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-22256

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to promote innovation in Scotland’s aquaculture sector.

The Scottish Government recognises the crucial role that innovation plays in enabling the sustainable development of Scottish aquaculture. We will continue to work with our enterprise agencies, innovation centres, and other relevant stakeholders to find ways that encourage innovation that helps the industry address its most pressing challenges while creating opportunities for Scottish businesses.

For example, the Scottish Government recently sponsored Scotland's Pavilion at Aqua Nor 2023, the world's largest aquaculture technology and trade exhibition, providing £85,000 from the Marine Fund Scotland to allow Scottish businesses to locate together, demonstrate their innovation and science capabilities and make an impact.

Question reference: S6W-21999

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates its guidance on the provision of wheelchairs on free, short-term loans will be fully implemented.

Question reference: S6W-22361

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards delivering the action set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to "undertake and publish a review of how best to significantly increase the number of social enterprises, employee-owned businesses and cooperatives in Scotland, supporting regional regeneration and the wealth of local communities".

The review is in-progress and is being led by a representative stakeholder group, chaired by Neil McInroy, Global Lead for Community Wealth Building with The Democracy Collaborative, and also Chair of the Economic Development Association of Scotland (EDAS).

The review process commenced in June 2023, with the first two meetings of the group being held in September and October. It is anticipated that the work will complete, with findings and recommendations published in Spring 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22219

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide details of any discussions that its Nordic Office has had with Norwegian Government (a) ministers and (b) officials, regarding any potential impact on its climate targets of the development of Rosebank oilfield, since 1 January 2021.

The Scottish Government’s Nordic Office was officially opened in August 2022. Based in the British Embassy in Copenhagen, it has a regional remit covering the Nordic countries, including Norway.

Scottish Government officials based in the Nordic Office have not engaged in any discussions with Norwegian Government ministers or officials regarding the Rosebank oilfield.

Collaboration with our Nordic partners on North Sea renewable energy policy – including offshore wind, CCUS, and hydrogen – is a key area of activity for the Nordic Office, with recent Ministerial visits to the region having focussed on offshore wind and port infrastructure in particular.

Question reference: S6W-22217

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was made aware of any discussions between the UK and Norwegian governments regarding Rosebank oilfield, as it relates to any potential impact on its climate targets, through (a) the intergovernmental council, (b) communication from the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, (c) communication from the UK Secretary of State for Scotland, (d) communication from the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and (e) communication from the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

The Scottish Government has not been made aware of any discussions between the UK and Norwegian Governments regarding the Rosebank oilfield.

Oil and gas licensing processes are currently reserved to the UK Government. Scottish Ministers have repeatedly called for reform of these processes, to ensure compatibility with climate commitments and we will continue to look for further opportunities to make the case for reform.

Question reference: S6W-22139

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for the funding that it provided to the Cairngorms Trust in 2022.

The Scottish Government allocated £281,606 to the Cairngorms Trust from the 20220-23 Rural Community Led Local Development (CLLD) fund.

The objectives of the funding were;

Rural communities will have the opportunity to try out different approaches to local community development;
Groups and organisations will build connections with the LAG network and the business sector;
Rural groups and organisations will work in partnership to make positive changes in their communities;
A body of evidence, insights and learning will be collated to help inform ongoing rural Community Led Local Development policy and programmes.

No other funding was provided to the Cairngorms Trust directly from Scottish Government in the 2022-23 financial year.

Question reference: S6W-22273

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the waiting time is for knee replacement surgery in each NHS board area as of October 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22100

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect NHS staff from racial harassment.

Question reference: S6W-22011

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to tools other than the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) as a measure for widening access to higher education.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is currently the national measure of progress on widening access to higher education, as was recommended by the Commission on Widening Access in its final report, A Blueprint for Fairness, in 2016.

Higher education institutions currently use a range of criteria to identify widening access students, but we recognise that there may be other suitable measures to work alongside SIMD.

Scottish Government has established an Access Data Short-life Working Group to consider proposals and to investigate other widening access measures and data sources. The group’s membership comprises a range of stakeholders, including Colleges Scotland, Universities Scotland, Scottish Funding Council, and further and higher education institutions. The group is due to report to Ministers this autumn.

Question reference: S6W-22015

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much investment it has allocated to the recruitment of education welfare officers in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.

It is a matter for local authorities to decide how much funding they allocate to specific services. The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Information on the number of hours of support staff provision per week, including home-school link workers, provided by each local authority is available at School support staff statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Figures are available from 2017.