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-16536

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Scottish National Investment Bank to discuss the ongoing recruitment process for a new CEO.

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-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-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-16326

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 much it has spent on delivering affordable housing in each year since 2016.

Information on annual spend on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme is reported through our published annual out-turn reports and can be accessed through the following link Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The following table provides the expenditure on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) in each financial year since 2016-17.

The expenditure incurred in a particular year does not correlate directly to the number of completions within that year as the construction of new affordable housing developments can span a number of years:

Financial Year	Total Expenditure (£m)
2016-17	550.779
2017-18	592.306
2018-19	745.188
2019-20	839.939
2020-21	754.497
2021-22	671.539

* 2022-23 spend has not yet concluded

Question reference: S6W-16111

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many community-led housing developments have been supported in each year since 1999, and, as a result, how many homes have been developed.

The Scottish Government does not hold the specific information requested. However, through our mainstream Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), we have supported many community controlled housing association developments across urban and rural Scotland. Each year, since 2008-09, an Affordable Housing Supply Programme Outturn Report is published which sets out the organisations which have received funding through the AHSP. Specifically in rural Scotland, since the introduction of the Rural and Islands Housing Fund in 2016-17, 44 community-led rural projects have been completed providing 152 additional homes. The fund play an important role in offering support to community organisations and others to deliver affordable homes, while complementing the delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords.

Question reference: S6W-16140

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on proposals to locate two new 4G masts in Shetland, at sites in Skerries and Foula, as part of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme.

Question reference: S6W-16707

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm what guidance is in place for NHS boards regarding Freedom of Information requests.

NHS Boards are each distinct Scottish public authorities for the purposes of FOI legislation and each one is responsible for its own compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Section 60 Code of Practice, produced by the Scottish Ministers, provides guidance for all Scottish public authorities on discharging their functions under the legislation. Additionally, as the independent public official responsible for promoting and enforcing FOI law, the Scottish Information Commissioner encourages Scottish public authorities to develop good FOI practice, providing guidance and support materials on his website: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/law-and-guidance .

Question reference: S6W-16541

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

Ministers and officials meet regularly with wellbeing economy stakeholders, including the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, to discuss our shared commitment to Scotland’s transition to a wellbeing economy. On 4 April 2023, within one week of my appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, I met with representatives from the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland as part of a roundtable discussion with wellbeing economy stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-16387

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 what its position is on whether the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 should be (a) repealed and (b) replaced with new legislation.

The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 was passed in June 2022. As part of learning lessons from the Covid pandemic, the Act updates the statute book to permanently embed reforms in Scotland’s public services. Although these were originally necessitated by the pandemic, they have delivered improvements for service users and improved efficiency. The Act also ensures that Scottish Ministers are able to respond swiftly and appropriately to future public health threats, by making permanent those powers that played a particularly significant role in managing the response to the Covid pandemic.

The Act also includes a Schedule of temporary justice measures, which are due to expire on 30 November 2023 and can only be extended if the Parliament agrees. Under the terms of the Act, Ministers must review the operation of each temporary measure before it expires, to inform a decision on whether it should be extended for a further year. If seeking any extension, Ministers must lay regulations to amend the expiry date, alongside a statement setting out the findings of the review, allowing for full parliamentary scrutiny.

There are no plans to repeal The Act itself The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 is not emergency legislation, it has been through the full Bill process, and thorough pre-legislative scrutiny. There is no statutory requirement for the permanent provisions in the 2022 Act to be reviewed.