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-15774

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, how many days each vessel has been out of service or unable to operate in each of the last 10 years because of (a) breakdown, (b) a refit, (c) refit overruns and (d) concerns over performance of the vessel in bad weather.

Question reference: S6W-15773

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, for each ferry in the CalMac fleet, how much has been (a) budgeted for each vessel’s annual refit, (b) spent on each vessel’s annual refit and (c) spent in total on both the vessel's annual refit and any additional repairs carried out, in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-14938

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects to appoint a full-time chief executive officer of Scottish Rail Holdings.

Question reference: S6W-15855

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the amount of freight delivered by (a) water and (b) rail.

Scottish Ministers and officials have been working with industry stakeholders to explore the data on routes key Scottish exports take to market. Officials plan to annually update and publish this data on the modes and routes through which exports leave Scotland, including the commodity gaps in relation to the rest of the UK, to better inform exporters on the flows of Scottish goods to the EU and the rest of the world, as we continue to explore opportunities to increase exports from Scotland.

The Scottish Ministers have set a further rail freight growth target for rail control period seven (2024-2029) through their recent High Level Output Specification. Details can be viewed via the following link:-

Scottish Ministers’ High Level Output Specification (HLOS) - Control Period 7 - 2024 – 2029 | Transport Scotland .

Question reference: S6W-15596

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether, under the terms of the Scottish Ministerial Code, a minister who knowingly misleads a member of the public in their capacity as a minister should resign from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Ministerial Code provides clear guidance to Ministers on how they should act and arrange their affairs in order to uphold the highest standards of propriety and is intended to speak for itself. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in light of the code and for justifying their actions to Parliament and the public. The First Minister is the ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected of a Minister and of the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards.

Question reference: S6W-15940

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, how many of the (a) 46 diesel vehicles and (b) 16 petrol cars in the fleet that it and its agencies run were purchased in each year from 2018 to 2023 to date.

A list of all diesel and petrol vehicle purchases since 2018 is provided in the following table.

The 2 most recent purchases, a Mercedes Sprinter and Vito Minibus Combo are used for specific business related purposes. The Mercedes is used by Marine Scotland to transport shipping supplies and equipment throughout Scotland, whilst the Vito Minibus is used by our Video Production Team to transport team members and bulky audio visual equipment. At the time of purchase, there were no suitable fully electric (EV) or plug in hybrid (PHEV) alternatives available.

Year	Diesel purchases	Petrol purchases
2018-19	8	0
2019-20	6	0
2020-21	3	0
2021-22	0	0
2022-23	2	0

Question reference: S6W-15977

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions there have been of jet ski owners for infringements on Loch Lomond since the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park was established.

The Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database does not hold information on the specific type of vessel involved in charges prosecuted under Loch Lomond Byelaws.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service were able to manually search relevant case records and confirmed that as at 21 March 2023 a total of three people have been prosecuted for offences involving a jet ski under Loch Lomond Byelaws 2013 B3.5(1)&3.17 - Knowingly/recklessly/negligently navigate and behaviour of vessel (where vessel involved is a jet ski).

Question reference: S6W-15970

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £26 million of additional funding for colleges, as announced in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, will become core funding in future years.

Question reference: S6W-16093

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15024 by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023, whether (a) the Minister for Transport, (b) CMAL and (c) Transport Scotland officials have held meetings with representatives of Pentland Ferries, from 1 October 2022 to date, regarding the chartering of the MV Alfred for the Clyde and Hebrides network, and, if so, when any such meetings took place.

Question reference: S6W-15387

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15004 by Richard Lochhead on 23 February 2023, whether it will work with Glasgow City Council to examine the technical feasibility of leasing or selling the air rights above the M8 in central Glasgow for commercial and/or residential development, as an alternative business model to financing the capping or decking over of the west flank of the motorway between St George's Cross, Charing Cross and Anderston Cross (at junctions 17 to 19).

I am aware of Glasgow City Council’s ambitions for a proposed M8 ‘garden cap’. Given that this proposal is about the wider public realm and land-use within the city it is more appropriate that this work is led by the City Council.

Transport Scotland will continue to engage constructively with the City Council where proposals or projects are considered to have a potential impact on transport assets and services owned and or provided by Scottish Ministers.