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-16109

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many families have accessed the Young Patients Family Fund in each year since it was established.

Question reference: S6W-16074

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the closure of the 2022-23 round of the Low Emission Zone Retrofit Fund for taxis, what further funding it plans to provide to support the retrofit of taxis impacted by the introduction of Low Emission Zones, and by what date any such funding will be made available.

Question reference: S6W-16026

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further clarification regarding the £25,000 working capital loan that has been made available to Ferguson Marine, including what the loan (a) is expected to be used for, (b) interest rate is and (c) repayment date is; what assurances it has received regarding the repayment of the loan, and whether the loan funding support was a requirement from BAE systems.

The working capital loan made available to Ferguson Marine is expected to be used to ensure that Ferguson Marine has the necessary cashflow to make payments in relation to salaries and VAT as required while they await repayment from BAE Systems for services rendered in line with the terms of the contract.

Scottish Government has followed Scottish Public Finance Manual procedure with regards to the interest rate and is satisfied that the loan will be repaid, should the facility be drawn upon. The loan follows standard practice for working capital requests from a public body.

The rate of interest and repayment date are not disclosed due to commercial sensitivity.

Question reference: S6W-15860

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much compensation ScotRail has paid as part of its Delay Repay scheme since January 2022, broken down by month.

Abellio ScotRail was responsible for Delay Repay payments between January 2022 and March 2022. From 1 April 2022, ScotRail Trains Limited is responsible for considering and settling all new compensation claims.

It is published on the ScotRail website here: Delay Repay | Train Fare Compensation Scheme | ScotRail as per ORR Code of Practice.

Abellio ScotRail	Year	Financial Amount
January	2022	£17,614.07
February	2022	£37,523.57
March	2022	£19,389.40
Total		£99,963.85

ScotRail Trains Ltd	Year	Financial Amount
April	2022	£35,782.25
May	2022	£71,657.24
June	2022	£51,351.00
July	2022	£59,738.77
August	2022	£93,857.56
September	2022	£60,263.38
October	2022	£78,238.08
November	2022	£87,055.53
December	2022	£81,360.00
January	2023	£93,127.94
February	2023	£41,008.50
March	2023	£23,351.17
Total		£776,791.42

Question reference: S6W-16056

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost of running repairs of CalMac vessels has been in each year since 2007, or the earliest year for which data is available, also broken down by ferry.

Question reference: S6W-16863

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 March 2023

To ask what the Scottish Government’s response is to advice received from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in December 2022 that technical adjustments should be made to Scotland's annual emission targets in the 2020s to ensure such targets are aligned with revisions to international standards in carbon accounting.

Today a document has been laid in Parliament [ref: SG/2023/43] outlining our response to this CCC advice and associated legislation which has been brought forward to adjust our interim statutory target for 2020s for technical reasons.

Scottish Ministers note the CCC advice highlights this is a technical revision - the need for which is anticipated in the Climate Change (Scotland) 2009 Act - and as such does not impact the scale of ambition required to achieve our targets, which from 2030 and beyond remain unchanged.

I will be writing to the Convenor of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee outlining this response to the CCC and the associated legislation that has been brought forward. I will provide a separate response to the CCC’s December progress report.

Question reference: S6W-16220

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 31 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any analysis of the Sentencing Young People guidelines from the Scottish Sentencing Council.

The independent Scottish Sentencing Council's guideline for sentencing young people took effect from 26 January 2022. The development of a sentencing guideline has 8 stages associated with it. Stage 8 is monitoring and review once a guideline is in force. It is for the Sentencing Council to decide how best to monitor and review the operation of their guidelines. Further information is contained on the Scottish Sentencing Council website. https://www.scottishsentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-guidelines/methodology/stage-8-monitoring-and-review/ .

Question reference: S6W-16244

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to undertake a public consultation on extending the animal licensing framework introduced in 2021, including for commercial dog walking.

Question reference: S6O-02097

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what feedback it has received from MSPs and their staff regarding the roll-out of Webex.

The roll-out of Webex, the new phone system being used to replace our aging phone system at Holyrood, began for MSPs and their staff in February. While it is still in the early stages, so far feedback from offices using the new system, has been very positive. I do appreciate however that a very small number of offices in the initial phase have been rescheduled while a solution which meets their needs can be delivered.

Question reference: S6O-02096

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the SPCB) on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what benefits are available for SPCB and MSP staff.

The SPCB offers a range of benefits to SPCB staff and similar or identical benefits also underpin the employment relationship between MSPs and their staff. These benefits include generous annual leave, sick pay and maternity, paternity and adoption pay entitlements which exceed statutory provisions and which are competitive when compared with other public sector employers. Other benefits include pension schemes with employer contributions, a cycle to work scheme, interest free season ticket loans and discount schemes for selected retailers.