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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-22988

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of drugs deaths in the Lothian region in each year since 2018 have been linked to fentanyl or other synthetic opioids such as Captagon.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The annual National Records of Scotland publication on drug-misuse deaths does include data on the geographic split of drug deaths by substance, but the categories only include ‘any opioid’, ‘heroin/morphine’, ‘OST’, and a few medicinal opioids (such as codeine). There is not any information provided specifically on fentanyl, or any other synthetic opioids, broken down by geographical area.

Across Scotland the number of deaths where fentanyl was implicated since 2018 are as follows:

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Number of deaths where fentanyl implicated	12	25	7	7	6

The separate Public Health Scotland operated RADAR system does publish some data on synthetic opioid detection in post-mortem forensic toxicology testing which is available at the following link, but this is not broken down by geographical area - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-october-2023/#section-6-2

There is no mention in the NRS statistics of any deaths from the amphetamine stimulant Captagon, or under its chemical name fenethylline.

Question reference: S6W-22986

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much capital investment was requested by Ferguson Marine to procure a new plating line.

Question reference: S6W-22944

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help develop new air links between Scottish airports and other destinations.

The Scottish Government’s ambition is for Scotland to be as well connected as peer nations and regions, and we are committed to working with Scotland’s airports to help them grow international connectivity, while not returning to previous levels of emissions. Our engagement with Scotland’s airports is, however, commercially sensitive and I am unable to share specific details.

Transport Scotland, in partnership with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, works to help Scotland’s airports secure new routes that are essential for inbound tourism, business connectivity and the economy as a whole. In October, representatives from this cross government partnership attended the route development forum Routes World 2023, meeting with a number of airlines to discuss future opportunities to develop Scotland’s connectivity and also supporting the Scottish airports in attendance.

I welcome recent announcements that JetBlue will start their first ever service to Scotland next summer, with a route to New York JFK, and also that WestJet will restart flights to both Toronto and Halifax. These announcements demonstrate confidence in the Scottish market.

Question reference: S6W-22828

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when additional support for the new entrants to farming will be announced, in light of its commitment to announce additional support for new entrants later in 2023.

I can confirm that I announced the opening of the “Next Generation Practical Training Fund Pilot” at AgriScot on 22 November 2023. This fund will offer up to £500 per person for relevant practical land-based courses for new and young entrants.

The development of the fund has been spearheaded through the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group, chaired by Henry Graham, and I am very grateful that he continues to provide his valuable time and effort to progress this work effectively with officials and industry stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-22818

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which private sector companies have been contracted by Scottish Water in each year since 2007 for (a) construction projects and (b) maintenance, operation and repairs.

Question reference: S6W-22826

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-02515 by Humza Yousaf on 9 November 2023, whether it will detail the ministerial discussions that took place regarding approval for setting the remuneration in the current regulatory period of the chief executive of Scottish Water.

The remuneration of Scottish Water’s Chief Executive is set out in its Annual Reports. These can be found on Scottish Water’s website at www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

Ministers considered and agreed the salary limit for the new Chief Executive on 7 September 2022 ahead of the appointment process. This reflected the need to recruit very experienced personnel to run these vital services from a highly competitive market for such talent.

Question reference: S6W-22967

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its engagement with Equinor regarding potentially scaling up production of hydrogen.

Question reference: S6W-22945

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the introduction of a legal age to buy spray paint.

Question reference: S6W-22858

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans are in place to ensure that the 2.62 million households and 159,219 business premises that are supplied by Scottish Water will be safe during the current industrial action.

Question reference: S6W-22833

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the cost associated with the National Dashcam Safety Portal pilot would have been (a) expected to have been paid from Police Scotland's existing budget and (a) provided by the Scottish Government.

In August 2021, Police Scotland submitted a bid to the Road Safety Framework Fund and received a grant offer of £300,000 for a National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) pilot.

£21,732 of this funding was utilised to undertake initial scoping work on options and Transport Scotland retained the rest of the funding and used it to deliver other road safety measures aimed at reducing casualties on Scotland’s roads. The Scottish Government remained committed to delivering the initiative alongside Police Scotland, and ensured that the budget was available the following financial year.

However, as part of the scoping work, Police Scotland has now concluded that a stand-alone portal is neither the optimum nor best value route to create the capability for digital media to be submitted by members of the public. The Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme, currently in pilot in Dundee, will make it easy for a member of the public to submit digital evidence as part of an investigation following a report to the police. DESC will enable development of further capabilities where scope to further improve the service to the public is identified.