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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-22346

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide more information on how the First Minister's commitment to "invest up to £500 million to anchor a new offshore wind supply chain" will be delivered.

Question reference: S6W-22121

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its implementation of the short-term recommendations from the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland.

There are a number of recommendations that have been made through the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland, many of which are targeted specifically at Health Boards and other partners, as well as the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is considering all of the recommendations made. Given the broad scope of the recommendations, and the seriousness of the issues raised, it is important that sufficient time is taken to fully plan how any actions will be taken forward.

We will provide an update to Parliament in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22154

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with energy network operators and the wider utilities sector to review their processes for (a) establishing restoration plans and timelines during times of severe weather and (b) communicating regular updates to responders and the public.

The Energy sector is reserved to the UK Government. This limits the Scottish Government ’ s ability to directly engage with energy network operators and ask for a review of their processes.

However, the Scottish Government does regularly engage with UK Government Departments and the energy network operators in Scotland along with the wider utilities, particularly during severe weather events, where we encourage and emphasise the importance of accurate restoration plans and timelines.

In addition, we continue to work closely with the UK Government lead departments when they are developing statutory reporting arrangements and will make clear the requirements of the Scottish Government during a severe weather response.

The Scottish Government also supports the three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) who coordinate communications between Scottish Government, utility companies and categorised responder organisations who are working in affected areas during emergency responses. In this role the RRP coordinators engage with stakeholders on restoration plans at a local level as well as in the statutory requirement of category one responders to communicate with the public in emergency responses.

Question reference: S6W-22162

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what online resources and training it (a) has provided and (b) plans to provide to help individuals, community groups and the voluntary sector to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.

Our emergency planning portal, ready.scot, was updated in June 2022 to include a new "Learn" section to support the public, community groups and voluntary sector partners by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, and helping them to understand how they may participate in an effective and joined up response to an emergency. Between March and April 2023, we also ran a series of 4 online community resilience workshops which were attended by approximately 240 participants.

We will continue to work with the sector, and in particular Local Authorities, who have the lead role on engaging with local communities, to understand their training needs and provide additional resources if required.

Question reference: S6W-22141

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for the funding that it provided to Relationships Scotland - Tayside and Fife in 2022.

The Scottish Government did not provide any direct funding to Relationships Scotland Tayside & Fife in 2022.

Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland, including Relationships Scotland Tayside & Fife.

In 2022, the Scottish Government provided Relationships Scotland with core funding via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities third sector fund; and with grant funding to provide child contact services.

Question reference: S6W-21917

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in the Mid Scotland and Fife region towards the interim target of ensuring that less than 18% of children are living in relative poverty.

The Scottish Government’s latest annual progress report on child poverty , published on 13 June 2023, sets out progress toward the meeting the child poverty targets and in implementing the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’.

Modelling published alongside this year’s progress report estimates that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty in 2023-24 as a result of Scottish Government policies, with poverty levels 9% points lower that they would have otherwise been. This includes lifting an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty through our Scottish Child Payment. However, we will not know if the interim child poverty targets have been met until March 2025.

Our approach to tackling child poverty is in stark contrast to that of the UK Government. Scottish Government analysis, published in April 2022, estimated that reversing key UK Government welfare changes that have taken place just since 2015 could lift an estimated 70,000 people out of poverty in Scotland, including 30,000 children, and put £780 million in the pockets of Scottish households this year.

As official statistics on rates of relative poverty in Scotland come from the Family Resources Survey which is run by the Department for Work and Pensions, which is a sample survey. This therefore this does not allow a breakdown to be produced below the national figure for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22229

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the monthly passenger carrying statistics were on each route in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco NorthLink, from January 2023 up to the latest available figures.

Question reference: S6W-22208

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of the Forestry and Land Scotland estate are part of Scotland’s rainforest; what proportion of this estate is plantations on ancient woodland sites, and what its plans are for restoration and buffering with zones for natural colonisation.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manage 204,782 hectares of woodland within the rainforest zone, of which 17,960 hectares are considered to be rainforest habitat, or of high potential to be restored to rainforest habitat. These consist of PlantLife IPA, and other areas of ancient woodland sites. Within the Rainforest zone 13,297 hectares of Scotland’s National Forests and Land are classified as plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

FLS will begin restoration of up to 780 hectares of priority rainforest area this year in Cowal, Argyll (Kintyre & West Loch Awe), Loch Lomond Basin, Wester Ross. Activity will include INNS control, PAWS restoration and deer management.

It is anticipated natural colonisation will occur within PAWS under restoration and generally throughout rainforest habitat following a reduction in deer densities, buffering zones for natural colonisation are being planned within Land Management Plans.

Question reference: S6W-22235

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS boards to support remote and rural populations who have to travel long distances to receive vaccinations, as part of the winter vaccination programme.

We seek to ensure that people can access vaccination appointments as close to home as possible. Health Boards continue to recognise and support the needs of rural communities in planning and delivering the winter vaccination programme.

Health Boards continue to use outreach options to provide vaccination in rural areas. This winter, community pharmacies, ‘pop-up’ clinics and support from Scottish Ambulance Service mobile unit teams have been used to improve access and reduce travel distances.

Most Health Boards aim for a maximum travel distance of 10 miles or a travel time of 15-30 minutes and always consider public transport routes when choosing vaccination venues.

Community support and local transport solutions are utilised where possible in order to support those with additional barriers. Boards are also able to utilise local intelligence and provide flexible options including some weekend and evening appointments.

When booking their vaccination, I would encourage people to continue to check the online portal or call the national vaccination helpline as new appointments do become available regularly.

Question reference: S6W-22231

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of freight services on non-Aberdeen routes in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract.

A transport appraisal of passenger and freight ferry services between the Northern Isles and the Scottish mainland, in line with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), was undertaken in 2016-2017 to inform the specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract awarded in 2020. The study report is published here:

final-report-appraisal-of-options-for-specification-of-2018-northern-isles-ferry-services-april-2018.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

Serco NorthLink Ferries (SNF), as operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract, keeps freight services under review and discusses these regularly with key stakeholders and Transport Scotland. SNF publish its carrying statistics, including freight, here:

NorthLink Statistics | NorthLink Ferries