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-16719

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any impact assessment was conducted before the decision was made to end the Network Support Grant Plus on 31 March 2023, and, if so, whether it will provide further information on the key findings of any such assessment.

The Scottish Government provided £223 million of support to bus services throughout the Covid pandemic. The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund put in place to support bus services as patronage recovered following the Covid 19 Pandemic. Travel has changed following the pandemic with amended service levels and new passenger travel patterns, therefore it is important that the support we give transport operators continues to evolve as the network adapts and make sure it remains fit for purpose and is sustainable long term.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of bus services and is committed, in conjunction with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of improving services. The Scottish Government continues to invest in the bus network to support long term growth The Network Support Grant, which keeps fares more affordable and networks more extensive than would otherwise be the case, continues to be available in 2023 - 2024 and the Scottish Government is providing extra funding to support a marketing campaign to encourage people back to bus.

Question reference: S6W-16704

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to ensure that rural communities have access to local GP services.

Question reference: S6W-16284

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of disabled people on social housing waiting lists.

We want disabled people in Scotland to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable homes, built or adapted so they can participate as full and equal citizens.

Scotland has led the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. Since 2007, we have delivered 118,124 affordable homes, 83,291 of which were for social rent.

Our ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 – 70% of which will be for social rent and 10% in our remote, rural and island communities.

We are building homes that are sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of people as they change over time. The Housing for Varying Needs design guide incorporates the ‘barrier free’ concept of accessibility in homes. Recent analysis shows that 98% of new build homes delivered by housing associations and councils in 2021-22, where information was returned, met that standard.

A review of Housing for Varying Needs is underway. This work will directly inform the development of a Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, set to be implemented from 2025-26. This will enhance the accessibility and adaptability of new homes, ensuring that disabled people have an increased range of housing options and reducing the requirement to make changes to homes as needs change.

Local authorities as the strategic housing authority are responsible for assessing affordable housing needs in their area and setting out their plans to meet these requirements in their Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

Local authorities are required to set targets for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures as part of their Local Housing Strategy. The target should be informed by evidence of what is required locally.

The allocation of housing in the social rented sector lies directly with individual landlords. Local authorities and housing associations are responsible for allocating social housing, including applications on medical grounds, and how they do this is set out in their allocation policy. Decisions to allocate housing will be based on an assessment of the individual’s housing needs against the landlord’s published allocation policy.

Disabled people have priority access to our Low Cost Initiative for First Time Buyers which help people on low to moderate incomes buy a home. We recently widened eligibility to the Open Market Shared Equity scheme to ensure as many people as possible can benefit.

Question reference: S6W-16389

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it envisages any potential delays to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry.

We have always been clear that we want the work of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry to be delivered at speed, addressing the range of questions that people have, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

It is for the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry itself to comment on its work.

Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 gives an inquiry Chair alone, rather than Ministers, responsibility for deciding how an inquiry should operate.

It is for the Chair to determine how to strike the right balance between addressing the wide range of questions people have and making sure that the inquiry can be delivered at speed, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

The Scottish Government remains committed, in its role as sponsor, to providing operational support as the Chair considers necessary and appropriate, in order to enable the Inquiry to carry out its independent work and help ensure the progress made so far is continued.

Question reference: S6W-16335

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have (a) opened and (b) closed in Scotland since May 2021.

Statistics on business births and deaths are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) within their Business Demography publications. Data are available on a calendar year basis and on a quarterly basis. Links to the latest versions of these publications are provided below. The business births and deaths in the ONS publications are based on registrations and de-registrations for Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Note that VAT/PAYE registrations/de-registrations do not represent a complete picture of business churn – as this excludes the smallest businesses without employees and an annual turnover of less than the VAT threshold (currently £85,000).

Business Demography, UK: 2021 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemography/latest

Business demography, quarterly experimental statistics, UK: October to December 2022 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/octobertodecember2022

Question reference: S6W-16317

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many appointments it has made to UK-level bodies and organisations in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-16318

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which UK-level bodies and organisations it currently has representation on, and how any such appointments are made.

Question reference: S6W-16319

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many vacancies currently exist for any Scotland representation on UK-level bodies and organisations.

Question reference: S6W-16377

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the COVID-19 Inquiry to date.

Question reference: S6W-16325

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes have been constructed in each year since 2016.

Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/ .

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes completed in each financial year since 2016-17:

Financial Year	Number of homes delivered
2016-17	7,493
2017-18	8,527
2018-19	9,566
2019-20	9,290
2020-21	6,479
2021-22	9,757
2022-23*	6,381

* 2022-23 figure relates to 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2022.

The homes provided through the AHSP comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.