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: S6F-03115

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03119

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024

To ask the First Minister, in light of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract expiring in September, when the Scottish Government will publish the tender process for the new contract.

Question reference: S6F-03116

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-27175

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26883 by Gillian Martin on 30 April 2024, whether it will publish the recommendations of the Transmission Network Short Life Working Group.

Question reference: S6W-27150

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its ambition for onshore and offshore wind development in Scotland supporting 5GW of hydrogen by 2030, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The deployment of green hydrogen production will develop alongside the growth of onshore and offshore wind and the availability of constrained renewable electricity from existing wind farms.

Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than our 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

The Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), due to be published by summer this year, will set clear ambitions for increasing Scotland’s renewable energy capacity. It will outline a route map of actions that the Scottish Government will taketo deliver these ambitions whilst supporting a just transition.

Our Offshore Wind Policy Statement (2020) set out the Scottish Government’s ambition for 8-11 GW of offshore wind in Scotland by 2030. This is currently being reviewed in light of the significant ambition demonstrated by the private sector via the ScotWind leasing round. We also consulted on setting a further ambition for 2045 through the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the ambitions as set out in the 2020 Offshore Wind Policy Statement and will invest up to £500m over the next five years to develop the infrastructure and supply chain critical to growing our offshore wind sector.

As of December 2023, Scotland’s onshore wind operational capacity is around 9.5 GW. Within the project pipeline there is additional 13.9 GW of potential onshore wind capacity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27174

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on funding for a Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is funding the Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, to accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and enterprises to stimulate innovation in the hydrogen sector.

The ETP Hydrogen Innovation Programme began in July 2022 and supports a dedicated Hydrogen Business Development Manager, who facilitates pooling of academic knowledge and expertise to enable co-ordinated research activities, leading to new areas of innovation.

The Hydrogen Business Development Manager works alongside the 14 ETP member universities and aims to build mutually beneficial relationships across the hydrogen energy sector, while identifying EU, UK & International funding opportunities, as well as hosting key engagement events.

Question reference: S6W-27142

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26808 by Gillian Martin on 30 April 2024, what its position is on whether its Offshore Wind International Engagement Strategy is aligned with its policy relating to international development, as stated in its previous review of international development programmes.

Our Offshore Wind International Engagement Strategy is aligned with, and informed by, a number of Scottish Government strategies, including Scotland’s International Strategy (published in January 2024) and Scotland’s Vision for Trade. These strategies are in turn aligned with our international development policy.

As stated in the answer to S6W-26808, given the dynamic nature of the offshore wind market, our approach and the identified priority countries will be reviewed regularly to reflect the latest market intelligence.

Question reference: S6W-27144

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding any reasons for the reported failure of NHS Scotland's usual cyber security defences, which allowed medical information about patients to be accessed.

The criminal investigation by Police Scotland, supported by other agencies, into this attack is still going on. As such there is a limited amount that I can share at this moment in time. As the investigation progresses the Scottish Government and partners will undertake a lessons identified exercise and share its findings with public bodies so they are able to take preventative steps to defend against similar attacks.

Question reference: S6W-27238

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many visitors each VisitScotland iCentre had in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-27006

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of (a) online extortion and (b) threats to disclose an intimate image have been (i) reported to and (ii) investigated by Police Scotland in each year since records began, and whether there are any plans to begin recording incidents of sextortion.

Sextortion is sexual extortion and involves the threat of having sexual information, photos or videos shared with others. It is carried out to extort money or force a victim to do something against their will, control behaviour or obtain further images.

Where a reported sextortion-related crime involves the perpetrator making demands for money or other valuables, Police Scotland will record and investigate it under Threats and extortion. Table 1 shows the estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online, from 2019-20 to 2022-23. This is based on an annual review of crime records (commenced in 2019-20) which aims to estimate how many cyber-crimes are recorded in Scotland. It should be noted the figures below are based on a sample of police records (rather than all police records), so should be seen as providing a broad estimate of the volume of this type of crime, rather than an exact count.

Whilst not all online threats and extortion will necessarily have a ‘sextortion’ based element, it is very likely a high proportion (and certainly the majority) of the cases shown in Table 1 do. Figures for 2023-24 will be published in June 2024.

Where a reported sextortion-related crime involves a motive other than financial gain (for example a demand of a physical sexual nature or some other attempt to exert control over the victim), Police Scotland will record and investigate it under Threatening to disclose an intimate image. Table 2 below shows the number of these crimes recorded since the associated Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act was implemented on 3 July 2017. Again, figures for 2023-24 will be published in June 2024.

Table 1 - Estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online: 2019-20 to 2022-23

	Estimated volume committed online
Crime type	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Threats and extortion	290	730	1,260	1,830

Source: Recorded Crime Accredited Official Statistics, Police recorded cyber-crime in Scotland

Table 2 – Count of crimes of Threatening to disclose an intimate image: 2017-18 to 2022-23

Crime type	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Threatening to disclose an intimate image	193	255	275	337	382	302

Source: Recorded Crime Accredited Official Statistics, Scotland