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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.

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Question reference: S5W-31669

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which companies have supplied PPE to (a) the NHS and (b) local authorities during the COVID-19 outbreak, broken down by (i) volume, (ii) value and (iii) origin of the items.

Question reference: S5W-31955

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Water's (a) business and (b) domestic customers are subject to any potential liability arising from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the subsidiaries offering services in England that are owned by Business Stream.

Question reference: S5W-31956

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S5W-30512 by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 July 2020, what role the OECD has played regarding the Water Industry Commission for Scotland’s Strategic Review of Charges (SRC) since 2018; whether it has a contractual relationship for the 2021 SRC and, if so, (a) what the (i) nature and (ii) value is of this relationship and (b) how it was procured.

The OECD is conducting an independent peer review of the Strategic Review of Charges (SRC) 2021-27. The peers are a group of international experts in the regulatory field and members of the OECD’s Network of Economic Regulators (NER). A report of their findings and recommendations will be produced following the publication of the Final Determination and conclusion of the SRC process.

As an independent body, the OECD’s approach to this type of work is to request a contribution to their annual budget, consistent with the extent of work being carried out and only to cover its costs. The Commission engaged the OECD through its internal authorisation process on the basis of the OECD’s international reputation for independent economic analysis and previous experience of the value of the peer review exercise. Along with the review of the Strategic Review process, the OECD has provided assistance to the Commission on applying behavioural insights to the process and input on worldwide approaches to asset renewal. The total value of the contribution made to the OECD in connection with this work over the course of 4 years is £1,003,143 Euros.

Question reference: S5W-31952

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28724 by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 May 2020, whether it will provide an update on when the Scottish Water strategic review of charges will be completed and presented to ministers.

Question reference: S5W-31954

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what liability Scottish Water has for any debts of Business Stream, and whether domestic customers are insulated from any liability it might have as a result of business customer income reducing to Business Stream.

Question reference: S5W-31946

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29650 by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 June 2020, whether it will provide an update on whether, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Scottish Water has offered to pay contractors that are unable to continue delivery of work on capital investment and maintenance programmes.

Contractors working on Scottish Water’s capital programme were unable to work from 23 March 2020 until the end of May in line with lockdown guidance. Since the end of May Scottish Water’s capital programme has been remobilised and most projects are now back underway. Payments to contractors have been made in line with the entitlement set out within Scottish Water’s contracts. It uses the construction industry standard Engineering and Construct Contract (NEC) suite of contracts. This includes appropriate mechanisms to pay for allowable costs incurred during the period of lockdown - for example the retention of site security, accommodation, etc… It should be noted that a significant element of Scottish Water’s supply chain staff were put onto the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme which mitigated staff and labour costs being a cost to Scottish Water during lockdown. Scottish Water’s contract mechanisms allow for appropriate payments to be made for remobilisation and to cover the additional costs of new safe ways of working adopted in line with COVID-19 guidance.

Question reference: S5W-32128

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30017 by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 May 2020, whether it will provide an update regarding how much capital expenditure Scottish Water plans for 2020-21.

Question reference: S5W-31951

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether Business Stream is the provider of last resort for licenced water providers that are not able to continue to provide their services and, if so, what liability it has for arrears of payments or bad debt when acting in this capacity for providers that cease trading.

Question reference: S5W-32298

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Glasgow Disability Alliance report, Supercharged: A Human Catastrophe - Inequalities, Participation and Human Rights before, during and beyond COVID-19, that the Independent Living Fund (ILF) in Scotland should be reopened to new applicants immediately in order to strengthen protections for disabled people’s social care support, particularly in light of COVID-19.

Following the closure of ILF UK scheme in 2015, Scottish Ministers have protected the independent living fund in Scotland. In contrast this resource was transferred to local authorities in England and Wales whilst the public body ILF Scotland was created to administer and assess payments to Scottish recipients. The Scottish Government has continued to make additional improvements to ILF Scotland’s policies with reductions to the inherited charging policy. Furthermore significant investment has been provided to set up the Transition Fund, which is unique to Scotland and supports young disabled people to live a more fulfilling and independent life.

We have established an independent review of adult social care with a human-rights based approach to consider what changes are required to achieve the highest standards of support for the independence and wellbeing of people who receive adult social care support. The review will take account of all aspects of adult social care and is due to report by January 2021.

ILF Scotland colleagues are meeting with the Chair of the Review on 30 October to share their learning from and experience of working with disabled people and thoughts on how the ILF model could be further improved in the future.

Question reference: S5O-04711

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when NHS boards will be in a position to provide clinics that will specifically treat the long-term effects of COVID-19.