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-04049

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on the access and exiting arrangements for the underground car park.

Question reference: S6O-04051

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how it ensures that parliamentary staff are properly recognised and compensated for all of the work that they do for the Parliament, including any specific project work that is over and above their normal responsibilities.

Question reference: S6O-04053

Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will review whether the Parliament is providing sufficient resourcing for the Legislation Team to support MSPs to lodge amendments to Bills.

Question reference: S6O-04039

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what progress has been made on the development of a Scottish Parliament app.

Question reference: S6O-04043

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on the output of the working group that was established to review the visitor experience in the chamber.

Question reference: S6O-04046

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consult MSP staff trade unions before deciding on uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the 2025-26 financial year.

Question reference: S6W-31220

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many public inquiries have been held by the Scottish Ministers in each year since 1999 after a planning authority has objected to an application under the Electricity Act 1989, also broken down by how many of these objections were upheld.

Independent reporters from DPEA have held 96 public inquires on behalf of Scottish Ministers since 1999.

These relate to public inquiries held where a planning authority and/or statutory consultee objected to an application under the Electricity Act.

Dates by year are not available for cases received prior to 2011

Report Year	Application Granted	Application Refused	Not yet Decided	Total
1999 - 2010	7	5	0	12
2011	1	1	0	2
2012	1	3	0	4
2013	0	4	0	4
2014	2	2	0	4
2015	0	2	0	2
2016	8	2	0	10
2017	3	3	0	6
2018	4	6	0	10
2019	2	2	0	4
2020	2	1	0	3
2021	5	1	0	6
2022	7	1	0	8
2023	4	4	0	8
2024	2	0	11	13
Total	41	32	11	96

Question reference: S6W-30852

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £1.3 million 2023-34 Connecting Scotland funding was spent.

In 2023-24, total Scottish Government funding for Connecting Scotland and Ethical Digital Nation combined was £1.3 million. This was allocated as follows:

Grant funding to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to develop digital training, continue support for existing clients and deliver existing projects. This funding covers support for a wide range of digital inclusion initiatives including:
- ‘Digital Champion’ training, delivered through Mhor Collective, which equips individuals to support others in engaging safely and meaningfully online, building digital confidence within communities;
- Offboarding support for existing Connecting Scotland users, including temporary extension of connectivity with further support for users to transition to other means of connectivity;
- Supporting the delivery of three digital inclusion programmes - lending libraries, social housing, and place-based initiatives - helping more people to get online through access to devices, connectivity, and technical support, and providing public and third-sector organisations and their staff with support in digital inclusion provision;
£100,000 for the Digital Participation Charter Fund to promote and recognise digital inclusion amongst organisations. Some of the projects funded include:
- Budding Engineers (£10,000 award) to provide access to digital skills and teaching for people with additional support needs in several areas of Scotland;
- Deaf Action (£10,000 award) to provide digital and employability support for people experiencing hearing loss across Scotland;
- Milan Senior Welfare Organisation (£9,850 award) to provide basic digital skills and digital support for older people and their carers from the South Asian community in East Lothian and Edinburgh;
Programme incidentals (e.g. software licences, training, stakeholder engagement, advertising and marketing);
Staffing costs to support the ongoing management of both programmes

Question reference: S6W-31484

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the national service specification for alcohol and drug services.

Question reference: S6W-31468

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04853 by Mairi Gougeon on 14 December 2021, how many of the Fixed Penalty Notices issued since 25 January 2019 remain unpaid, and, of those, how many have been (a) referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) proceeded in the courts, and, of any that resulted in convictions, what the (i) nature of the offence, (ii) value of the original Fixed Penalty Notice and (iii) court disposal was.

Since 25 January 2019 until 13 October 2021, the period covered by S6W-03688 on 29 October 2021 and S6W-04853 on 14 December 2021, there have been 19 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) unpaid prior to referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, compared to 93 paid. This makes a payment rate over the period of 83%.

The breakdown is as follows:

(a) 8 of the 19 cases were referred to the COPFS for consideration of prosecution; 2 of the 8 cases resulted in the original FPNs being paid after agreement with the Procurator Fiscal, ultimately resulting in 17 unpaid FPNs in total and;

(b) 4 of the 8 cases resulted in convictions and fines with the breakdown as follows:

	Offence	FPN Offered (£)	Court Disposal (£)
1	Breach of hobby fishermen regulations	2000	500
2	Non submission of statutory returns	2000	3000
3	Marine Protected Area incursion	4000	2000
4	Fishing gear offence	3000	2075

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers