Chamber and committees

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.

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Question reference: S6W-07528

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it took to determine whether LKJ Research, which is reportedly the successful bidder for the contract to produce national lived experience research relating to the current support service provision and needs of service users with lived experience of prostitution in Scotland (Contract reference no: JAN438058), is a registered company or charity in Scotland or the UK.

The contract has been awarded to sole trader Laura Jones, trading under LKJ Research. As outlined in the response to S6W-07527 on 19 April 2022, following the review of the tender received, there was consensus from the evaluation panel (comprising of Scottish Government officials) that the criteria for awarding the contract had been met.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-07526

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the reference group that is advising the short life working group on tackling prostitution has met, and whether it will provide an update on the reference group’s activities.

Recognising the range of interests and experience related to the work of the short life working group (SLWG) considering fundamental principles which will underpin a model for Scotland to effectively tackle and challenge men’s demand for prostitution, a reference group was established. The reference group receives regular updates on this work and has the opportunity to input through e-mail. It does not hold meetings.

Following meetings of the SLWG which considered how support services should be reflected in the principles and how local and national approaches should be considered within the model, the reference group were contacted with questions related to these themes, seeking their views. The feedback from the reference group will be taken into account when developing the principles.

The final meeting of the SLWG will take place in April 2022, with further stakeholder engagement taking place on the draft principles, prior to their finalisation. This will include further opportunities for engagement with the reference group.

Question reference: S6W-07877

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report by Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) and the Article 11 Trust on the policing operation at COP26.

It is testament to the hard work and planning of Police Scotland that fewer than 100 COP26-related arrests were made while the event was taking place.

The Netpol/Article 11 report has been carefully considered by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), who now await a report from Independent Advisory Group on the policing of COP26 which is chaired by John Scott QC.

While Police Scotland are operationally independent of ministers, the service continues to learn from their activities on an ongoing basis.

Once the IAG findings are presented, all observations and recommendations will be for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to consider and act upon where appropriate.

Question reference: S6O-00953

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Department for Work and Pensions regarding proposed changes to its office estate that could result in job losses in the north east and elsewhere in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07030

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the non-commercially sensitive copy of the 2020-28 Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco.

Question reference: S6W-07029

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed the 2020-28 Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Question reference: S6O-00903

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking, in relation to green skills, to remove barriers facing offshore oil and gas workers in transitioning to green jobs in the offshore energy sector.

Question reference: S6O-00867

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-00844

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making towards the establishment of a Peace Institute by the end of 2022, as set out in its 2021-22 Programme for Government.

Question reference: S6W-05942

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Deposit Return Scheme will be expanded in a similar way to the Latvian scheme, to include standardised refillable bottles and containers for one-way recycling.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will focus on non-refillable single-use drinks containers. Including refillables in the scheme would add a significant degree of complexity, with the need for industry to agree and operate standard bottle and collection crate designs and put in place bottle washing and refilling facilities in addition to the infrastructure already required for our DRS.

Once our DRS is operational we intend to consider options to expand the scope of the scheme. If there is a case for including refillable containers at this point then we can explore this as part of that work.

Scotland’s DRS will be ambitious by the standards of European schemes, including Latvia’s. I would note that Latvia’s scheme, unlike ours, is intended to exclude wine and spirits and that, while our scheme will reach 90% of containers collected for recycling by 2025, Latvia will not do so until 2030 for plastic and glass, and their target for aluminium is only 60%.