Chamber and committees

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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-25868

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is giving consideration to ensuring regional balance across the successful investment proposals progressed through the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council's (SOWEC) Strategic Investment Model.

As the world’s largest commercial round for floating offshore wind, ScotWind puts Scotland at the forefront of offshore wind development globally.

The Strategic Investment Model (SIM) is coordinated by offshore wind developers, the Scottish Government, enterprise agencies and Crown Estate Scotland. Each SIM project is considered in terms of its relevance to developing the offshore wind sector in Scotland.

In October the First Minister announced strategic investment of up to £500 million over the next five years to help stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of our world-leading offshore wind sector.

ScotWind provides an exciting opportunity to create thousands of good Scottish jobs and we want to ensure a just transition that takes our existing skilled workforce and supply chain with us. That is why we are kick-starting our commitment to anchor our offshore wind supply-chain in Scotland with investment of £67 million next financial year.

We are committed to maximising the public benefits of our renewables revolution and we will explore all options open to us to do so.

Question reference: S6W-25758

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken towards an equitable approach to diagnosis across all NHS boards for severe asthma.

Question reference: S6W-25674

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07275 by Patrick Harvie on 22 March 2022, whether it will provide an updated table regarding the number of children who have undertaken cycling proficiency training, based on the latest information available.

Further to question S6W-07275, the latest Bikeability Scotland participation statistics are as follows:

LOCAL AUTHORITY	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Aberdeen City	21%	25%	31%	57%	68%	62%	68%	42%	47%	9%	27%	67%	100%
Aberdeenshire	93%	93%	76%	91%	91%	63%	80%	79%	85%	27%	51%	65%	65%
Angus	74%	72%	74%	57%	43%	45%	50%	67%	78%	41%	71%	88%	94%
Argyll & Bute	45%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	Pilot	Pilot	22%
Clackmannanshire	11%	11%	37%	37%	39%	44%	17%	33%	100%	33%	100%	100%	100%
Dumfries & Galloway	70%	73%	47%	30%	29%	41%	43%	38%	36%	4%	5%	29%	69%
Dundee	0%	0%	3%	23%	29%	17%	11%	53%	91%	67%	82%	97%	100%
East Ayrshire	7%	9%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	Pilot	Pilot	10%
East Dunbartonshire	5%	3%	5%	24%	14%	8%	22%	15%	67%	76%	94%	100%	100%
East Lothian	0%	0%	11%	26%	29%	23%	29%	41%	49%	24%	47%	94%	100%
East Renfrewshire	33%	40%	70%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	0%	100%	67%	83%
Edinburgh	29%	40%	52%	72%	70%	48%	68%	60%	53%	7%	26%	40%	41%
Falkirk	4%	6%	10%	8%	22%	12%	4%	6%	8%	19%	6%	2%	21%
Fife	31%	21%	16%	16%	18%	21%	36%	22%	29%	23%	24%	33%	35%
Glasgow	4%	4%	15%	28%	25%	34%	29%	35%	34%	22%	33%	31%	22%
Highland	34%	28%	16%	29%	28%	29%	36%	21%	30%	12%	15%	22%	32%
Inverclyde	4%	21%	35%	10%	30%	30%	20%	15%	26%	0%	5%	5%	10%
Midlothian	10%	40%	63%	87%	63%	63%	81%	75%	69%	22%	41%	65%	67%
Moray	96%	65%	58%	47%	62%	49%	37%	40%	56%	27%	62%	76%	93%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	5%	96%	100%	0%	100%	100%	100%
North Ayrshire	0%	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return	No return
North Lanarkshire	0%	7%	5%	0%	4%	No return	9%	10%	11%	15%	29%	50%	82%
Orkney	40%	40%	65%	95%	90%	65%	68%	63%	58%	37%	90%	65%	100%
Perth & Kinross	91%	61%	40%	37%	34%	62%	52%	51%	61%	26%	67%	87%	90%
Renfrewshire	6%	8%	22%	29%	20%	22%	20%	22%	29%	10%	59%	72%	84%
Scottish Borders	54%	54%	43%	8%	27%	29%	31%	31%	8%	2%	25%	41%	100%
Shetland	100%	53%	45%	90%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	25%	100%	100%	100%
South Ayrshire	79%	55%	73%	76%	83%	76%	81%	83%	88%	44%	34%	41%	59%
South Lanarkshire	0%	10%	17%	28%	39%	34%	39%	39%	43%	15%	10%	40%	40%
Stirling	17%	18%	5%	43%	65%	68%	50%	72%	66%	26%	58%	74%	87%
West Dunbartonshire	9%	12%	9%	21%	44%	41%	49%	56%	59%	13%	38%	28%	31%
West Lothian	21%	0%	15%	15%	15%	15%	17%	11%	26%	9%	9%	22%	30%
TOTALS	32%	32%	35%	37%	40%	38%	42%	42%	47%	20%	37%	50%	60%

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Number of pupils trained across all levels of Bikeability Scotland	25,974	30,800	32,105	33,082	36,711	36,314	43,700	16,327	41,046	52,604	60,228

Question reference: S6W-25681

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for the implementation of the key actions in its International Education Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-25679

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its International Education Strategy will facilitate the recognition of Scottish qualifications and degrees internationally.

Question reference: S6W-25576

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out any economic impact analysis regarding an energy policy that has a presumption against any oil and gas exploration.

Question reference: S6W-25575

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what workforce modelling has been carried out regarding an energy policy that has a presumption against any oil and gas exploration.

Oil and gas continue to play an important part in Scotland’s energy transition. The Scottish Government’s focus is on reducing emissions in line with climate change goals, meeting our energy security needs and ensuring a just transition for workforces as North Sea oil and gas resources decline. As part of this approach, our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) consulted on a presumption against new exploration for oil and gas. Fields that are already identified and progressing through the licensing process towards production would be subject to a robust Climate Compatibility Checkpoint. Following a comprehensive consultation process, the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will be published by Summer 2024.

In support of the draft ESJTP, the Scottish Government commissioned Ernst and Young to undertake a programme of work to better understand energy requirements as we transition to net zero. This programme of work, which was overseen by an independent panel of experts and has been published in full ( Publication of the outputs from a programme of work to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero - Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), includes detailed economic analysis and projections of jobs for Scotland’s offshore energy transition. Findings include that, with the right support as part of a just energy transition, the number of low carbon jobs in Scotland is projected to rise from 19,000 in 2019 to 77,000 by 2050 - delivering a net gain in jobs across the energy production sector overall.

Question reference: S6W-25542

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the workforce was unemployed in each of the last five financial years, also broken down by local authority area.

Estimates for the unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and over in Scotland, broken down by local authority, are shown in the following table for the last five financial years.

Area	Apr 2018 - Mar 2019	Apr 2019 - Mar 2020	Apr 2020 - Mar 2021	Apr 2021 - Mar 2022	Apr 2022 - Mar 2023
Aberdeen City	4.9	2.5	4.7	3.6	4.3
Aberdeenshire	2.6	2.0	3.6	3.0	2.4
Angus	3.7	2.6	4.7	3.1	3.2
Argyll and Bute	3.1	2.6	4.0	2.9	3.1
City of Edinburgh	3.8	2.5	4.3	3.1	2.4
Clackmannanshire	4.3	3.6	4.8	3.4	4.7
Dumfries and Galloway	3.0	2.7	4.7	3.4	4.0
Dundee City	5.8	5.1	5.4	4.6	5.6
East Ayrshire	5.5	4.6	5.2	3.8	3.7
East Dunbartonshire	2.9	2.3	3.7	2.9	2.5
East Lothian	3.6	2.5	4.1	2.8	2.5
East Renfrewshire	3.5	2.4	4.1	3.1	2.5
Falkirk	3.8	3.7	4.2	3.2	3.8
Fife	4.6	4.1	5.0	3.7	3.9
Glasgow City	5.5	4.6	5.6	4.4	4.7
Highland	2.9	2.1	3.8	2.8	2.6
Inverclyde	5.0	4.7	4.9	3.5	3.6
Midlothian	3.5	2.4	4.0	2.3	2.5
Moray	3.7	2.7	4.3	3.2	3.2
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2.5	2.0	3.7	2.6	2.5
North Ayrshire	5.8	5.0	5.9	4.0	3.4
North Lanarkshire	4.4	4.0	5.7	3.7	3.9
Orkney Islands	2.0	1.5	3.1	2.8	2.0
Perth and Kinross	2.9	2.3	4.3	2.5	3.1
Renfrewshire	4.8	3.7	4.4	3.2	3.7
Scottish Borders	3.2	2.8	4.4	3.3	3.5
Shetland Islands	2.1	1.7	3.2	2.1	1.9
South Ayrshire	4.5	3.5	4.9	3.8	4.5
South Lanarkshire	4.0	3.0	4.6	3.1	3.2
Stirling	3.7	3.1	4.0	3.1	3.2
West Dunbartonshire	4.8	4.2	5.2	3.6	4.0
West Lothian	3.9	2.9	4.1	3.0	2.9
Scotland	4.1	3.2	4.7	3.4	3.5

Source: Annual Population Survey, April to March data, ONS and Claimant Count, ONS

Notes:

1. Unemployment figures for local authorities are model-based, except for the Scotland estimates which have been taken directly from the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) dataset. The model-based estimates improve on the APS estimates by borrowing strength from the claimant count to produce an estimate that is more precise.

2. Data is subject to sampling variation.

3. Rates are based on unrounded numbers.

4. Rates are rounded to the nearest decimal point.

5. Estimates are based on those aged 16 and over.

Question reference: S6W-25390

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24658 by Graeme Dey on 6 February 2024, whether it will confirm whether a specific impact assessment was conducted regarding the £4.1 million reduction to Skills Development Scotland’s budget.

The impact assessments for the E&S portfolio were prepared collectively and reflected in the Education and Skills portfolio analysis section in Annex B of the Equality and Fairer Scotland statement available at this link Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Ministers have been clear that they expect SDS to prioritise the careers service and maximise apprenticeship opportunities from within their budget allocation. This will also be set out in their annual Letter of Guidance for 2024-25.

SDS have their own internal budget processes and have clear focus on equalities and relevant expertise on their board.

Question reference: S6W-25378

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24644 by Patrick Harvie on 2 February 2024, whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether an impact assessment was conducted regarding the £9.3 million reduction to the total "Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation" budget, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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