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-15838

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the core recommendations of the UK Commission on Bereavement in its 2022 report, Bereavement is everyone’s business, and whether it plans to implement the recommendations, and, if so, within what timescale.

The Scottish Government welcomes The UK Commission on Bereavement’s report and the focus it brings to improving the experience of people affected by grief. Bereavement affects many aspects of our lives and we recognise that getting the right care and support following a bereavement is crucial for our health and wellbeing.

As set out in the answers to questions S6W-15835 and S6W-15839 on 21 March 2023, we are already taking forward a broad programme of work to improve the practical support, care and advice that is available for people who have been bereaved. We are also taking forward specific work which implements a number of UK Commission’s recommendations. This includes: improving access to advice and information for people affected by bereavement; ensuring people are sensitively supported during a bereavement; and, adopting public health approaches to create more open-ness in our communities to talking about dying and death. We have also introduced practical changes to ensure processes for registering a death are as straightforward as possible.

We are also exploring ways to further improve bereavement support through our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the new Palliative and End of Life Strategy, and through the creation of the National Care Service. This includes focussing on the needs of minority groups.

Finally, we will continue our engagement with the bereavement sector as we take forward our work to improve support for people affected by bereavement, drawing on the UK Commission’s findings.

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-15908

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much sewage has been discharged by Scottish Water into bodies of water in (a) North Lanarkshire, (b) South Lanarkshire and (c) Falkirk since 2021.

Scottish Water operates 151 waste water treatment works (WWTW) in North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk areas. These WWTWs treat waste water to comply with mandatory standards before returning the water to the environment. These WWTWs operate to standards set out within licences issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994 and the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 . Scottish Water also operates a large sewer network which includes Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), which are also licensed. These are designed to spill storm water in extreme weather conditions to protect homes and businesses from flooding when the network is operating at full capacity. Scottish Water reports the spill data that it is required to under the terms set out within sewer network and WWTW licences. This reported information is also available on-line for the period 2017-2021 and the data for 2022 will be available by the end of March 2023 at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Waste-Water/Overflow-Spill-Data

Question reference: S6W-15514

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will raise the issue of the proposed Rosebank oil field development at the next meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change Interministerial Group

Question reference: S6W-15886

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-01852 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 February 2023, whether it has any plans to encourage local authorities to record different types of absences in order to provide more targeted support to young people on the autism spectrum.

Our national guidance ‘Included, engaged and involved part 1: promoting and managing school attendance’ encourages Education Authorities to consider the underlying reasons for absence, including those which arise from an additional support needs.

The guidance identifies that poor attendance can often be related to, or be an indication of, an additional support need and that schools should use their staged intervention processes to ensure that any barriers to learning are identified and appropriate support is provided.

The guidance establishes requirements regarding classifying and recording attendance and absence. It is for local authorities to record the reasons for absence for their pupils within the local authority management information system SEEMiS.

Question reference: S6W-15752

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many applicants to the Access Bikes scheme have received an interest-free loan to date, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-15757

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it anticipates meeting the target of 10% of everyday journeys to be taken by bicycle.

Question reference: S6W-15653

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet its commitment to reduce car km by 20% by 2030.

The Scottish Government agrees with the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee that we need plans to deter car use, to accompany current plans to encourage active travel and the use of public transport, the need for both is set out in the route map on 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030.

That is why we have set out our future transport infrastructure priorities in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review published on 8 December 2022 that includes a focus on active travel, mass transit and bus priority for mode shift away from the predominance of cars.

However, the evidence is clear that incentivising sustainable alternatives alone will not be sufficient to bring about the behaviour change to deliver the scale of 20% car KM reduction. Therefore As outlined in our route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030 jointly developed with COSLA, we have commissioned research exploring equitable options for demand management to discourage car use.

The most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are reserved. The recent rises in the cost of motoring underline the unfairness of the current, regressive motoring tax regime.

We will continue to press the UK Government for a fair and progressive future transport tax system that better incentivises the transition to zero-emission vehicles, reduces unnecessary journeys and raises revenues to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel.

Question reference: S6W-15567

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any bridge upgrades that may be needed in the future, broken down by local authority area.

From our latest review of the trunk road network there are 35 bridges which have been identified as requiring upgrades. These are located within the following Local Authority areas:

Local Authority Area	Number of Bridges
Highland	19
Argyle & Bute	1
Falkirk	1
Stirling	6
Inverness	1
Moray	2
Borders	1
West Dunbartonshire	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2
Total	35

Transport Scotland does not hold the above information for structures maintained by Local Authorities.

Question reference: S6W-15544

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any recipients of the Network Support Grant Plus have been penalised for not meeting the grant's terms and conditions regarding bus service provision.

To date, no operator has been penalised for not meeting the terms and conditions of the Network Support Grant Plus.

All operators who claim Network Support Grant Plus must sign up to specific conditions and terms set out, or will have no entitlement to the grant. This includes the condition to freeze fares, which took effect from 10 October 2022. My officials gather relevant information, and ensure payment is made on the basis of actual kilometres run by each operator.

Question reference: S6T-01276

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for the chief executive of Circularity Scotland to be paid a reported annual salary of £300,000.