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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-18101

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for its proposed Scottish Languages Bill, including an estimated date for its introduction to Parliament.

The Scottish Government carried out a consultation on the Future of Gaelic and Scots from August to December 2022 and these responses will help shape any future legislation. The responses have been independently analysed and it is hope that these will be published by the Scottish Government on 7 June.

A decision on the timing of the Bill’s introduction to Parliament will be taken by Cabinet in the context of setting the content of future legislative programmes.

Question reference: S6O-02317

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review its approach to drafting financial memoranda, in light of concerns raised by the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Question reference: S6O-02226

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Transport Scotland regarding the Swallow roundabout in Dundee.

Question reference: S6O-02168

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates that the reported closure of Tayside Aviation will have on the financial sustainability of Dundee Airport and associated Tay Cities Deal funding.

Question reference: S6O-02151

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the higher education sector.

Question reference: S6W-16027

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason decision making on grants from the Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund has been delayed, and when those decisions will be made and communicated to applicants.

Scottish Government Ministers took the decision to extend all current funding for the 115 organisations funded under the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning & Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund for three months and consider options for the existing fund together with fully considering bids under the new Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning (CYPFAL) third sector fund. Following this consideration, Ministers took the decision to extend all existing funding under CYPFEI and ALEC for two financial years, providing £29m to 115 organisations to end March 2025. Officials wrote to all affected organisations on 20 March 2023 to communicate this decision. In addition, Ministers have decided to award an additional £6m to 22 further organisations under the CYPFAL third sector fund over the next two financial years to end March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-16445

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 12 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the long-term funding of the Big Noise projects in Scotland.

We are proud to have supported Sistema Scotland and their Big Noise projects annually since 2012, contributing to the Government-wide priorities of tackling child poverty and raising attainment. We previously confirmed that the Scottish Government would provide the organisation with around £1.5 million of additional funding for 2023-24 and officials are working at pace to finalise this.

We are not currently in a position to make commitments beyond the next financial year. Funding for 2023-24 is designed to protect the organisational sustainability of Sistema Scotland and allow them to deliver their programmes, and we will continue to work closely with the organisation on this.

Question reference: S6W-15970

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £26 million of additional funding for colleges, as announced in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, will become core funding in future years.

Question reference: S6W-15983

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons it has learned from the pilot scheme for deferred entry of children to P1.

Interim reporting from the pilot local authorities on the number of ELC places needed for children deferring entry to P1 has been used to inform budget settlement decisions for 2023-24. The final evaluation report will be published in May 2023 and will provide information about implementation in pilot areas and explore the impact of the pilot on parental awareness and perceptions of the entitlement.

Question reference: S6W-15984

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Deferral Working Group last met and when minutes of that meeting will be published.