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-00159

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the forecast by Audit Scotland that Scotland’s colleges face a £54 million funding gap.

Question reference: S6W-00113

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to support homeowners who are facing difficulties in selling their properties due to building cladding.

Homeowners whose flats have external cladding are being offered a safety assessment, costs of the ‘Single Building Assessment’ announced on 19 March will be met by the Scottish Government. The whole building approach, will release affected buyers and sellers from difficulties in accessing mortgages without them having to pay for the current External Wall System (EWS1) Report on their individual property.
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The phased approach to the introduction of SBA, started on 31 March with an invitation to affected homeowners to submit data about their buildings and ‘expression of interest’ in participating in a pilot exercise in June.

Where problems are identified with the cladding system in place this will help to identify the scale of funding needed to take necessary remedial work. Where problems are not identified, this will assist with the property sale process.

Question reference: S6W-00091

Asked by: Neil Gray, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in the Airdrie and Shotts constituency it estimates will be included in the roll-out of the Scottish Child Payment to 16-year-olds.

Using the latest available forecasts published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in January 2021, Scottish Government analysis estimates there could be up to 3,500 children potentially eligible for the payment in Airdrie and Shotts in 2023-24 (the first full financial year of the payment for under 16s). The number of children receiving the payment in Airdrie and Shotts is likely to be around 2,600 in that year - this is a separate forecast based on the take-up assumptions for the payment.

Question reference: S6W-00075

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its planned spending on walking, cycling and wheeling over the next parliamentary year, until May 2022.

Spend on walking, wheeling and cycling increased to £115.5 million in 2021-22 and is budgeted over the financial year, rather than the parliamentary year. The budget for active travel is presented in the following table on the basis of the published Level 4 budgets:

Active Travel Budget	2021-22 (£m)
From Sustainable and Active Travel Capital	74.4
From Sustainable and Active Travel Resource	6.3
From Future Transport Fund - Cycling Infrastructure	10.9
Local Government Capital Grant - Cycling Walking Safer Routes	23.9
Total	115.5

Question reference: S6W-00084

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35339 by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 February 2021, whether it will provide an update on the steps it is taking to improve the response times for enquiries to SEPA, given that responses to some routine enquiries are reported to be taking in excess of six months.

Following the criminal cyber-attack on SEPA in December 2020, the Scottish Government is working with SEPA, Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, to a clear recovery strategy in response to a complex and sophisticated cyber-attack.

As part of this recovery strategy, frontline regulatory and flood warning services continue to be prioritised. SEPA’s Floodline and Pollution Hotline contact points continue to operate. The agency has increased resource to respond to customer enquiries, with customer enquiry backlogs, in areas such as environmental incident and permitting, being cleared.

SEPA has advised that regulatory teams have been deployed on over 170 occasions since January. Furthermore, 154 flood guidance statements have been issued and over 1045 regional flood alerts and local flood warnings have been issued.

SEPA has reported that since January, over 1,650 industrial pollution prevention and control, water environment, waste and other authorisations have been issued, with new high volume online services introduced for registrations of septic tanks. The Agency has completed or is progressing 304 planning cases to support Scotland’s recovery, engaging with 33 of 39 local councils to date.

Question reference: S6W-00060

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether international travel guidance will be updated to differentiate between people who are travelling for the purpose of visiting family members and those who are travelling for a holiday.

Travel restrictions are in place to prevent cases of COVID-19 being imported to Scotland. Travel restrictions will be in place as long as they are required and Scottish Government will continue to liaise with affected groups and stakeholders over any restrictions and exemptions that may apply.

The list of countries is kept under review and subject to change. Countries are classified based on analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre, according to a methodology agreed by the four UK Chief Medical Officers. The Scottish Government continues to advise caution when it comes to international travel

Question reference: S6W-00055

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail in regard to the ongoing industrial action.

Responsibility for collective bargaining rests with ScotRail and the Unions concerned. The Scottish Government has advised both railway Unions and ScotRail of the substantial additional funding provided to maintain full employment of railway staff throughout the pandemic period. And therefore, that any pay increase, including any further increase to overtime payments for rest day working, would need to be funded by efficiencies agreed through meaningful discussions.

Throughout the process, the Scottish Government has encouraged all parties to resolve this issue for the benefit of passengers, staff, the environment and the economy.

Question reference: S6W-00056

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to resolve the industrial action by ScotRail staff that is impacting on the delivery of train services.

Question reference: S6F-00067

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will consider issuing a formal apology to the historic victims of forced adoption.

Question reference: S6F-00059

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to a recent survey stating that 29% of police officers are experiencing moderate burnout, and a further 16% are enduring high levels.