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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-23965

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to potentially changing the legislative framework to increase flexibility in the management and operation of paths and roads in Holyrood Park.

The Scottish Government delegated the management of Holyrood Park to Historic Environment Scotland as a Property in Care. When considering potential changes to any Property in Care, Historic Environment Scotland ensures that the local community, as well as the relevant experts, are consulted. The Holyrood Park public consultation ran from 26 September to 19 December 2023, and once the results are analysed this will inform the development of any proposals for change. Health and safety remains paramount and I will continue my regular engagement with Historic Environment Scotland regarding the effective management of the Properties in Care.

Question reference: S6O-02988

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss its housing emergency declaration.

Question reference: S6W-23786

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker on 9 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has made any commitments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals within its functions, and, if so, what commitments it has made.

One of our Strategic Change Objectives outlined in the SPCB Strategic Plan is ‘Adapting for a sustainable future’. This focuses on reducing our carbon emissions and embedding Sustainable Development thinking across the parliament.

Our Sustainable Development Plan includes work under two key pillars - Climate Change, and Enhancing Scrutiny. Work in these areas is supported by a third pilar on engagement and embedding sustainable development thinking.

We are systematically using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to help us identify priorities in our sustainability work, and use this to help evolve our related training and engagement. This includes a course related to the SDGs and the role of Parliaments – developed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which is available to MSPs, MSP staff and SPCB staff regarding the SDG and the role of Parliaments.

Within the SPCB we are mapping Parliament’s strategic goals to the SDGs identifying the top priorities and the leadership required to embed them into the organisation. The outcome of this work will help us to shape the Session 7 Strategic Plan. We are publicly committed to being Net Zero Ready by 2038 at the latest and we have created a related Climate Change Adaptation risk assessment and action plan.

As part of the Scrutiny pillar, we are delivering the Conveners Group Session 6 strategic priority on climate change and net zero. There are seven areas of work to strengthen scrutiny of climate change across the Scottish Parliament. These include reviewing parliamentary processes and procedures, commissioning research to illustrate how climate change impacts on policy areas across subject committees and further rolling out of the Sustainable Development Impact Assessment tool. This is part of the work to develop a model for parliamentary scrutiny of climate change. This wider work includes enhancing engagement with diverse research evidence and expertise, embedding public participation, strengthening connections with strategic partners and sharing good practice. SPICe is publishing an updated blog on this work in January 2024.

Our Sustainable Development Performance Manager and Senior Analyst (Climate Change Scrutiny) would be delighted to meet with you to discuss more fully our work on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Question reference: S6O-02900

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its cross-government co-ordination on islands policies, what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any impact on island communities of its proposed EPC reforms.

Question reference: S6W-23332

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of the £30 million capital funding from the Energy Industries budget line that has been reprofiled to future years.

Question reference: S6W-23021

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22369 by Lorna Slater on 1 November 2023, what information it received on the due diligence carried out by Circularity Scotland as part of the tender process.

Question reference: S6W-23015

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22381 by Paul McLennan on 7 November 2023, what action it is taking to receive up-to-date data on the number of households with prepayment meters.

The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. Within this it provides estimates of the number of dwellings with a prepayment meter for gas or electricity.

The 2022 SHCS returned to full in-home surveying in April 2022, and we expect to publish the key findings as National Statistics in February 2024 which will include updated figures for dwellings with prepayment meters.

Question reference: S6W-23012

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22527 by Gillian Martin on 9 November 2023, what the energy output would be of the current live applications, broken down by local authority area.

With reference to the answer supplied to question reference S6W-22527, the 311 organisations being supported by CARES with an ‘Active’ project status are in varying stages of development. Some are undertaking early scoping and feasibility exercises, while others have grant funding committed. Local Energy Scotland (LES) measures new energy generation by installed capacity in kilowatts (kW) based on the maximum rated output of each project, as opposed to Energy Output which refers to energy generated over time in kilowatt hours (kWh).

The installed capacities of projects are provided in the following table. Note that these figures relate only to active projects where CARES funding has been offered, as the capacities of projects before this stage can change as a result of revisions in design, budget or supplier availability.

All Projects	All projects
Local Authority	No.	total kW
Aberdeen City	10	252
Aberdeenshire	18	2673
Angus	3	61
Argyll and Bute	25	30132
Clackmannanshire	2	41
Dumfries & Galloway	18	581
Dundee City	8	4134
East Ayrshire	14	297
East Dunbartonshire	1	20
East Lothian	5	8082
East Renfrewshire	2	41
Edinburgh City	14	272
Falkirk	3	89
Fife	15	7855
Glasgow City	13	245
Highland	43	33523
Inverclyde	1	20
Midlothian	3	61
Moray	14	16215
North Ayrshire	9	8922
North Lanarkshire	6	122
Orkney Islands	11	248
Perth & Kinross	10	203
Renfrewshire	2	38
Scottish Borders	18	44635
Shetland Islands	9	169
South Ayrshire	7	87
South Lanarkshire	9	188
Stirling	6	102
West Dunbartonshire	1	20
West Lothian	3	61
Western Isles	8	71057
Total	311	230448

Question reference: S6W-23013

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22338 by Neil Gray on 7 November 2023, what specific guidance the Energy Consents Unit uses when completing a data check.

Officials in the Energy Consents Unit (“ECU”) use internal process guidance to check that the data input by developers into the carbon calculator accords with the relevant information referenced in the application documentation and its environmental impact assessment report (“EIA report”). Once the data is checked, the submission is formally received and then thereafter available for scrutiny in the public domain by using the reference code published in the EIA report. The data check includes:

1. Checking that the number of wind turbines and capacity output of each turbine accords with the information provided in the EIA Report.

2. Checking that the operational period accords with the application information

3. Checking that the capacity factor is credible and backed up by evidence in the EIA report.

Question reference: S6W-23022

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22380 by Gillian Martin on 30 October 2023, what the (a) name, (b) remit and (c) membership is of each working group that the Minister for Energy and the Environment chaired.

I recently chaired the short-lived Rural Energy Consumers Working Group, Non-domestic Energy Consumers Working Group and Priority (previously known as Vulnerable) Energy Consumers Working Group. Information on each of these groups can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following links:

Energy: Rural Energy Consumers Short-Life Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Energy: Non-Domestic Energy Consumers Short-Life Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Energy: Vulnerable Energy Consumers Short-Life Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)