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: S6O-01697

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter signed by over 500 businesses asking for the Deposit Return Scheme to be delayed beyond next summer.

Question reference: S6O-01695

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support off-gas-grid households during the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6O-01686

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on support for Liberty Steel Dalzell.

Question reference: S6O-01681

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its Covid Recovery Strategy considers the needs of rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-12621

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the reported removal of average speed cameras on the A9 between the Keir and Broxden roundabouts.

Question reference: S6W-12617

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authority-funded care home places there have been in each year since 1999, and, of those, how many were provided by (a) local authority- or charity-run and (b) independent care homes.

The number of resident places by funding category (i.e. publicly funded) is not available. However, Public Health Scotland have published the estimated number of long stay residents in care homes for older people by funding category and by local authority since 2009.

These figures are available in two parts:

The latest Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults publication contains figures from 2012 - 2022. The figures can be found in the “Funding and Charges” section of the dashboard.

The Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults 2020 publication contains figures from 2009 – 2011. The figures can be found in Table 13C of the accompanying Care Home Census Data Tables.

a) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.

b) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-12649

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the cost of the Cairngorm funicular railway repairs reportedly increased from £16 million to £25 million.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has confirmed that the timetable for repairs to the funicular had to be extended due to unforeseeable delays caused by the weather and Covid. In addition, technical challenges resulted in additional works needing to be carried out. Significant cost inflation in the construction sector and the weakness of sterling in international exchange rates also contributed to the cost increase.

I have asked Stuart Black, HIE’s Chief Executive, to write to you direct with a full explanation of the cost increase.

Question reference: S6W-12622

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to progress the introduction of a specialist court for hearing sexual offence cases, and what its proposed timescale is for doing this.

The proposal to establish a specialist sexual offences court as recommended by the Lady Dorrian Review remains under consideration. In delivering against our commitment to give serious consideration to the Review’s recommendations we have consulted with stakeholders and the public on proposals to establish a specialist court and have convened a Working Group which brings together partners from across the justice system to give detailed consideration to proposals for implementing a specialist court.

Both the independent analysis of consultation responses and the Working Group’s findings are expected to be published in the coming weeks and will inform our decision on whether to proceed with proposals to establish a specialist sexual offences court, although I am unable to provide a specific timescale for this.

Question reference: S6W-12572

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12086 by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding when it originally planned to begin fully dualling the A96, and what impact its consultation has had on that start date.

Question reference: S6W-12409

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-12102 by Kevin Stewart on 16 November 2022, whether any Integration Joint Boards (IJB) have not returned any surplus COVID-19 reserves in the current financial year, and, if so, whether it will list (a) each IJB and (b) the reasons for which it has not returned any such surplus.