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-33264

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported link between increases in plant imports and the rise of tree diseases such as ash dieback, what steps it is taking to support the tree nursery sector to increase the quantity that it produces of species of northern and western provenances, and mountain woodland species.

Scottish Forestry is working with partners to develop a project that will provide the small scale nurseries that specialise in native species of northern and western provenances with more resilience. The aim of the project is to share best practice, provide training and share resources where possible. The outcome is to ensure that the supply of harder to source tree stock is increased and more robust.

Question reference: S6W-33228

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what formulation is used when setting the value of the living grant for trainee educational psychologists; whether inflation is taken into account, and whether this has been reviewed since the grant was introduced in 2018.

In partnership, the Scottish Government and COSLA provide £2m investment per year to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists.

The formulation for this investment takes into account the number of students, the tuition fees paid for each student, individual membership to the British Psychological Society and an allocation to help students with living costs associated with studying.

The living costs grant is not income assessed, is not indexed to inflation and does not need to be paid back.

The grant has been reviewed since 2018 and the amount was agreed with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists.

Question reference: S6W-33186

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements have been made to lay-bys and rest areas on the A90 in the last five years.

The following improvements have been made to laybys adjacent to the A90 carriageway to improve the trunk road network in the last five years:

2020-21

A90 Glamis SB Layby 0309 – Concrete Plinth for HGVS

A90 South Tarbrax SB Layby 0309 Concrete Plinth for HGVs

A90 Layby improvement scheme which included resurfacing and vehicle deterrent on entry and exit tapers at -

Northbound	Southbound
Kinfauns	Longforgan
Glencarse	Prior to Inchture
Glendoick	Inchmartine Farm
North Lodge West	Glencarse
Inchmartine	Glendoick
Inchture	Prior to Friarton
Bullionfield	Longforgan

2021-22

A90 Spurryhillock Layby Embankment / Drainage – Drainage to stabilise the embankment and prevent slippage

A90 Dundee to Aberdeen Litter fences

Northbound	Southbound
All - New litter fences	All - New litter fences
Prior to Forfar	After Stoneheaven Rail Overpass
After Finavon	Prior to Fordoun
After Nether Carestone	Bogardo Exit
Castle of Fiddes	Oathlaw
Carron Water	Longforgan

2022-23

A90 Bogindollo Layby SB – 0309- New Litter Fence

2023-24

New Litter fences –

North of Kirriemuir Jct Layby NB
North of Kirriemuir Jct Layby SB
Fiddes Services Layby SB

Question reference: S6W-33105

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic impact of Transport Scotland-funded projects in Aberdeen and the north east over the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-33160

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on maintenance and upgrades of the A90 in each of the last five years.

Over the last 5 financial years the following has been spent on the maintenance and improvement of the A90 trunk road.

2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
£12,486,316	£20,673,965	£23,045,538	22,484,864	£21,571,032

The above figures exclude expenditure on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie to Tipperty section of the A90. The contract with the DBFO Company, Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) requires it to fulfil the contractual obligations in respect of maintenance at ARL’s own cost. These associated costs are not shared with Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government also remains committed to delivering a new grade-separated junction on the A90 at Laurencekirk as part of the package of additional investment alongside the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

Transport Scotland has been taking forward the necessary design and assessment work, and the project is currently going through the statutory authorisation process, having recently published supplementary draft Orders for formal comment.

As with all infrastructure projects, delivery of the Laurencekirk scheme can only commence when the relevant statutory authorisation powers to do so have been secured. Following completion of the statutory authorisation process we will then be in a position to set a timetable for delivery of the scheme in line with available budgets.

In terms of spend for this scheme in the last five years we record £1,807,404.64

Question reference: S6W-33106

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are in place to monitor and report on the economic impact of Transport Scotland-funded projects after their completion.

Evaluation is essential to the work of Transport Scotland to assess whether policies and interventions are being delivered as intended, and to help identify ways to improve them.

Transport Scotland follows published evaluation guidance for both rail and road projects. This includes frameworks for the evaluation of road and rail schemes and recommended timescales for each. These are typically at one-, three- and five-years following completion of projects. These reports and data sets are published on the Transport Scotland website and include evaluation of economic impact where relevant.

For projects out with rail and road schemes, Transport Scotland follows general evaluation guidance published by the UK Government which advises on evaluation following project completion. The evaluation approach is tailored to ensure it is proportionate to the scale of the project and will include evaluation of economic impacts where relevant. Reports and data sets from these evaluations are also published on the Transport Scotland website.

Question reference: S6W-33100

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it evaluates the economic impact of projects funded by Transport Scotland.

Evaluation is essential to the work of Transport Scotland to assess whether policies and interventions are being delivered as intended, and to help identify ways to improve them.

Monitoring and evaluation typically use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to gather evidence and understand different aspects of an intervention’s operation, including economic impacts. These will vary and will be tailored to ensure measurement against the specific objectives of each project as opposed to adopting a singular approach.

In setting the criteria for evaluation, in addition to the particular objectives of the project, Transport Scotland refers to a range of published guidance which includes specific guidance on assessing economic impacts. This includes UK Government guidance on evaluation design and Transport Scotland guidance on evaluation of road and rail projects. These resources are publicly available on the UK and Scottish Government websites respectively.

Question reference: S6W-33102

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much employment has been generated by Transport Scotland-funded projects in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-33161

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many street lamps are installed along each stretch of the A90, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-33060

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with the UK Government to ensure that spectrum allocation meets the needs of rural communities in Scotland.

Spectrum allocation and management, as with all aspects of telecommunications policy, is a reserved matter and one in which the Scottish Government has no formal role.

The Scottish Government, however, maintains an active interest in the spectrum policy agenda, in particular, as it relates to digital connectivity and digital infrastructure rollout in rural areas.

Responsibility for spectrum allocation and management falls under the remit of Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator. The Scottish Government has regular engagement with Ofcom at official and Ministerial levels. We also respond to any major consultations on spectrum strategy.

Our response to Ofcom’s 2022 discussion papers on mobile and spectrum policy can be found on Ofcom’s website at the following link:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-3-4-weeks/232316-meeting-future-demand-for-mobile-data/responses/scottish-government/?v=200806.

This response outlines the Scottish Government’s priorities in relation to spectrum. We continue to encourage Ofcom to consider the specific needs and characteristics of Scotland, Scottish geographies and Scottish markets when making decisions on spectrum and how these decisions subsequently impact 4G and 5G coverage in rural and underserved areas; commercial investment in digital infrastructure in rural and underserved areas; and, the development of 5G and other advanced wireless technologies in Scotland.