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: S6T-01332

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the SQA regarding the preparations for this year’s exams.

Question reference: S6T-01335

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report by NUS Scotland, which stated that more than a fifth of international students in Scotland have experienced homelessness during their studies.

Question reference: S6F-02048

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to Alcohol Focus Scotland’s emergency call to urgently take action to prevent further deaths and reduce harm from alcohol.

Question reference: S6F-02053

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that published NHS waiting times for treatment are accurate.

Question reference: S6F-02046

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to new Police Scotland statistics showing that the number of recorded rapes has increased to its highest level in six years.

Question reference: S6F-02033

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-02030

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02029

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-15994

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of SEPA's position statement that it “will not take enforcement action against any retailer who does not offer a takeback service to consumers in Scotland in relation to online or distance retail sales of scheme articles", whether it can provide any assurance to retailers that, should they breach the requirement under the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 to provide a takeback service, they will not face enforcement action in the future; whether the Law Officers were consulted by SEPA on this matter, and what discussions it has had with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding any potential impact of this development on its approach to pursuing prosecutions in respect of this matter.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a separately constituted statutory body, independent from the Scottish Ministers, that has primary regulatory responsibility for protecting and improving the environment. Scottish Ministers are not responsible for SEPA’s operational matters, including the exercise of its enforcement functions. It is up to SEPA to consider its enforcement position in relation to this matter.

As a non-Police specialist reporting agency, SEPA has the option to submit reports to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). Both SEPA and COPFS are clear that such enforcement action is a last resort, used for the most significant offending. SEPA is an independent regulatory agency and is not required to consult with COPFS or others when taking regulatory positions. This includes the published position concerning online takeback for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which provides reassurance to retailers that no enforcement action will be taken by SEPA with respect to DRS takeback obligations whilst this aspect of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 is under review.

Question reference: S6W-16204

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31530 by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 September 2020, whether it will provide an updated table of capacity figures to 2023, with projections to 2030.

The following table shows permitted incineration capacity figures held by SEPA to 2023.

The first report of the independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland’s waste hierarchy, made assumptions about capacity beyond 2023, although in doing so, noted that it is unlikely that all facilities in the pipeline (i.e. those not build and at various stages of planning and permitting) will be built. The first report from the independent review is available here: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury (www.gov.scot)

Year	Total operational waste incineration operational capacity (million tonnes)	Operational biomass incineration capacity (million tonnes)	Operational municipal waste incineration capacity (million tonnes)	Permitted municipal waste incineration capacity (million tonnes)
2007	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2008	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2009	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2010	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2011	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.5
2012	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2013	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2014	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.6
2015	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2016	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.7
2017	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.7
2018	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.9
2019	2.4	1.4	1	1.3
2020	2.4	1.4	1	1.5
2021	2.5	1.4	1.1	2.1
2022	2.5	1.4	1.1	2.2
2023	2.9	1.4	1.5	2.2