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-28130

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council regarding the development of the skills passport for offshore energy workers in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-28179

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the reasons for its decision to no longer provide new referrals for solar PV and energy storage systems to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme from 6 June 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises that solar power has an important role to play in decarbonising our energy supply and supporting a just transition to net zero, however, we cannot meet our climate targets without ending the use of polluting heating systems in our buildings and moving to clean heat alternatives.

With sustained demand for the scheme and in the context of the real terms cuts to the Scottish Government’s capital funding – as well as drastic reductions in financial transactions – these changes were necessary to ensure that funding is best focused on interventions which directly decarbonise heat or reduce heat demand and ensure the scheme stays within its available budget.

Question reference: S6W-28149

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many producers applied for an exemption from the proposed Deposit Return Scheme before it was delayed in June 2023, and what percentage of these producers used glass packaging.

The Deposit Return Scheme requires all drinks producers to register with SEPA before their products may be sold in Scotland. There are no exemptions for producers under the scheme. Data on producer registration is held by SEPA.

As an industry-run scheme, data on individual product lines were held by the private sector scheme administrator.

Producers may choose to register product lines with less than 5000 units placed on the market each year as a ‘Low Volume Product’. Producers of Low Volume Products must still register and report the number of products placed on the market, but products will be exempt from the requirement to apply deposits.

Question reference: S6W-28197

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of projects that have been allocated funding through European structural funds but did not receive EU funding because they did not meet the criteria, in each year since 2014.

Question reference: S6W-28134

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27858 by Natalie Don on 5 June 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of the stated £5.3 million that "was provided to Scottish Government-led national policy delivery for 12 specific projects that are transforming how families are supported".

The following Scottish Government-led national policy delivery projects received a total funding of £5.3 million as follows:

Project name	2022-3	2023-24
Aberlour Mother and Child Units	£394,613	£1,023,506
Creating equitable outcomes and accessible pathways of support for young children in the earliest years of life	£0	£57,000
Dundee Pathfinder	£50,000	£20,150
Families Learning Together	£66,000	£123,241
Family Childminding Partnership	£0	£104,430
Understanding Family Support Needs of People in Prison Custody	£0	£1,191
Foundations for families	£118,997	£430,904
Whole Family Support Through General Practice	£0	£1,463
Grow Your Own Routes	£46,707	£1,212,359
Includem ADAPT	£525,000	£925,507
Inverclyde Transformation Initiative	£67,736	£170,515
Total	£1,269,053	£4,070,266

A separate project, Open Kindergarten, is due to commence shortly. For this reason, there is no spend for this specific project to date.

Funding for Element 3 projects will continue to be provided in financial year 2024-25 and 2025-26 and will help transform how we support families by moving from crisis intervention to preventive whole family support, in line with our commitments on #KeepingthePromise, Covid recovery and tackling child poverty.

Question reference: S6W-28121

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to organisations and charities that support people with epilepsy, in each financial year since 2019-20.

Question reference: S6W-28128

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of (a) the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council, (b) the oil and gas industry and (c) trade unions to discuss employment rates for people from Scotland working in the offshore energy industry.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with all three of these stakeholder groups, as well as with other bodies, to discuss a range of issues related to ensuring a just energy transition, including rates of employment and other workforce considerations.

The Scottish Government routinely meets with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) and other stakeholders to discuss a range of issues including skills and workforce. The last SOWEC meeting was held on 20 June 2024.

In relation to oil and gas industry, I met with Offshore Energies UK on 20 March 2024. The First Minister also met with representatives from a number of individual businesses in Aberdeen, including oil and gas companies, to discuss the energy transition on 17 May 2024.

In relation to trade unions, I met with representatives from the Scottish Trade Unions Congress (STUC), UNISON, Unite, RMT and GMB on 29 February 2024. Ministers have also subsequently met with trade unions on matters related to transition in Scotland’s onshore energy system. Scottish Government officials also meet monthly, most recently on 3 June 2024, with representatives of STUC to discuss issues relevant to ensuring a just transition. Previous engagement with trade unions has been fundamental to our policy thinking about a just transition to date, including through the creation of the Just Transition Commission. The Scottish Government has committed to providing annual funding of £100k to support just transition capacity within the trade union movement, which will ensure this vital input continues, as we get on with delivering good, green jobs and a truly just transition.

Question reference: S6T-02058

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported public safety and environmental concerns arising from the fire at Linwood industrial estate on 23 June.

Question reference: S6T-02059

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa, in light of reports that a senior programme director has been removed from the project.

Question reference: S6F-03277

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2024

To ask the First Minister, regarding the impact on child poverty levels in Scotland, what assessment the Scottish Government has made of recent research from the IFS on the impact of the two-child benefit cap.

Financial Year	Total
2019-2020	£100,000
2020-2021	£225,574
2021-2022	£64,172.83
2022-2023	£127,191.57
2023-2024	£162,688