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: S6F-01387

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what the response has been from stakeholder groups regarding the Scottish Government’s proposals to introduce a freeze on rent.

Question reference: S6F-01389

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that police officer numbers dropped to 16,610 at the end of June, below Police Scotland’s “full officer establishment” of 17,234.

Question reference: S6F-01384

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister how the recent fall in the value of sterling will affect the finances of the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6F-01377

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01376

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-00893

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the UK Government's fiscal statement last week.

Question reference: S6T-00876

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote participation in Scotland’s Climate Week 2022, which runs from 26 September to 2 October.

Question reference: S6W-10712

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it plans to do with the £5 million that it previously committed to the Islands Bond scheme, and whether it will be spent on measures that aim to tackle the depopulation of islands.

The £300,000 allocated to the Islands Bond this financial year will now be used to shape a range of tests to help inform policy in an islands context, based on the feedback gathered through our engagement on the Islands Bond since October 2021, (including meeting over 100 island residents across 12 island communities in spring 2022).

These Practical Policy Tests (PPTs) will help to inform the development of our action plan to address depopulation as set out in our 2019 National Islands Plan, and also help to inform our future funding requirements so that we can tackle the depopulation challenges across our islands.

This work complements the £8.3 million provided to implement the National Islands Plan in the current financial year. This continues our record of delivering significant investment in key island-based projects, such as our £1.3 million contribution towards the rebuild of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, and the £550K transformational Kerrera Road project.

Annual budgets will continue to be set through the annual parliamentary budget Bill process and the annual budget will be based on the latest fiscal information.

Question reference: S6W-10699

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates will be raised from the higher property rate in 2022-23, broken down by business sector.

Table 1 presents the gross estimated income from the higher property rate, by property class.

The figures presented are gross amounts and do not take account of reductions in liability due to reliefs awarded in 2022-23. This is due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief in 2022-23 which means that it is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the breakdown of net figures by property class.

Figures in Table 1 are broken down by property class as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Estimated gross HPR income, by property class in 2022-23

Property Class	Gross HPR income (£)
Shops	23,480,000
Public Houses	819,000
Offices	14,211,000
Hotels	5,197,000
Industrial Subjects	18,678,000
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	3,912,000
Garages and Petrol Stations	749,000
Cultural	883,000
Sporting Subjects	238,000
Education and Training	12,372,000
Public Service Subjects	5,762,000
Communications	502,000
Quarries, Mines, etc.	203,000
Petrochemical	2,791,000
Religious	110,000
Health and Medical	4,556,000
Other	2,259,000
Care Facilities	1,374,000
Advertising	74,000
Statutory Undertaking	23,847,000
All	122,017,000

Source: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 July 2022.

Figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Question reference: S6W-10664

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times rates relief has been (a) applied for and (b) awarded under the Non-Domestic Rates (Reverse Vending Machine Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 in (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23 to date, broken down by local authority area.