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-01083

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £500 million Energy Transition Fund for the north east has now been allocated.

Question reference: S6W-08125

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has published for local authorities on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Question reference: S6W-08228

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to increase awareness of the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, in light of the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government recognises the acute pressure that is felt by people due to the cost of living crisis and will be pulling forward planned marketing activity to promote the advice and support that is in place for them.

The Scottish Government directs people towards its fuel poverty and home energy schemes, including Warmer Homes Scotland, via the Home Energy Scotland Advice Service. This makes it easier for people in Scotland to access all the support they are eligible for in one place and acts as the referral mechanism for the schemes.

In addition to the forthcoming activity, the Home Energy Scotland marketing campaign for winter 2021-22 concluded on 6 March 2022. The campaign ran over TV, digital and press advertising in two bursts of activity from 1 November 2021 to 12 December 2021 and from 5 January 2022 to 6 March 2022. An evaluation is currently being compiled which will inform future activity.

As committed to in the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, we are now also developing a Public Engagement Strategy and early engagement activities to raise the profile of the heat decarbonisation agenda, including the changes that people will need to make and the co-benefits that can be delivered. Through this work we will also promote increased awareness of existing and future support as part of ensuring a fair and just transition, reflecting and building on the principles set out in our broader Climate Change Public Engagement Strategy.

Further details will be made available in due course.

Question reference: S6W-08176

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider making the provision of supporting evidence from an accredited specialist conservation architect or conservation architect accredited and registered by a suitable body, such as the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), or the Register of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC), a formal requirement in planning (a) policy and (b) guidance for applications for listed building consent to a planning authority.

Question reference: S6W-08153

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that local authorities are carrying out home visits for its Super Sponsorship Scheme, for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, fairly, proportionally and equally across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is working closely with local authorities on this work. Guidance for all local authorities supporting displaced people from Ukraine through the Scottish Super Sponsor Scheme and who match through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme has been published: Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine guidance for local authorities .

It is a requirement for all hosts to agree to a home visit by a local authority before a guest is placed with that host, or as soon as a local authority is made aware a person has matched individually.

Question reference: S6W-08120

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what processes are in place to assess the suitability of properties in Scotland that have been listed in an application for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The Scottish Government is working closely with local authorities and COSLA to ensure that all appropriate checks are carried out on properties. These checks include an enhanced disclosure process, a local authority systems check and a property check to ensure there are no known safeguarding or visible accommodation issues.

The visits will ensure the accommodation provided is of an approved standard, meets the minimum requirements to live in, and there are no concerns of overcrowding. More information about home visits, including what is being checked, can be found on the Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine guidance for local authorities website.

Question reference: S6W-08140

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the total funding available from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for an Occupational Therapy Masters is reportedly £10,000 when the tuition fees for the two-year course at Queen Margaret University amount to £20,000, plus living expenses, in light of reports that, in England, students are offered a £10,000 grant from the NHS learning support fund in addition to a loan of over £11,000 and funding for accommodation and travel costs incurred whilst on placements.

The current full time postgraduate student support package offers a loan of up to £10,000 (comprising £5,500 for fees and £4,500 for living costs). Students whose tuition fees are above the maximum available to them from SAAS have to make their own arrangements for the balance. This applies to all eligible postgraduate courses.

The current student support package has been designed to support students with the costs incurred during their time studying at university, and the support now available in Scotland is at its highest level.

A review of postgraduate funding was part of this Government’s manifesto commitments. This is underway and will include consideration of the overall level of funding available to students.

Question reference: S6W-08143

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authorities have developed their own multi-agency, collaborative missing persons strategy and protocols to respond to and track missing children.

Through the National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland, which was launched in 2017, the Scottish Government has developed and strengthened local multi-agency partnerships. A survey in 2020 by the Working Group for Missing People in Scotland showed that there are now multi-agency groups in 27 local authority areas and we aim to work with all areas to implement them by 2025.

The Scottish Government has funded the Missing People charity to deliver a Framework Implementation Project; and funds a National Coordinator to deliver a programme of consultancy, training and best practice sharing in local areas in Scotland.

Since 2019 the Implementation project has worked with local partners in Edinburgh, Fife, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire to develop their multi-agency partnerships, protocols and strategies. A further seven local authority areas will be engaged with the project in 2022-23.

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of children who go missing in Scotland return home safely – but, any child who goes missing is one too many. Through these actions, Police Scotland, the lead agency for tracking missing people, is working more closely with families, friends and statutory bodies to track and safely return those children who go missing.

Question reference: S6W-08067

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the SNP manifesto commitment to work with Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland to improve the business support available to the creative industries, including how much money has been made available to businesses for this purpose to date.

The Scottish Government has worked at pace to deliver emergency business support to creative businesses, via Creative Scotland, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has announced £256 million support to the culture, creative, heritage and events sectors.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government launched a £1 million Creative Digital Initiative to help develop the digital capabilities of creative businesses in response to the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme has been developed through a partnership of enterprise and development agencies, including Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland.

The Scottish Government established a creative industries ‘Future Focus’ working group to enable detailed discussion with Scottish Enterprise, Creative Scotland and other key partner agencies throughout the pandemic to consider key issues facing the creative industries, business resilience and support, and opportunities for partnership working.

The Scottish Government has a Programme for Government commitment to refresh the Creative Industries Policy Statement and will work with CS, SE and other partner agencies to refresh this statement, as well as the Creative Industries Framework Agreement , in order to ensure these documents reflect the priorities of the creative industries and signpost creative businesses to the expertise and business support available to the sector.

Question reference: S6W-08079

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent student homelessness, including for care experienced students.

Local authorities are obliged by law to offer the minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to anyone at risk of homelessness. Anyone who is threatened with or experiencing homelessness should contact their local authority in the first instance.

We already have a national strategy to end homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland, which was updated in October 2020. Our Ending Homelessness Together action plan, backed by funding of £100 million between 2018-26, demonstrates our commitment to end homelessness in Scotland and we publish an annual report to show the progress being made to tackle these issues.

The Scottish Government is committed to bringing forward a Student Accommodation Strategy for Scotland which, in part, will be informed by a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation, now underway. We will look to develop and incorporate this alongside and within the Rented Sector Strategy. This will include issues such as supply, affordability and wider planning and regulatory issues.