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-03771

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what funding or financial support it plans to put in place to support homeowners and landlords to achieve the required targets set out in its Heat in Buildings Strategy.

The Home Energy Scotland loan scheme provides up to £15,000 for energy efficiency measures and up to £17,500 for renewables measures (maximum of two). Registered private landlords owning five or fewer properties will be eligible for interest free loans, and owners of six or more properties will be subject to interest at a rate of 3.5% APR. Homeowners are eligible for interest free loans as well as 75% cashback up to £7,500 for renewable heat measures, and an enhanced 40% cashback for energy efficiency measures up to £6,000. In 2022-23, we will replace current cashback arrangements with a grant scheme.

In addition the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty schemes have adopted a “zero emissions first” approach. Warmer Homes Scotland enables eligible households to receive energy efficiency and heating improvements, including an increasing number of heat pumps. Our local authority-led Area Based Schemes provide energy efficiency improvements to households in or at risk of fuel poverty living in their own home or a private rented property, leveraging Energy Company Obligation (ECO) finance and private investment.

These schemes form part of our broader investment package. We have committed to invest at least £1.8 billion over the course of this parliament to kick-start market growth and support those least able to pay.

In addition we are working to develop an appropriate market framework to help consumers overcome the upfront investment costs and to attract and secure further private investment and finance to help meet the costs of the transition. We will establish a Green Heat Finance Taskforce by the end of 2021 to recommend ways the Scottish Government and private sector can collaborate to scale up investment.

Question reference: S6W-03772

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it plans to take to ensure that the contents of its Heat in Buildings Strategy do not disproportionately impact remote and rural communities.

Alongside the development of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, the Scottish Government worked with stakeholders to undertake a series of impact assessments including a Fairer Scotland Duty (FSD) assessment and an Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) both of which consider remote and rural communities. We will publish these shortly and will take the findings into account as we deliver on the full range of actions set out in the Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-03777

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement on page 47 of its draft Heat in Buildings Strategy that, during 2021-22, it will conduct research to "understand the cost effectiveness of thermal, electrical storage and rooftop solar PV to support households to reduce bills", what progress it has made on that research.

In the Heat in Buildings Strategy we committed to undertaking research to understand the extent to which the deployment of secondary technologies alongside zero emissions heating systems could help to optimise operational performance, minimise energy consumption and reduce end user fuel costs. This research is underway, and seeks to understand the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness of heat batteries, electric batteries, and thermal storage cylinders when installed alongside a range of zero emissions primary heating technologies; both independently of and in conjuncture with microgeneration technologies such as solar PV and solar thermal. We expect to publish this research in early 2022.

Question reference: S6W-03766

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many eBike loans for key workers have been funded through the eBike Grant Fund to date.

Question reference: S6W-03707

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial and (b) administrative support it will give to the Clyde 2020 initiative, and over what timeframe.

Question reference: S6W-03763

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33521 by Michael Matheson on 4 December 2020, whether it will provide figures for each month since November 2020 to date.

Successful and unsuccessful applications to Energy Saving Trust’s E-bike Loan Fund, broken down by month since November 2020, are summarised in the following table.

Month	Successful applications	Unsuccessful applications	Notes
Nov-20	64	2
Dec-20	43	4
Jan-21	55	2
Feb-21	64	3
Mar-21	87	14
Apr-21	64	11
May-21	74	13
Jun-21	72	9
Jul-21	53	5
Aug-21	84	5
Sep-21	50	4
Oct-21	0	0	Currently zero as update received late October

Question reference: S6W-03665

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects to publish the draft National Planning Framework 4, and on the timeframes for (a) consultation on and (b) adoption of the framework.

The Scottish Government intends to lay the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in the Scottish Parliament later in autumn this year for a scrutiny period of up to 120 days. Public consultation on the NPF4 will run alongside the Parliamentary process, and the Scottish Government is keen to hear the views of as wide a range of people as possible.

The final adoption date will depend on the approval of NPF4 by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government is currently aiming to lay a finalised version for approval by summer 2022.

Question reference: S6W-03466

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the current waiting times are for people to get an initial appointment at an NHS Gender Identity Clinic, and whether these waiting times have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland (NGICNS) publishes a general overview of gender identity clinic waiting times in Scotland in its annual reports. The latest published annual report from NGICNS is available at: https://www.ngicns.scot.nhs.uk/about-us/midannual-reports/

The next annual report from NGICNS is due for release from May 2022.

From March 2020 unfortunately, as with other parts of the NHS, services delivered by gender identity clinics were and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the need to reduce waiting times to access NHS gender identity services. That is why we have committed to improving access to these services in our 2021/22 Programme for Government .

Question reference: S6W-03595

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have had a fire and smoke alarm system installed that is compliant with the new standard as a result of the £0.5 million funding provided through Care and Repair Scotland to support older and disabled homeowners on low incomes.

Question reference: S6O-00338

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported Crown Office findings that there has been a 9% increase in reported charges with a "domestic abuse identifier" during the COVID-19 pandemic, what action it is taking to support victims of domestic violence.