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-11864

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all specialist food and drink retailers producing hampers, parcels and gift sets that it has engaged with on its Deposit Return Scheme since 28 October 2021.

The Scottish Government has engaged with a wide range of drinks businesses throughout the policy development and implementation stages for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including through two stages of consultation (running from 25 June 2018 – 25 September 2018 and 10 September 2019 – 10 December 2019) which any business could participate in. We have not carried out any engagement relating to DRS specifically directed at retailers selling hampers, parcels, or gift sets, but many such retailers would have been captured by this wider engagement.

We are continuing to engage with industry in order to ensure a successful launch of Scotland's DRS in August next year.

Question reference: S6W-11869

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what any sanction will be for any (a) home and (b) business owner who fails to comply with the proposed New Build Heat Standard.

It is currently the intention to regulate to prohibit direct emissions heating (DEH) systems being installed in new buildings applying for a building warrant from 1 April 2024 through amendments to the Building Regulations. Therefore, enforcement/penalties would be through the existing legislative framework.

As all new buildings require a building warrant prior to construction, the absence of a direct emission heating system will be demonstrated to the local authority verifier as part of that process and also confirmed on completion of building works.

Enforcement of any subsequent non-compliance with building regulations is the responsibility of the local authority in the area the building is sited.

Question reference: S6W-11950

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07307 by Shona Robison on 25 March 2022, and in light of its tender, OCT462463, for the audit anticipating that the research will extend over six months, what the (a) scope and (b) timeline is of the empty homes audit.

The full scope is available to interested suppliers via the Public Contracts Scotland website and includes: 1) an overview of Scotland’s empty homes; 2) the key barriers and opportunities for bringing homes back into use; 3) an assessment of the effectiveness of current approaches and interventions; 4) suggestions on how these could be improved. We anticipate the exercise will be complete by summer 2023.

Question reference: S6W-11954

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conclude its review of the second Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.

Question reference: S6W-11861

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by when it anticipates Police Scotland’s dashcam safety portal will be operational.

The Programme for Government 2021-22 stated that we will work alongside Police Scotland to develop an online reporting system that will enable anyone to upload camera footage of dangerous road use. The National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) initiative, which deal with all matters of careless road use including riding, cycling or walking, is being led by Police Scotland with financial support from the Scottish Government through Scotland’s Road Safety Framework Fund.

The project to introduce a pilot Dash-Cam Safety Portal into Police Scotland is in the initial business case stage with Police Scotland currently looking at the internal processing, handling and storage of digital images and how that best fits with current and projected processes.

Question reference: S6W-11578

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the (a) consumer benefits, (b) eligibility criteria and (c) longevity of delivery of the Warmer Homes Scotland programme, and how this compares in each respect to the UK Government's Home Upgrade Grant (i) Phase One and (ii) Phase Two.

(a) Warmer Homes Scotland Customers save £230 on average on their annual fuel bills. In the period from April – September 2022, Warmer Homes Scotland Customers saw an average SAP increase of 6.7, with 5402 heating and energy efficiency measures installed in 2503 households.

(b) Warmer Homes Scotland is a national scheme which primarily targets support at owner occupied households. A range of proxies which indicate that a household are in or likely to be in fuel poverty are used as eligibility criteria to target support at those who need it the most. The eligibility criteria has recently been widened to allow a further 100,000 more households to become eligible.

(c) The current contract for Warmer Homes Scotland ends on 30th June 2023, and the procurement process is currently underway for a successor scheme which is due to begin on 3rd July 2023. The successor scheme will run for a minimum of 5 years, the contract includes the option to extend a further 2 years which would see the programme run until July 2030.

(a) (i) The consumer benefits for Phase One of the Home Upgrade Grant have not yet been published. However in the period from March – August 2022, 155 heating and energy efficiency measures were installed in 121 households. This data can be found here . (ii) The consumer benefits for Phase Two of HUG have not yet been released.

(b) (i)/(ii) The Home Upgrade Grant is delivered by Local Authorities who will set out their own individual eligibility criteria within parameters.

Question reference: S6O-01597

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-01598

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the right of disabled people to dedicated accessible spaces.

Question reference: S6O-01603

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address high private sector rents.

Question reference: S6O-01599

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Lothian and NHS Borders.