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-22886

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22203 by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how much of the £140 million to support the roll-out of digital devices in the Capital Spending Review has been allocated to date; for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer, and, if it has not allocated any of the £140 million to date, whether it will confirm that.

Question reference: S6W-22882

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask SEPA to provide advice to local authorities on the screening criteria for air quality impact assessments in relation to any whisky storage facility planning applications, in light of the final report, Review of the Human Health and Environmental Impacts of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Malt Whisky Maturation in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22889

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants are currently working on the development of a national digital academy.

Question reference: S6W-22888

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has carried out and (b) is undertaking any progress reports on the development of a national digital academy, and, if so, where they are published.

Question reference: S6W-22879

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce legislation to make changes to the Victim Notification Scheme, in light of the publication of the report of the review of the scheme in May 2023.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the VNS in Spring 2022 to ensure that the scheme was working well for victims. The review published its report and an easy read summary in May this year. It made 22 recommendations for change of the scheme, including in relation to data, evidence and reporting, the information available and communications.

Since May we have been considering the report in collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including criminal justice agencies and victim support organisations, to inform our formal response to the report.

As part of this work, we have been considering how the review’s recommendations could be delivered. This involves a range of possibilities, including primary or secondary legislation, as well as administrative and operational delivery. Where review recommendations may require primary legislation to deliver, we are carefully considering the options available to us for doing this.

Question reference: S6W-22885

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22502 by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what the total cost has been to date of its development of a national digital academy, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

Further to the response to question S6W-22502 on 8 November 2023, I would clarify that there have been no costs incurred to date on the development of a National Digital Academy.

As set out, Scottish Government are currently developing options for a National Digital Academy. Once developed, these will include an estimate of future potential costs.

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

Question reference: S6W-22891

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland’s universities will receive the full £5.8 million in regional innovation funding, as announced by the UK Government on 3 October 2023 as Scotland’s share of the UK-wide funding for the initiative, which universities in England are receiving directly via Research England.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role that universities play in supporting innovation and contributing to economic and societal challenges, as we recently recognised in our National Innovation Strategy.

Following the UK Government’s announcement on a new UK Regional Innovation Fund (RIF), the Scottish Government has been engaging with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to understand implications for Scotland. The Scottish Government plans to provide an update shortly.

Question reference: S6W-22887

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22202 by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how much of the £13 million allocated in its Budget 2023-24 has been allocated to date; which local authorities have received funding; what proportion of the allocated funding each local authority received, and whether there is any remaining funding to allocate; for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer, and, if it has not allocated any of the £13 million to date, whether it will confirm that.

Question reference: S6W-22899

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report of the National Dental Inspection Programme 2023, for what reason only 21.9% of P7 pupils received a “detailed inspection”, and whether any target was in place for the (a) number and (b) percentage of P7 pupils that should receive a “detailed inspection”, between November 2022 and June 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22881

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations in the final report, Review of the Human Health and Environmental Impacts of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Malt Whisky Maturation in Scotland, in light of the evidence that it provides on impacts on human health and the environment.