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-16049

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many trees, that have been planted by its agencies or through publicly-funded tree-planting initiatives, it estimates have died before reaching maturity, in each year for which data is available.

The Scottish Government does not produce estimates or collect data on the number of trees that have died and the age when this occurs.

All forests once established will experience some mortality and natural thinning through competition between individual trees. This will vary according to the planting density, management regimes, effects of pests and diseases, woodland type and location, and is an understood and accepted part of sustainable forest management.

However, any woodland creation that is publicly funded through the Forestry Grant Scheme is required to attain a specified stocking density when established, normally by year five, as set out in published guidance on the Rural Payments website at https://www.ruralpayments.org/topics/all-schemes/forestry-grant-scheme/woodland-creation/

Forest Research publishes data on forest yields and management information on the patterns of tree growth that can be expected in forests of different tree species, with varying growth rates, and when managed in different ways. This can be found at https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications/forest-yield/ . These data, which factor in mortality rates, provide forecasts for the number of live tree over time and are used for example to estimate timber yields, forest biomass and carbon stocks, and the modelling of forest greenhouse gas balances.

Question reference: S6W-16033

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has had since he was appointed, broken down by month, and how many of those meetings had (a) civil servants present and (b) minutes prepared.

Information on Ministerial meetings is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

Civil servants should be present for all discussions relating to Government business. Where that is not the case any significant content should be passed back to the Private Office as soon as possible after the event, who should arrange for the basic facts of such meetings to be recorded.

We are unable to provide a breakdown of minutes prepared. The basic facts of formal meetings between Ministers and outside interest groups are recorded, setting out the reasons for the meeting, the names of those attending and the interests represented. Routine meetings with policy officials may only require a short note setting out the reasons for the meeting, the names of attendees and any action points or decisions taken. For courtesy conversations where no policy decisions arise it may be sufficient to record within the official diary that the meeting has taken place.

Question reference: S6W-16021

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations of the Feeley Review of Adult Social Care that "priority is given to the establishing of the sector level body as a means to take forward the Fair Work recommendations in partnership" and "that body should also take the lead in creating national sector level collective bargaining of terms and conditions".

The Scottish Government have fully accepted the findings of the Feeley Review and we are working in partnership with stakeholders to implement its key recommendations. The Scottish Government are not waiting for the National Care Service to be established before we take action and we have continued to progress a number of key projects to take forward and improve Fair Work principles, including providing an additional £100m to increase the minimum rate of pay for adult social care workers to £10.90 per hour. Work is already underway to develop pay and bargaining arrangements ahead of the introduction of the NCS.

Through the National Care Service (NCS), The Scottish Government is going to continue to take forward its commitments to Fair Work for the social care sector, and to improve pay and conditions for workers, including through of national sectoral bargaining.

Question reference: S6W-16046

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Drug Treatment and Testing Orders have been imposed on people in each local authority area in each year since 2011-12.

Information about national and local numbers of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) is published annually. The relevant spreadsheet can be accessed directly online via this link: justice social work local authority tables up to 2021-22 for drug treatment and testing orders

Alternatively, this spreadsheet (“JSW local authority tables up to 2021 - 22 for drug treatment and testing orders”) can be found on the following page on the Scottish Government website: www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-justice-social-work-statistics-additional-tables-back-to-2004-2005/

Within the spreadsheet, the information for each relevant year can be accessed by selecting ‘Orders and Individuals: Number of Orders, Number per 10,000 Population and Number of Individuals’. Contextual information is contained in the footnotes of the table in relation to each year.

Question reference: S6W-16034

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding Creative Scotland has distributed to organisations registered in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each year since 2016-17.

Since 2016-2017, Creative Scotland has awarded a total of £17,135,309 to cultural organisations registered in England, £105,996 to those registered in Wales and £22,780 to those registered in Northern Ireland.

The majority of these awards have been made through Creative Scotland’s Open Funds , Screen Funding and the Four Nations International Fund for organisations and productions undertaking activity in Scotland and for organisations who receive funding from Creative Scotland but operate with a UK-wide remit.

Question reference: S6W-16393

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to review the sea bass catch entitlement on the Solway Firth.

Question reference: S6W-16195

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times its relevant department has received correspondence from Audit Scotland regarding Liberty Steel Dalzell in each year since 2016, including 2023 to date.

Question reference: S6W-16196

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times its relevant department has received correspondence from Audit Scotland regarding the Lochaber Aluminium Smelter in each year since 2016, including 2023 to date.

The Scottish Government has engagement with Audit Scotland in relation to the Lochaber Guarantee and the year end accounts. The outcome of the most recent Consolidated accounts for the 2021-2022 financial year has been published in full on the Scottish Government’s website and the Auditor General has publicly commented on the findings in relation to Lochaber in December 2022 which can be accessed at this link https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/publications/the-202122-audit-of-the-scottish-government-consolidated-accounts .

The Auditor General has stated at page 12 of the 2021-2022 Audit that:

“I have concluded for 2021-22, the Scottish Government’s approach to setting the level of provision against the potential exposure through the guarantee is reasonable”.

Question reference: S6W-16314

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided to (a) Historic Scotland and (b) Historic Environment Scotland in each year since 2007.

Details of Scottish Government funding for Historic Scotland, from 2007-08 until it became part of Historic Environment Scotland, can be found in the following table. These figures come from the annual Scottish Budget publication.

Year	Historic Scotland Funding £m
2007-08	47.7
2008-09	51.7
2009-10	49.3
2010-11	49.8
2011-12	47.0
2012-13	45.3
2013-14	43.6
2014-15	37.8
2015-16	40.1

Details of the Scottish Government funding for provided Historic Environment Scotland since 2016-17, the first full year of its accounts, can be found in the following table. These figures come from the annual Scottish Budget publication with the exception of the revised budget in 2020-21 which took account of the effect of pandemic closures on its commercial income.

Year	Historic Environment Scotland Funding £m
2016-17	45.0
2017-18	45.5
2018-19	41.1
2019-20	39.8
2020-21 (pre-pandemic)	42.8
2020-21 (revised)	80.4
2021-22	75.9 (including £20m in COVID consequentials)
2022-23	70.1
2023-24	72.7

Question reference: S6W-16257

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of private patients per dentist has been in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles, in each of the last 10 years.