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-06893

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to facilitate the further development of onshore wind power.

The Scottish Government recognises, and will continue to champion, onshore wind as a key part of Scotland’s energy mix. Continued growth in onshore wind will be a vital component in meeting our net zero ambitions.

The Onshore Wind Policy Statement consultation was launched on 28 October 2021, which includes our ambition that an additional 8-12 GW of onshore wind be installed by 2030.

The consultation considered key themes such as barriers to deployment, community benefits and shared ownership, circular economy and supply chain opportunities.

The consultation closed on 31 January 2022, and a full policy statement is expected to be published later this year with consultation analysis also to be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-06892

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the role of onshore wind power in maintaining energy security.

This is a reserved policy area. Responsibility for security of supply sits with National Grid ESO (the GB electricity system operator).

The UK government has now included renewables in the Capacity Market to recognise their “measurable contribution” to security of supply. Renewables sites in Scotland have been successful in securing contracts in the latest T-4 and T-1 Capacity Market Auctions.

Renewable capacity in Scotland includes onshore and offshore wind, hydro, solar, marine technologies, bioenergy and waste.

The equivalent of 98.6% of gross electricity consumption in Scotland (around 30 GigaWatt hours, GWh) comes from renewable sources.

Question reference: S6W-06269

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the Parliament on its plans to support global action on loss and damage; what the timescale will be of any action plan or strategy, and how it will consult stakeholders in (a) Scotland and (b) the Global South on this matter.

The Scottish Government is taking action on loss and damage. On the 23rd February, The First Minister and I hosted a roundtable of international leaders and experts, including colleagues from the Global South, on Loss and Damage. The roundtable articulated the common ambitions of non-state actors to further move Loss and Damage to delivery and action.

Officials are synthesising information from the roundtable to plan and sequence further action over 2022 and at COP27, including in partnership with stakeholders from the Global South. Plans will be discussed with Scottish stakeholders and progress reported to Parliament as appropriate. Additionally, officials are currently working with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund to programme a £1m contribution to Loss and Damage as part of the world-leading £2m commitment we made at COP26.

Question reference: S6W-06787

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage constructive and positive use of social media among young people.

The Scottish Government believes it is important to support children and young people to have the knowledge and skills necessary to use social media in a positive way.

We provided the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Scottish Children’s Parliament with over £90k of funding to develop the ‘Mind Yer YTime’ web resource, launched in April 2020 and updated in September 2021. This online hub is specifically designed to give children and young people advice on the safe use of screen time and social media use and their impacts on physical and mental wellbeing.

We provided over £160k to Young Scot to deliver a range of positive messages, advice and resources to young people regarding health and mental wellbeing through the ‘Aye Feel’ hub. This includes a range of resources, stories, blog posts and targeted social media content on social media usage and managing screen time.

In February 2022 we supported Young Scot to launch the ‘ National Conversation on body image, screen time and mental wellbeing ’ , with children and young people so that their voices can directly shape our future work in this area.

We have also provided Young Scot with £124,740 to run its #DigiKnow cyber awareness and peer education programme around online safety and security, aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

More broadly, we are aware that some stakeholders have concerns that the UK Government needs to go further in using the UK Online Safety Bill to protect the population’s mental health and wellbeing. We would encourage the UK Government to listen and respond to those concerns so that we can all seek to engage in social media in a constructive and positive way.

Question reference: S6W-06313

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03246 by Tom Arthur on 1 October 2021, whether its estimate of the cost to local government of the increase in employers' national insurance contributions has changed, and, if so, what its current estimate is.

Question reference: S6W-06785

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is in place regarding prioritising the reopening of youth and community facilities as a crucial part of the COVID-19 recovery.

We are working collaboratively with Community Learning and Development providers to support safe practices and behaviours through the Advanced Learning COVID-19 Recovery Group and to deliver guidance that will support the Strategic Framework. This will include encouraging local/community facilities to permit access to organisations and groups working within this sector, operating in line with their own requirements under the terms of the Strategic Framework.

We have also prepared safer workplaces guidance and the organised activities for children guidance to support and accelerate these organisations ability to safely reopen these buildings. However, the responsibility for reopening youth and community facilities ultimately rests with the owners.

Question reference: S6W-06784

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many opportunities there are for youth work placements through the current Modern Apprenticeships scheme.

Official Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are published by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) quarterly, including the number of starts.

The following table shows the number of MA starts over the last five years on the Youth Work Framework:

Year	Starts
2020-21	28
2019-20	31
2018-19	29
2017-18	37
2016-17	27

Published on 15 February 2022, the Quarter 3 statistics covering April-December 2021, show there have been 16 starts on the Youth Work Modern Apprenticeship Framework by the end of Quarter 3. The Modern Apprenticeship 2021-22 Q4 (Year End) statistics are expected to be published in May 2022.

Apprenticeships are a key way for all employers to invest in their workforce, providing the skills the economy needs both now and in the future. Apprenticeship opportunities are led by demand from employers. Each year SDS carries out an extensive industry demand assessment to support planning and contracting across the apprenticeship family.

The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to maximise apprenticeship opportunities and prioritise a recovery that creates new jobs, good jobs and green jobs, supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy.

Question reference: S6W-06786

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which funding streams in the creative sector specifically encourage youth workers and community-based projects to deliver courses and projects that seek to build skills in the positive use of social media.

The Scottish Government believes it is important to ensure young people build skills in the positive use of social media. In December 2021, UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom published its approach to online media literacy, setting out the need to build media literacy skills, including identifying misinformation on social media platforms.

There are no specific creative sector projects on social media being funded by the Scottish Government at this time but there are a number of projects and initiatives funded from other areas of the Scottish Government that seek to develop skills in the positive use of social media. Those relevant to youth workers and community groups are set out below.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Unit provided funding to Civic Digits CIC of £35,550, complementing funding from Creative Scotland, to deliver The Big Data Show to 2,400 children in schools and to a community organisation working with young people from black and minority ethnic communities.

In 2020, the Scottish Youth Parliament, with Scottish Government funding, also developed a digital resource called Mind Yer Time, to help children and young people use screens and social media in a healthy way.

Question reference: S6O-00857

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what progress has been made on re-opening the Scottish Parliament creche.

Question reference: S6W-06782

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals have been employed as youth workers in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.