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: S6T-02081

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of its work to tackle the poverty-related educational attainment gap, in light of the gap reportedly widening across all school qualifications in the recent exam results.

Question reference: S6T-02065

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on the culture sector and livelihoods of the reported closure of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals due to budgetary constraints.

Question reference: S6F-03302

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what analysis the Scottish Government is undertaking of any impact that reductions to winter fuel payments will have on people in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-03291

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03289

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the recently published report, Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2022/23.

Question reference: S6F-03298

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking in response to reports that newly qualified nurses are unable to find employment in the NHS despite there being over 3,300 whole-time equivalent unfilled nursing and midwifery vacancies.

Question reference: S6F-03284

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03283

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-29109

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its agriculture reform programme will meet the recommendation set out in the 2021 report, Just Transition Commission: A national mission for a fairer, greener Scotland, (a) for "a new model of farm advice, with advisory services upscaled and upskilled to help farmers and land managers identify suitable climate action for their land holdings", (b) "to redirect money towards activity that better protects and maintains our land, and supports more sustainable food production" and (c) "to rebuild the connection between consumers and local produce, through integrated food policy, to reward farmers who implement more sustainable methods".

The Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP) will deliver the Vision for Agriculture which makes clear that Scotland will have a robust and coherent framework to underpin our future agricultural support regime from 2025 onwards, that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high quality food production. The Agricultural Reform Route Map provides further clarity on how we intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision.

Enhanced direct payments will launch first, as a mechanism to incentivise farmers and crofters take meaningful action for climate and nature. The Enhanced tier is key to deliver the policy outcomes of the Vision and to meet the public commitment that 50% of direct payments will be ‘conditioned’ by 2025. New conditions will be introduced, with revised Greening and Cross Compliance rules, and the introduction of measures such as the Whole Farm Plan. Whole Farm Plans (WFPs) were a recommendation of the Farmer-led Groups. The foundations of the Whole Farm Plan will go live in 2025. The Foundations are 'productivity baselines': soil testing, animal health and welfare declaration, carbon audits, biodiversity audits, and the support for effective business planning. We are committed to delivering a Just Transition and the WFP will be developed with this at the forefront. That is why we will continue to work with the industry to deliver a 'just' sequencing of this requirement, ensuring that those able to contribute the most will drive this change, whilst support is put in place for those who need it.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming(PSF) is already helping businesses prepare for these changes with support for conducting carbon audits and soil sampling, support for animal health and welfare activities and access to herd data for Suckler beef producers through MyHerdStats. This support includes £500 for a Carbon Audit, financial support for soil analysis and up to £1,250 for animal health and welfare. More information about this support can be found on the Rural Payments but, in addition to that, we will be working closely with the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) on communicating with customers impacted by these changes.

It is also vital to consider the food system as a whole, not only in terms of nutritional benefits but in regard to sustainability too. Partnership was key to delivering the Good Food Nation Act, which places duties on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce plans of their food-related policies and set out what they will do to make them a reality. The Good Food Nation Plan will provide the direction for these and was subject to a recent consultation. The National Plan is due to be published next year, with local authority and health board iterations to follow the year after.

Question reference: S6W-29120

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £12 million capital budget to manage coastal change has been allocated since its launch in 2022, broken down by (a) financial year and (b) local authority, as set out in the Scottish Government’s Flood Resilience Strategy consultation document.

The Scottish Government has allocated (a) 1.6m in 2022-23 (b) 2.4m in 2023-24 and (c) 2.7m in 2024-25 to local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in managing coastal change and resilience measures.

However, the vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on coastal change adaptation, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The funding has been distributed as follows:

Capital Funding

COASTAL	2022-23 (£m)	2023-24 (£m)	2024-25 (£m)
Aberdeen City	0.000	0.150	0.060
Aberdeenshire	0.000	0.206	0.071
Angus	0.000	0.150	0.496
Argyll & Bute	0.160	0.000	0.195
Clackmannanshire	0.000	0.100	0.000
Dumfries & Galloway	0.160	0.036	0.072
Dundee City	0.000	0.150	0.065
East Ayrshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
East Dunbartonshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
East Lothian	0.160	0.000	0.085
East Renfrewshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
Edinburgh	0.000	0.150	0.092
Eilan Siar	0.000	0.150	0.068
Falkirk	0.000	0.150	0.069
Fife	0.160	0.126	0.162
Glasgow	0.000	0.000	0.000
Highland	0.160	0.083	0.299
Inverclyde	0.000	0.150	0.052
Midlothian	0.000	0.000	0.000
Moray	0.160	0.000	0.300
North Ayrshire	0.160	0.000	0.199
North Lanark	0.000	0.000	0.000
Orkney	0.160	0.066	0.111
Perth & Kinross	0.000	0.100	0.000
Renfrewshire	0.000	0.100	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.000	0.222	0.052
Shetland	0.160	0.000	0.072
Sth Ayrshire	0.160	0.106	0.180
Sth Lanark	0.000	0.000	0.000
Stirling	0.000	0.000	0.000
West Dunbarton	0.000	0.100	0.000
West Lothian	0.000	0.100	0.000
Undistributed	0.000	0.000	0.000
Scotland	1.600	2.395	2.700