Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-21049

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support rural hospitality businesses to locate or supply accommodation for their staff, in light of reports that a lack of staff accommodation is having an impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in this sector.

This issue affects a range of sectors, including hospitality. We recognise that delivering affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges. We are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities, and are making available £3.5 billion this Parliament for affordable housing across Scotland. We will publish a Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan this autumn to help retain and attract people in rural and island communities – making available up to £25 million through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme over the period 2023-2028 to deliver homes for key workers in rural communities.

Our short-term lets regulations, including control areas, give local authorities the powers to manage high numbers of short-term lets, and our consultation on second and empty homes invites views on local taxation and existing housing to inform policy development to ensure sufficient, safe and secure housing stock.

We are also working to explore solutions to staff shortages in collaboration with the sector, through our Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group.

Question reference: S6W-21110

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting communities to keep indoor sport facilities, such as ice rinks, available to use during the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government places great importance on indoor sport facilities, such as ice rinks. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We are aware of the current challenges and difficult financial circumstances facing many operating indoor sports facilities due to the cost of living crisis. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to use all the powers at its disposal to tackle this cost of living crisis and to provide appropriate energy bill relief to leisure facilities.

Where indoor sports facilities are operated by the local authority or leisure trust, it is for local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities. In 2023-24 the Scottish Government provided nearly £13.5bn in the Local Government Settlement and increased the resources available to local government by more than £793 million, including £100 million of additional funding at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill, funded in part by consequentials provided at the UK Budget. This was a real terms increase of £376 million or 3% compared to the 2022-23 Budget figures. In addition, Scottish Ministers allocated a further £55m ahead of the summer. This follows on from the additional £1 billion of funding provided to Local Government in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government understand that access to facilities is necessary for a range of sporting activities. That’s why our Programme for Government for 2023 to 2024 sets out our intention to convene a working group, including representatives of sports organisations, community organisations and CoSLA, to explore how community access to community facilities, such as the school estate, can be enhanced. This will be a priority action in our refreshed Active Scotland Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S6W-20822

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the proportion of total journeys that will be made by bus by 2030 as a result of its policies.

The appraisal that supported the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) assessed the change in access public transport use and accessibility at a national and regional level to a range of locations, including health care; education and employment centres. The outcomes of this work were reported in the final-technical-report-28-december-2022-stpr2.pdf (transport.gov.scot) and accompanying detailed-appraisal-summary-table-national.pdf (transport.gov.scot). This appraisal was supported by a set of updated transport forecasts to 2045, which considered the impact of a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030 and an alternative scenario. Details of how these were developed can be found here: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/52476/appendix-f-approach-to-scenario-planning-december-2022-stpr2.pdf .

It should be noted that the STPR2 appraisal and assessment covered infrastructure interventions and so did not specifically consider the future impacts of, for example, potential bus franchising in Scotland, the establishment of local council operated bus companies, or the outcomes of the Fair Fares Review. The impact of individual policies on bus use may be evaluated on a policy by policy basis through the transport appraisal process as they are developed

Question reference: S6W-20805

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the proposed timeline and target date are for the national roll-out of the General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans’ Recognition Scheme.

The General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans’ Recognition Scheme has been developed in conjunction with practices who agreed to be part of an initial pilot. The pilot finished in December 2022 and since then work has been on-going to update the training according to feedback from the pilot, ensuring that relevant training content, processes and data gathering are ready prior to a wider rollout to other practices. It is anticipated that the full roll out will take place later this year.

We do recognise the potential value of such as scheme and want to ensure that the benefits of the scheme are optimised for both the patient and the practice.

If General Practises are keen to be involved ahead of the full launch they can contact gp-afv@gov.scot for more information.

Question reference: S6W-20829

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on classifying different end uses for steel as either socially beneficial or harmful.

Question reference: S6W-20807

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to meet with the Scottish Veterans Commissioner.

Question reference: S6W-20824

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown by local authority area of (a) the number of loans granted through the Energy Saving Trust e-bike loan scheme in each year since it was launched, (b) the value of those loans and (c) how many loans have been defaulted, and the value of any defaults.

The following data is accurate up to the end of July 2023:

Number and value of loans by local authority:

LOCAL AUTHORITY	PAID (£)		NUMBER PAID		TOTAL PAID (£)	TOTAL NUMBER PAID
LOCAL AUTHORITY	BUSINESS	DOMESTIC	BUSINESS	DOMESTIC
Aberdeen City		£ 224,230		73	£ 224,230	73
Aberdeenshire	£ 6,000	£ 501,946	2	161	£ 507,946	163
Angus		£ 251,294		82	£ 251,294	82
Argyll and Bute		£ 414,650		123	£ 414,650	123
City of Edinburgh	£ 96,968	£ 855,070	17	293	£ 952,038	310
Clackmannanshire		£ 56,145		15	£ 56,145	15
Dumfries and Galloway	£ 5,299	£ 475,894	2	166	£ 481,193	168
Dundee City	£ 51,600	£ 239,540	2	73	£ 291,140	75
East Ayrshire	£ 4,200	£ 113,792	1	36	£ 117,992	37
East Dunbartonshire		£ 185,556		57	£ 185,556	57
East Lothian		£ 189,454		66	£ 189,454	66
East Renfrewshire	£ 5,748	£ 154,435	1	52	£ 160,183	53
Falkirk	£ 3,000	£ 108,675	1	36	£ 111,675	37
Fife	£ 6,000	£ 583,523	1	193	£ 589,523	194
Glasgow City	£ 50,795	£ 533,500	10	172	£ 584,295	182
Highland	£ 82,089	£ 1,061,270	13	336	£ 1,143,359	349
Inverclyde		£ 50,703		19	£ 50,703	19
Midlothian	£ 2,925	£ 103,596	1	35	£ 106,521	36
Moray		£ 245,367		82	£ 245,367	82
Na h-Eileanan Siar		£ 44,297		17	£ 44,297	17
North Ayrshire	£ 3,799	£ 184,288	1	67	£ 188,087	68
North Lanarkshire	£ 4,999	£ 101,277	1	38	£ 106,276	39
Orkney Islands	£ 6,000	£ 58,947	1	20	£ 64,947	21
Perth and Kinross	£ 55,858	£ 1,026,956	9	292	£ 1,082,814	301
Renfrewshire		£ 138,619		45	£ 138,619	45
Scottish Borders	£ 10,875	£ 376,075	2	130	£ 386,950	132
Shetland Islands		£ 33,799		14	£ 33,799	14
South Ayrshire		£ 217,413		86	£ 217,413	86
South Lanarkshire	£ 2,199	£ 225,768	1	81	£ 227,967	82
Stirling	£ 21,931	£ 349,147	3	111	£ 371,078	114
West Dunbartonshire		£ 78,666		31	£ 78,666	31
West Lothian	£ 6,000	£ 108,839	1	43	£ 114,839	44
GRAND TOTAL	£ 426,284	£ 9,292,732	70	3,045	£ 9,719,016	3,115

Number and Value of Impaired or Defaulted Loans by Local Authority:

Note - Loans are considered to be in default after two missed payments and impaired after three consecutive missed payments

	DEFAULT		IMPAIRED
LOCAL AUTHORITY	Count	Value (£)	Count	Value (£)	Total Count	Total Value (£)
Aberdeen City	2	£ 4,249	2	£ 4,099	4	£ 8,348
2018-19			1	£ 3,000	1	£ 3,000
2019-20	1	£ 2,500			1	£ 2,500
2022-23	1	£ 1,749	1	£ 1,099	2	£ 2,848
Aberdeenshire	6	£ 20,217	3	£ 9,700	9	£ 29,917
2018-19			1	£ 6,000	1	£ 6,000
2020-21	5	£ 17,518	1	£ 1,700	6	£ 19,218
2021-22	1	£ 2,699	1	£ 2,000	2	£ 4,699
Angus	2	£ 5,699	2	£ 4,659	4	£ 10,358
2020-21	2	£ 5,699	2	£ 4,659	4	£ 10,358
Argyll and Bute	3	£ 13,149	1	£ 2,899	4	£ 16,048
2019-20	1	£ 1,750	1	£ 2,899	2	£ 4,649
2020-21	2	£ 11,399			2	£ 11,399
City of Edinburgh	3	£ 5,907	3	£ 7,085	6	£ 12,992
2018-19	1	£ 2,029			1	£ 2,029
2019-20	1	£ 1,579			1	£ 1,579
2020-21			1	£ 2,000	1	£ 2,000
2021-22	1	£ 2,299	1	£ 2,595	2	£ 4,894
2022-23			1	£ 2,490	1	£ 2,490
Dumfries and Galloway	5	£ 16,255	4	£ 13,746	9	£ 30,001
2019-20	2	£ 7,138	2	£ 6,999	4	£ 14,137
2020-21	1	£ 2,519			1	£ 2,519
2021-22	1	£ 3,000			1	£ 3,000
2022-23	1	£ 3,598	2	£ 6,747	3	£ 10,345
Dundee City	2	£ 24,415	1	£ 4,949	3	£ 29,364
2018-19			1	£ 4,949	1	£ 4,949
2019-20	1	£ 21,600			1	£ 21,600
2020-21	1	£ 2,815			1	£ 2,815
East Ayrshire	2	£ 6,148	3	£ 10,299	5	£ 16,447
2019-20	1	£ 2,000	1	£ 1,800	2	£ 3,800
2020-21			2	£ 8,499	2	£ 8,499
2022-23	1	£ 4,148			1	£ 4,148
East Dunbartonshire	1	£ 4,398	1	£ 3,000	2	£ 7,398
2020-21	1	£ 4,398			1	£ 4,398
2021-22			1	£ 3,000	1	£ 3,000
East Lothian			2	£ 5,399	2	£ 5,399
2019-20			1	£ 2,900	1	£ 2,900
2020-21			1	£ 2,499	1	£ 2,499
East Renfrewshire	2	£ 4,900			2	£ 4,900
2019-20	1	£ 2,000			1	£ 2,000
2020-21	1	£ 2,900			1	£ 2,900
Falkirk	2	£ 9,113	1	£ 3,298	3	£ 12,411
2021-22	1	£ 3,795	1	£ 3,298	2	£ 7,093
2022-23	1	£ 5,318			1	£ 5,318
Fife	6	£ 14,923	5	£ 16,249	11	£ 31,171
2018-19	2	£ 5,998	1	£ 2,999	3	£ 8,997
2019-20	2	£ 4,725	1	£ 2,800	3	£ 7,525
2020-21	1	£ 1,700	1	£ 6,000	2	£ 7,700
2022-23	1	£ 2,500	2	£ 4,450	3	£ 6,950
Glasgow City	8	£ 22,299	3	£ 17,095	11	£ 39,394
2019-20	2	£ 8,400			2	£ 8,400
2020-21	3	£ 6,148	1	£ 5,495	4	£ 11,643
2021-22	1	£ 3,753			1	£ 3,753
2022-23	2	£ 3,998	1	£ 5,700	3	£ 9,698
2023-24			1	£ 5,900	1	£ 5,900
Highland	16	£ 53,878	3	£ 13,056	19	£ 66,934
2018-19	1	£ 3,796			1	£ 3,796
2019-20	6	£ 21,061	2	£ 9,398	8	£ 30,459
2020-21	8	£ 23,423	1	£ 3,658	9	£ 27,081
2021-22	1	£ 5,598			1	£ 5,598
Inverclyde	1	£ 3,000	1	£ 1,600	2	£ 4,600
2018-19			1	£ 1,600	1	£ 1,600
2019-20	1	£ 3,000			1	£ 3,000
Moray	2	£ 3,699	3	£ 8,179	5	£ 11,878
2018-19			1	£ 1,280	1	£ 1,280
2020-21	1	£ 1,699	1	£ 4,100	2	£ 5,799
2021-22	1	£ 2,000			1	£ 2,000
2022-23			1	£ 2,799	1	£ 2,799
Na h-Eileanan Siar			1	£ 3,698	1	£ 3,698
2020-21			1	£ 3,698	1	£ 3,698
North Ayrshire	2	£ 6,409	3	£ 7,148	5	£ 13,557
2018-19			1	£ 3,000	1	£ 3,000
2019-20	1	£ 1,709			1	£ 1,709
2020-21	1	£ 4,700	2	£ 4,148	3	£ 8,848
North Lanarkshire	1	£ 1,798	1	£ 3,000	2	£ 4,798
2021-22	1	£ 1,798	1	£ 3,000	2	£ 4,798
Perth and Kinross	11	£ 54,794	8	£ 32,397	19	£ 87,191
2018-19			4	£ 17,499	4	£ 17,499
2019-20	6	£ 19,695	2	£ 6,299	8	£ 25,994
2020-21	2	£ 8,099	2	£ 8,599	4	£ 16,698
2022-23	3	£ 27,000			3	£ 27,000
Renfrewshire			1	£ 2,849	1	£ 2,849
2021-22			1	£ 2,849	1	£ 2,849
Scottish Borders	3	£ 12,427			3	£ 12,427
2018-19	1	£ 3,998			1	£ 3,998
2019-20	1	£ 6,000			1	£ 6,000
2020-21	1	£ 2,429			1	£ 2,429
Shetland Islands			1	£ 5,929	1	£ 5,929
2021-22			1	£ 5,929	1	£ 5,929
South Ayrshire	1	£ 3,778	3	£ 6,098	4	£ 9,876
2019-20	1	£ 3,778			1	£ 3,778
2020-21			3	£ 6,098	3	£ 6,098
South Lanarkshire			3	£ 8,448	3	£ 8,448
2019-20			2	£ 5,448	2	£ 5,448
2020-21			1	£ 3,000	1	£ 3,000
Stirling	4	£ 23,098	3	£ 5,246	7	£ 28,344
2020-21	3	£ 11,098	1	£ 1,645	4	£ 12,743
2021-22			2	£ 3,601	2	£ 3,601
2022-23	1	£ 12,000			1	£ 12,000
West Dunbartonshire			2	£ 4,199	2	£ 4,199
2021-22			1	£ 3,000	1	£ 3,000
2022-23			1	£ 1,199	1	£ 1,199

Question reference: S6O-02581

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the recent summit on tackling violence in schools.

Question reference: S6O-02577

Asked by: Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce funding for its Innovation Centres.

Question reference: S6O-02580

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether equivalent measures in Scotland are needed to those introduced in England and Wales by the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, in light of reports of a recent spate of thefts in the Scottish Borders.

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