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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-16463

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the costs associated with raising the rateable value threshold at which properties qualify for the Fresh Start relief from £95,000 to £100,000.

Question reference: S6W-16286

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reform planning laws to enable long-term unoccupied business premises to be converted into housing.

There is strong national planning policy support for approval of good quality conversions to residential development following thorough planning assessments. We have no plans to introduce new permitted development rights providing for the conversion of business premises to housing without a planning application. We sought views on this during the second phase of the ongoing review of permitted development rights. More than 90% of respondents agreed this should not be taken forward and that residential development should continue to be plan-led. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was adopted in February 2023 and is now part of the development plan. Policy 9 (Brownfield, vacant and derelict land and empty buildings) of NPF4 supports the sustainable reuse of brownfield land including vacant buildings. Furthermore, Policy 27 of NPF4 (City, town, local and commercial centres) specifically supports town centre living and the re-use of vacant buildings within city and town centres for residential development.

Question reference: S6W-16285

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce compulsory sale orders for long-term unoccupied properties.

Tackling empty homes is a priority. Local authorities already have broad compulsory purchase powers, which are being used to tackle empty homes and, where possible, return them to use as warm, safe and secure housing.

We are taking forward work to modernise the compulsory purchase process to make it clearer, fairer and faster. Any new powers would need to be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and careful consideration given to the compatibility with existing powers. This includes proposals for Compulsory Sales Orders.

Question reference: S6W-16222

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an estimate of the number of spaces currently available for bike storage (a) within and (b) immediately outside of its buildings, such as bike racks and bike-specific structures.

The following buildings have dedicated cycle parking spaces:-

Building	No of Cycle Parking Spaces
4 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow	10
5 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow	41
Bothwell House, Hamilton	4
The Courtyard, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk	5
Cameron House, Oban	4
Denholm House, Livingston	4
Endeavour House, Dundee	12
Freshwater Laboratory, Faskally	12
Governor’s House, Edinburgh	10
Hamilton House, Hamilton Business Park	6
Inchbraoch House, Montrose	4
Longman House, Inverness	18
Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen	56
Russell House, Ayr	4
SASA, Roddinglaw, Edinburgh	16
Saughton House, Edinburgh	74
St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh	128
Scotland House, London	6
Strathbeg House, Thurso	6
Strathearn House, Perth	26
Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall	6
Thainstone Court, Inverurie	6
Tweedbank, Galashiels	10
Victoria Quay, Edinburgh	392

Question reference: S6W-16390

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its contingency plans are, should the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry become severely delayed.

Question reference: S6W-16449

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Age Scotland’s Annual Impact Report 2022, which was published in March 2023, and when it next plans to meet with Age Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-16284

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of disabled people on social housing waiting lists.

We want disabled people in Scotland to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable homes, built or adapted so they can participate as full and equal citizens.

Scotland has led the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK. Since 2007, we have delivered 118,124 affordable homes, 83,291 of which were for social rent.

Our ambition is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 – 70% of which will be for social rent and 10% in our remote, rural and island communities.

We are building homes that are sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of people as they change over time. The Housing for Varying Needs design guide incorporates the ‘barrier free’ concept of accessibility in homes. Recent analysis shows that 98% of new build homes delivered by housing associations and councils in 2021-22, where information was returned, met that standard.

A review of Housing for Varying Needs is underway. This work will directly inform the development of a Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, set to be implemented from 2025-26. This will enhance the accessibility and adaptability of new homes, ensuring that disabled people have an increased range of housing options and reducing the requirement to make changes to homes as needs change.

Local authorities as the strategic housing authority are responsible for assessing affordable housing needs in their area and setting out their plans to meet these requirements in their Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

Local authorities are required to set targets for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures as part of their Local Housing Strategy. The target should be informed by evidence of what is required locally.

The allocation of housing in the social rented sector lies directly with individual landlords. Local authorities and housing associations are responsible for allocating social housing, including applications on medical grounds, and how they do this is set out in their allocation policy. Decisions to allocate housing will be based on an assessment of the individual’s housing needs against the landlord’s published allocation policy.

Disabled people have priority access to our Low Cost Initiative for First Time Buyers which help people on low to moderate incomes buy a home. We recently widened eligibility to the Open Market Shared Equity scheme to ensure as many people as possible can benefit.

Question reference: S6W-16389

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it envisages any potential delays to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry.

We have always been clear that we want the work of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry to be delivered at speed, addressing the range of questions that people have, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

It is for the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry itself to comment on its work.

Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 gives an inquiry Chair alone, rather than Ministers, responsibility for deciding how an inquiry should operate.

It is for the Chair to determine how to strike the right balance between addressing the wide range of questions people have and making sure that the inquiry can be delivered at speed, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

The Scottish Government remains committed, in its role as sponsor, to providing operational support as the Chair considers necessary and appropriate, in order to enable the Inquiry to carry out its independent work and help ensure the progress made so far is continued.

Question reference: S6W-16335

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have (a) opened and (b) closed in Scotland since May 2021.

Statistics on business births and deaths are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) within their Business Demography publications. Data are available on a calendar year basis and on a quarterly basis. Links to the latest versions of these publications are provided below. The business births and deaths in the ONS publications are based on registrations and de-registrations for Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Note that VAT/PAYE registrations/de-registrations do not represent a complete picture of business churn – as this excludes the smallest businesses without employees and an annual turnover of less than the VAT threshold (currently £85,000).

Business Demography, UK: 2021 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemography/latest

Business demography, quarterly experimental statistics, UK: October to December 2022 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/octobertodecember2022

Question reference: S6W-16317

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many appointments it has made to UK-level bodies and organisations in the last 12 months.