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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-07553

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the inclusion of Tetrapak in the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-07552

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis has been carried out of the cost of retrofitting an expanded range of materials such as Tetrapak, following the launch of a Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-07551

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis has been carried out of the cost of introducing a digital deposit return scheme, following the launch of the proposed Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-07524

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report on Edinburgh's children's homes by the City of Edinburgh Council, which reportedly states that there was "illegality, maladministration and injustice" in the running of Edinburgh’s secure accommodation for young people.

The report has not been shared with the Scottish Government, but children and young people living in this type of accommodation should receive the highest level and quality of care.

Officials have contacted the City of Edinburgh Council to offer support. We are assured that the findings and recommendations of the report are now being taken forward as part of a robust and detailed action plan to improve the quality of care.

Question reference: S6W-07834

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of young people in Scotland who have taken part in the Teach the Nation to Code initiative.

Question reference: S6W-07841

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish plans for the National Care Service.

The Scottish Government is committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS), and that work is continuing on schedule. We have pledged to bring forward legislation to enable the creation of the NCS by the end of June 2022.

Scottish Ministers are still considering the wealth of information provided through the recent National Care Service consultation. We are committed to ensuring that the design and delivery of the NCS has human rights embedded throughout. We are continuing to engage with the real experts – people with lived experience of the service whether they are people accessing care and support, their families, care workers or providers – and will continue to do so in order to improve future services and make things better for everyone.

We will then be in a position to bring forward the detailed plans for improvement to be undertaken over the course of this Parliament, to end the postcode lottery of care provision ensuring quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs, regardless of where they live in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07760

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made and action it has taken to ensure that former Hong Kong residents who resettle in Scotland are not subjected to racism or discrimination, and what steps it has taken to collect feedback on the experiences of those people since they resettled in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07253

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the running cost was for each of its directorates in each of the last five years.

For financial years up to and including 2018-19, the Administration Portfolio budget covered the costs of the core administration, including staffing, required to support the Scottish Government.

From financial year 2019-20, operating costs were aligned with the Portfolio budgets that they support and the Administration Portfolio was removed from the Scottish Budget. The new approach replaced the dual system of Administration and portfolio budgets both funding operating costs. As a result, Scottish Government operating costs are more transparent.

The increase in total operating cost of the Scottish Government in recent years reflects additional responsibilities taken on from the UK Government. The Scottish Government has taken on significant new powers, both raising its own revenues through devolved taxes and delivering public services such as social security and significant numbers of additional staff have been recruited to support these new responsibilities.

The change to reporting of operating costs means that we are unable to provide comparable information over the last five years. We can provide Directorate-level detail for the last three year financial years. However, there have been organisational changes each year, meaning that Directorates are not necessarily comparable year on year.

The Administration Portfolio outturn for 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the Operating Cost model introduced from 2019-20 are set out in the 2019-20 Budget Bill, Annex G, Table G.02. Annex G - Scottish Budget 2019-2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The following tables show the final outturn for 2019-20, 2020-21 and the 2021-22 budget for Operating Costs. The 2021-22 actuals will be available in mid-June, when Provisional Outturn is reported to Parliament.

Operating Costs by Directorate	2019-20 Outturn	2020-21 Outturn
	£k	£k
DG Communities	59,679	77,990
Directorate of Equality Inclusion & Human Rights	0	1
Housing and Social Justice	17,369	17,040
Local Government & Communities	14,055	15,871
Social Security	28,256	45,078
DG Constitution and External Affairs	21,283	25,090
Constitution and Cabinet	6,607	7,251
Directorate for Covid Co-ordination	0	1,281
EU Directorate	2,013	2,334
External Affairs	9,244	8,201
Organisational Readiness Directorate	1,376	3,707
Parliamentary Counsel Office	2,043	2,317
DG Corporate	138,464	161,696
Commercial and Procurement	20,376	21,864
Communications, Ministerial Support & Facilities Directorate	48,831	51,105
Directorate for Digital	24,884	38,119
Directorate for People	19,254	21,167
Financial Management	9,784	11,109
Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish Government)	12,538	15,386
Planning and Environmental Appeals	2,797	2,947
DG Economy	156,755	162,376
Chief Economist	5,314	5,789
Covid Business Resilience and Support	0	2,111
Directorate for Agriculture & Rural Delivery	57,782	56,344
Directorate for Culture, Tourism & Major Events	3,410	3,789
Directorate for Economic Development	11,217	9,905
Directorate for Energy & Climate Change	10,356	12,313
Directorate for Environment and Forestry	6,906	7,785
Directorate for Fair Work, Employability & Skills	8,315	9,327
Directorate for International Trade and Investment	5,027	5,559
Directorate for Marine Scotland	40,874	40,677
Directorate for Sustainable Land Use & Rural Policy	4,103	4,869
Ferguson Marine	339	1,096
Scottish National Investment Bank	3,112	2,810
DG Education and Justice	60,261	62,964
Advanced Learning & Science Directorate	4,395	4,052
Children and Families	13,214	14,365
Directorate for Early Learning & Childcare Programme	2,762	2,664
HM Inspectorate of Prisons	941	908
Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland	328	322
Justice Directorate	12,385	12,262
Learning	10,419	11,154
Safer Communities	15,816	17,237
DG Health and Social Care	50,353	71,561
Directorate for Chief Medical Officer	4,097	6,066
Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer	3,895	5,237
Directorate for COVID Public Health	2,172	7,308
Directorate for Digital Reform & Service Engagement	1,930	3,926
Directorate for Health Finance, Corporate Governance & Value	2,852	3,244
Directorate for Health Workforce	4,648	6,815
Directorate for Healthcare Quality & Improvement	3,987	4,793
Directorate for Mental Health and Social Care	9,556	14,704
Directorate for Performance & Delivery	6,792	8,309
Directorate for Population Health	7,332	7,522
Directorate for Primary Care	3,094	3,637
DG Scottish Exchequer	9,031	9,488
Budget & Sustainability	2,200	2,306
Internal Audit	2,718	2,654
Performance & Strategic Outcomes	1,818	2,135
Tax	2,295	2,393

Operating costs not attributable to a specific Directorate*	3,336	15,397
Grand Total	499,162	586,562

* These include Employee Benefits and income from Scottish Parliament in relation to Ministerial pay.

Some costs borne by Directorates include central costs, such as those relating to systems.

Operating Costs by Directorate	2021-22 Budgets post Spring Budget Revision £k
Communities	73,020
Directorate for Equality Inclusion and Human Rights	5,665
Directorate for Housing and Social Justice	16,605
Directorate for Local Government and Communities	12,107
Directorate for Social Security	38,643
Corporate	205,265
Corporate Transformation and Workplace Directorate	36,266
Directorate for Communication and Ministerial Support	26,950
Directorate for Digital	45,414
Directorate for Financial Management	12,050
Directorate for Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish Government)	18,997
Directorate for People	29,523
Directorate for Propriety and Ethics	1,000
Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate	35,065
Economy	30,732
Directorate for Chief Economist	5,388
Directorate for Covid Business Resilience and Support	2,326
Directorate for Economic Development	8,509
Directorate for Fair Work Employability and Skills	8,081
Directorate for International Trade and Investment	6,428
Education and Justice	56,693
Directorate for Advanced Learning and Science	5,478
Directorate for Children and Families	15,826
Directorate for Early Learning and Childcare Programme	3,324
Directorate for Justice	7,854
Directorate for Learning	11,591
Directorate for Safer Communities	12,620
Health and Social Care	95,439
Directorate for Chief Medical Officer	7,963
Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer	5,028
Directorate for Children and Families	1,860
Directorate for Primary Care	4,264
Directorate for Digital Reform & Service Engagement	3,979
Directorate for Health Finance, Corporate Governance and Value	4,284
Directorate for Health Performance and Delivery	8,025
Directorate for Health Workforce, Leadership and Service Reform	9,300
Directorate for Healthcare Quality and Improvement	5,671
Directorate for Mental Health & Social Care Support	17,981
Directorate for Population Health	10,280
Directorate for Covid Response	12,174
Directorate for Vaccines Policy and Strategy	4,630
Net Zero	144,210
Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy	73,250
Directorate for Energy and Climate Change	15,641
Directorate for Environment and Forestry	9,303
Directorate for Marine Scotland	46,016
Scottish Exchequer	10,757
Directorate for Budget and Public Spending	2,461
Directorate for Internal Audit and Assurance	3,212
Directorate for Performance and Strategic Outcomes	2,625
Directorate for Tax and Fiscal Sustainability	2,459
Strategy and External Affairs	39,894
Directorate for Constitution and Cabinet	8,555
Directorate for COVID Co-ordination	4,579
Directorate for Culture and Major Events	2,883
Directorate for External Affairs	9,939
Directorate for Organisational Readiness	10,171
EU Directorate	1,748
Parliamentary Counsel Office	2,019
Grand Total	656,010

Question reference: S6W-07593

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding, if any, it provides to P&O Ferries to operate services to or from Scottish ports.

Question reference: S6F-01011

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 April 2022

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to bring down the cost to tenants of private rent in the coming year.