenience to road users caused by essential maintenance by planning works, combining activities and coordinating with all stakeholders, including statutory undertakers (e.g. utilities and telecoms companies). We also continue to demonstrate a strong ethos in the communication of timely and consistent information on upcoming road works. Engagement includes advertising road works where there is an impact on road users via a number of mediums including social media platforms, radio adverts, email alerts, media releases and where practicable leaflet drops for high impact schemes.

Transport Scotland is responsible for managing the Traffic Scotland service which enables the collection and distribution of real-time traffic information relating to incidents and events taking place on the Scottish trunk road network. The Traffic Scotland website (Traffic Scotland | Trunk road traffic updates & route planner) provides up-to-date information on current and planned road works, and advance warnings are also displayed to road users on variable message signs. We also work closely with the Scottish Road Works Commissioner, established to oversee the planning and coordination of works on Scotland’s roads by all roads authorities and statutory undertakers.

Delays are continuously monitored on the Trunk Road Network. Any delays exceeding 12 minutes are reported to Transport Scotland who then communicate delays through their various public access systems

Question reference: S6W-33099

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which projects funded by Transport Scotland in the last five years have delivered the largest economic impact, and how this has been assessed.

All major transport projects are appraised and evaluated in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual and Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) which are consistent with HM Treasury Green Book guidance. The Green Book (Section 6.1) generally discourages the calculation of macroeconomic impacts (employment and GDP) and it is generally not possible to evaluate the macroeconomic impact of specific transport projects separately from general changes in the economy.

The approach within appraisal is to estimate the microeconomic welfare benefits of projects. Within STAG this is a mix of quantified and qualitative impacts across the 5 STAG criteria (Climate Change, Economy, Environment, Equality and Accessibility and Health and Wellbeing) and any Transport Planning Objectives which reflect the National Transport Strategy priorities. This allows comparison between options within intervention but does not provide a simple way of comparing across projects. The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) was undertaken to provide this cross-project information to aid decision making.

Question reference: S6W-33104

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what role regional economic development plays in funding decisions by Transport Scotland.

To inform funding decisions, all projects supported by Transport Scotland are required to follow our standard Business Case process, including the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). Identified options for Transport Scotland investment are assessed against national and relevant regional economic development strategies to ensure alignment. Options are also assessed against Transport Planning Objectives (TPOs) and the standard STAG criteria. The standard STAG criteria include Economy as well as Climate Change, Environment, Health, Safety and Wellbeing and Equality and Accessibility.