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-01633

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00982 by Graeme Dey on 8 July 2021, what the estimated additional ongoing operational costs are for (a) additional rolling stock, (b) train crew and (c) any other requirements that have been incurred as a result of the platform extension at Milngavie, and how these costs are being met.

Question reference: S6W-01628

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of its staff are working specifically on COP26.

Question reference: S6W-01582

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make the full Native Woodland Survey of Scotland dataset available, given its usefulness for forestry professionals, and if so, when.

Question reference: S6W-01487

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the First Minister on 13 July 2021 that, “We are determined to make sure that volunteers who have participated in the Novavax trials are not disadvantaged in any way. Work is on-going to ensure that their vaccine status is correctly shown on NHS systems, so that that can be relied on… I gave the assurance that we will continue to do everything that we can to make sure that those who have participated in the Novavax trials are not disadvantaged”, whether it will provide further detail of what work is being carried out, and what progress has been made with this.

Work is ongoing to ensure the vaccine status of those who volunteered for clinical trials in Scotland is correctly presented on the vaccine database. A letter confirming their involvement in the trials is being issued to those who participated. Any participant who has not yet received a letter should contact their respective research team. The letter can be used for domestic purposes as proof of trial status. However, it’s important to note that we have no plans at present to make vaccine certification a requirement of access to services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-01455

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to protect the natural environment and wildlife from water shortages.

The Scottish Government works with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), NatureScot, fisheries boards and trusts, and other stakeholders to protect the natural environment and wildlife from water shortages.

Our River Basin Management Plans identify areas in Scotland already impacted by abstractions and set out objectives to improve those watercourses. SEPA licences and regulates abstractions to ensure that water use does not exceed the available capacity. At times of water scarcity, SEPA has the powers to temporarily stop abstraction, to protect the environment.

The National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how SEPA and other key stakeholders will prepare and respond to water shortages. SEPA works closely with NatureScot and other environmental organisations to provide advice and information on water scarcity so they can act to protect wildlife.

Question reference: S6W-01433

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) houses, or (b) flats (i) in total (ii) of those which were completed in the last five years, are connected to heat networks.

The following data was collected via energy performance certificates (EPCs) submitted for all new build completions in Scotland since 2016. This indicative data is based on analysis of new build EPC records lodged on the EPC register between Q1 2016 and Q4 2020. A total of 92,900 EPC records were analysed.

Numbers in the tables have been rounded to the nearest ten. This is the best currently available data:

Total New Build Completions, as per records lodged on EPC register
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
Houses	11,230	11,790	14,460	16,580	10,950	65,010
Flats	5,460	5,290	5,590	7,060	4,500	27,900
Total	16,690	17,080	20,050	23,640	15,450	92,900

Number of new build completions connected to heat networks
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
Houses	80	210	120	150	70	620
Flats	400	500	300	840	220	2,250
Total	470	710	410	990	290	2,870

Share of new build completions connected to heat networks
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Average
Houses	1%	2%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Flats	7%	9%	5%	12%	5%	8%
Total	3%	4%	2%	4%	2%	3%

Source: Management information as extracted from the EPC database {December 2020, 2020 data accessed July 2021}, published and available at statistics.gov.scot : Domestic Energy Performance Certificates - Dataset to Q4 2020

Question reference: S6W-01325

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on native woodland (a) management and (b) expansion through the Forestry Grant Scheme in each year since 2015.

Details of the grants awarded by Scottish Government through the Forestry Grant Scheme is shown in the following table:

Year	Management of native woodlands	Expansion of native woodlands
2015	N/A	£1.2 M
2016	£1.3 M	3.45 M
2017	£2.35 M	£5.9 M
2018	£1.08 M	£12.4 M
2019	£1.15 M	£11.1 M
2020	£1.63 M	£14.07 M

In 2015, no grants were awarded for the management of native woodlands as this grant option was launched in 2015.

The figures in the table relate to the budget of the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS), which is the principal funding mechanism in Scotland for supporting native woodland creation and sustainable forest management. In addition to the FGS there are a number of partnership schemes, involving public and private organisations which support small scale woodland creation in specific locations.

Question reference: S6W-01306

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its Budget has been allocated to projects designed to help alleviate the climate emergency.

Government budgets contribute to alleviating the climate emergency through a range of investments, including spend that reduces greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero, spend that delivers emissions reductions through a fair and just transition, and spend focussed on adapting to the effects of climate change.

The 2021-22 Budget increased low carbon capital investment across government to over £1.9 billion, comprising 36% of overall capital spend. This proportion has risen from 29% in 2018-19, when reporting began. In March, following budget negotiations, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance committed to a further £40 million in capital investment for active travel and energy efficiency initiatives that align with our green recovery and net zero ambitions. These figures that we track on low carbon capital investment, as mentioned above, provide only a partial picture of the wide range of investments across all government spend that contributes towards alleviating the climate emergency.

Some of our key commitments on climate change in this budget include increasing our Heat in Buildings investment by £30 million to £213.4 million; increasing forestry investment by £26.9 million to £121.2 million; committing £40 million for our Agricultural Transformation Fund to assist the sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and committing the first £165 million of our £2 billion Low Carbon Fund, including: £14 million for the Green Jobs Fund, £25 million for bus priority infrastructure and £15 million for zero emissions buses.

Question reference: S6W-01283

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the future costs of COVID-19-related health problems.

It is not possible to accurately quantify the future associated with COVID-19 related health problems at this time, as we are still in the midst of the pandemic. Some of these impacts may not be tangible immediately but are likely to become more evident over time.

We need a better understanding of the frequency, nature and impact of health complications caused by COVID before an assessment can be made of future costs. This includes the cost of providing support for people with long COVID.

The Scottish Government has invested £2.5 million funding for nine Scottish-led research projects relating to the long-term effects of COVID-19. We continue to engage with NHS Boards to identify their support needs in relation to delivering care and support to people with long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-01287

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scale of health complications likely to be experienced by people in the next five years as a result of them having had COVID-19.