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-03786

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of five of the 15 potential sites being in Scotland, what its position is on the proposed prototype fusion energy plant being considered by the UK Government for one of these sites.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) has identified five potential site for the UK’s first prototype nuclear fusion reactor. This includes one location in Scotland at Ardeer. The Scottish energy strategy, published in December 2017, confirmed the Scottish Government’s continued opposition to new nuclear stations under current technologies. Our priority continues to be to support energy efficiency, develop Scotland’s huge renewable resource and to promote storage and flexibility.

Question reference: S6W-03787

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on building new nuclear fusion plants.

Question reference: S6W-04169

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many rejected applications to the Young Farmers Start-Up Grant Scheme have been appealed, and of those how many (a) were upheld following appeal and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

There is no formal right to request an appeal under the Rural Payments (Appeals) (Scotland) Regulation 2015 as these do not apply to the rejection of an application for a contract. If applicants query the reason for the rejection of an application then local staff will consider this informally but numbers of these are not recorded. The number of applications recorded as rejected in each Scheme year for the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme is provided in the following table for information.

Scheme Year	Rejected Applications
2015	214
2016	92
2017	29

Question reference: S6W-04175

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme there were, and of those how many (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-04171

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Beef Efficiency Scheme there were, and of those how many (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-04174

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Young Farmers Start-Up Grant Scheme there were, and of those how many (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-03082

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects people who have received one of their COVID-19 vaccine doses in Northern Ireland to be able to access their vaccination status through the (a) online PDF process and (b) COVID-19 Vaccination Status Helpline.

The Scottish Government is working closely with colleagues within the Northern Ireland Executive to establish data feeds that will allow for the automatic exchange of vaccination information between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

People can request proof of the dose or doses received from Northern Ireland. Work is underway to enable people to upload evidence of their doses to NHS Inform and access a vaccine certificate. This upload was completed on 30 September 2021.

People can now update their record of vaccination in Scotland with Covid-19 vaccinations received out-with Scotland, but within the Common Travel Area. More information on how to do this can be found at Request an update to your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination record | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot) .

For the purpose of vaccine certification, we accept proof of vaccination from Northern Ireland.

Question reference: S6O-00421

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration has been given to providing parliamentary services outwith usual hours.

Question reference: S6O-00409

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether members' annual reports can be delivered after 4 February 2022 and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S6O-00408

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assistance it will provide to MSPs to make improvements to the ventilation of their local offices, in order to support their reopening when that decision is taken.

Scheme Year	Applications R'cd	Approved	Awaiting Decision
2015	547	378	0
2016	639	487	0
2017	781	672	0
2018	758	643	0
2019	1032	799	0
2020	1071	844	0
2021	791	545	76

Scheme Year	Applications R'cd	Approved	Awaiting Decision
2016	2183	1580	0

Scheme Year	Applications R'cd	Approved	Awaiting Decision
2015	302	85	0
2016	155	63	0
2017	142	57	0