- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38218 by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025, whether it has attempted to estimate the "true" proportion of people detained in police stations under a place of safety order, adjusting for any missing data and data collection practices, and, if so, what estimates it has made.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of individuals detained in police custody under place of safety orders. This data is collected and held by Police Scotland.
The Scottish Government is taking steps to strengthen data collection and evaluation within the mental health and policing space. The development of a proportionate performance framework will support ongoing monitoring and help distinguish between actual improvements and issues related to data completeness. This reflects the broader commitments set out in the Framework for Collaboration and Collaborative Commitments to ensure that data is robust and suitable to support informed decision-making, and to improve pathways for people in mental health crisis.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what outcomes have been achieved through the Just Transition Fund.
Answer
With a view to assessing the value for public money and the impact of our investment to date, we commissioned an independent evaluation of the impact of the fund in its first two years of operation. The report, which will be published shortly, emphasised the enabling role of the Fund in delivering a just transition to net zero in region.
Its findings indicate the Fund has created and safeguarded at least 230 jobs, opened up more than 750 training places via skills-focused projects and, attracted over £30 million in private investment and £4.7m in public and third sector investment from £43 million of initial JTF investment.
These are the initial impacts of the Fund and we are confident that job numbers, investment leverage and other key outputs will increase as projects continue.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated from the Just Transition Fund in each financial year since the fund was established.
Answer
Since its inception in 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated Just Transition Fund support to the North East and Moray as follows:
- 2022 - 2023: £10 million
- 2023 - 2024: £50 million
- 2024 - 2025: £12.172 million
- 2025 - 2026: £15.9 million
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the total lease cost is for its offices at (a) Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall, (b) Longman House, Inverness, (c) Marine Scotland (Eyemouth), (d) Marine Scotland (Peterhead), (e) St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, (f) Cadzow Court, Hamilton and (g) 4 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow.
Answer
Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall; Longman House, Inverness; St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh and Cadzow Court, Hamilton are all owned under the core Scottish Government core estate.
The lease at 4 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow expired on 14 July 2024. Therefore, there are no lease costs applicable to these properties.
For the remaining properties, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37224 on 13 May 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37224 by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025, what the annual running cost was for each of its offices from January to December 2024.
Answer
The following table shows the annual total running costs for each of the leased Scottish Government offices as per the response to question S6W-37224. These figures include all associated costs for running each office building and cover January to December 2024.
Property | Total running costs |
10 Commerce Street (Fraserburgh Fishery Office) | £29,809.00 |
28 Cunzie Street (Anstruther Fishery Office) | £32,356.75 |
40 Hall Street (Campbeltown Fishery Office) | £25,895.50 |
5 Atlantic Quay | £3,982,638.25 |
7 Ferry Terminal Building (Kirkwall Fishery Office) | £36,320.00 |
AB1 Building | £77,675.50 |
Alexander Fleming House | £139,131.50 |
Alexandra Buildings (Lerwick Fishery Office) | £64,520.00 |
Bothwell House (Ground and First Floors) | £50,159.25 |
Brooms Road - Dumfries | £379,197.75 |
Caley Building (Peterhead Fishery Office) | £94,501.00 |
Charlotte House | £205,861.75 |
Compass House | £107,486.25 |
Culag Pier (Lochinver Fishery Office) | £17,765.75 |
Custom House (Stornoway Fishery Office) | £48,248.50 |
Denholm House | £231,818.50 |
Fishmarket Building (Eyemouth Fishery Office) | £29,355.75 |
Hadrian House | £125,719.50 |
Harbour Buildings (Mallaig Fishery Office) | £18,971.75 |
Inchbraoch House | £69,534.75 |
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 5 | £1,985.00 |
Kinlochbervie Fishery Office - Number 7 | £17,557.75 |
Office at Tarbert Fish Market | £3,759.50 |
Russell House | £529,154.00 |
Scotland House - Brussels | £282,994.08 |
Scotland House - London | £753,112.00 |
St Ola House (Scrabster Fishery Office) | £83,325.25 |
Strathearn House | £954,122.75 |
The Douglas Centre (Buckie Fishery Office) | £17,243.25 |
The Island Centre, Crossapol | £31,108.75 |
The Links, Golspie | £42,587.00 |
Unit 4B Kinlochleven Business Park | £157,549.00 |
Unit 5, Old Quay - Campbeltown | £3,884.50 |
West Shore Street (Ullapool Fishery Office) | £41,350.25 |
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has commissioned to ascertain what long-term impact water abstraction through (a) dams and (b) borehole abstraction has on the (i) dynamics and (ii) water flow of streams and rivers.
Answer
The Scottish Government supports a wide range of research projects investigating the impacts of water abstraction, including on river dynamics and water flow.
The Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027) is modelling future drought risks and ecosystem service impacts using water abstraction data. Between 2023-2025, the Scottish Government funded Centre of Expertise for Waters completed three research projects providing evidence considering the effect of impoundments on river dynamics and water flow.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) conducts its own assessments which evaluate the effects of licenced abstractions. These include borehole monitoring to assess groundwater levels and impacts on river flow.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many working groups currently exist within its (a) departments and (b) agencies, and how this compares with each year since 1999.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24570 on 29 January 2024.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any evidence that shows whether restocking Scottish rivers with brown trout reared in hatcheries is more successful than releasing hatchery reared salmon fry and parr.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not aware of any direct comparison of outcomes between stocked brown trout and salmon.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Minister for Business and Employment met representatives of PetroChina during his visit to Beijing on 9 April 2025, and, if so, for what reason, and what the outcomes of the meeting were.
Answer
On 9 April, the Minister for Business and Employment met the vice president of PetroChina and the China National Petroleum Cooperation to discuss our shared ambitions for the future of the Grangemouth refinery site. It was agreed that the Scottish Government and PetroChina will continue to explore all routes to deployment of new industrial and employment opportunities at Grangemouth.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of buses ordered to date under the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 2) by (a) manufacturer and (b) place of manufacture.
Answer
Through the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) a consortium of companies was awarded £41.7 million capital from the Scottish Government to support the purchase of more than 250 vehicles and the installation of their supporting infrastructure.
ScotZEB 2 differs from previous rounds of support by extending the eligible vehicles to include zero-emission coaches. This programme is still in the delivery phase and the final totals of vehicles to be delivered are still subject to change. The consortium aims to deliver at least 252 vehicles by March 2026. The following table sets out the manufacturer. The Scottish Government does not collect data on the locations in which vehicles are manufactured.
