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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-21166

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the five actions listed on page 25 of its report, Cleaner Air For Scotland 2: Towards a Better Place for Everyone, broken down by which actions (a) have been completed, (b) are underway and (c) have not yet started.

Question reference: S6W-20820

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many new (a) fossil fuel-powered, (b) electric and (c) other low emission technology vehicles were purchased across the public sector fleet in each of the past five years.

Scottish Government fleet purchases for the last 5 years, broken down by category, are provided in the following table.

Year	Diesel	Petrol	Hybrid	Electric Range Extender	Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV)	Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
2018	8	0	3	2	9	2
2019	4	0	2	0	35	9
2020	3	0	0	0	11	3
2021	3	0	0	0	7	26
2022	2	0	0	0	1	12
2023	2	0	0	0	16	0

We do not hold a breakdown of the number of fossil-fuelled and Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) purchased across the public sector in each of the last 5 years.

In 2020 and 2022 Transport Scotland commissioned a survey of vehicle types across Scottish public body fleets. Those that responded identified 1,859 ULEV vehicles in the 2020 public sector fleet and 4,705 in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-21161

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its publication, Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, for what reason 25% of Care at Home clients aged 18-64 were not in receipt of Free Personal Care as at 31 March 2023.

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collection does not include information which would allow us to identify why those 25% were not in receipt of FNPC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

Although Care at Home may include personal and nursing care, it may also take the form of other support services which sit outwith Free Personal Care legislation.

Question reference: S6W-21160

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its publication, Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, for what reason care home residents aged 65 and over were "far more likely to receive FPNC payments than those aged 18 to 64".

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collected does not include information which would allow us to explain why there is a greater proportion of older clients in receipt of FPNC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

Question reference: S6W-20873

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the staff attrition rate in (a) public sector and (b) publicly-funded bodies in each of the past three years.

The Scottish Government does not routinely gather or centrally hold information on staff attrition rates across all public sector, or publicly funded, bodies.

National Statistics on employment across the public sector in Scotland, including headcount by devolved and reserved sectors, are published on a quarterly basis and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/public-sector-employment-statistics/.

In the case of some specific workforces, further information relevant to attrition rates is also available:

Official Statistics on the NHSScotland workforce, including staff turnover, are published and can be found at: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/ .
National Statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including staff turnover by department and devolved administration, are published annually and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics

Question reference: S6W-20823

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the amount of critical minerals required for its transport policies.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the length of the battery supply chain, however no specific assessment has been done to date on quantities of minerals required for the transport network. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-20813

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support research and development of Scotland-based processing centres to test and reassemble used lithium batteries for reuse.

Zero Waste Scotland has worked with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise to produce three reports , published in 2021, forming the series ‘Battery use in Scotland now and in the future’.

Further to the original three reports, Transport Scotland (in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland) commissioned a report to explore actions required to support the establishment of a circular economy for batteries in Scotland, which will be published in due course.

The enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank have a key role in promoting and scaling up circular economy practices and business models.

Question reference: S6W-20821

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by the country of manufacturer of the electric vehicles that are used across its fleet.

Question reference: S6W-20816

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has carried out since 2021 to identify potential second-life stationary storage applications for electric vehicle batteries.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from manufacturing to predicted quantities available at end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland.

More recently the Scottish Government commissioned further research with Zero Waste Scotland to identify what practical actions Scotland could take to encourage and benefit from a circular economy - encouraging the reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This research will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-20818

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of electric vehicle batteries reaching the end of their first life it expects to be caught by domestic reprocessing options by (a) 2035 and (b) 2050.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from chemicals to end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland. This research suggests that by 2030 there could be up to 16000 tonnes of vehicle batteries available in Scotland for second life purposes.

Due to the novelty of batteries being used in their second life the market opportunities and business models for their use or disposal are not currently certain. Current UK Extended Producer Responsibility legislation dictates that the battery manufacturer remains responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of the battery, meaning that it will be at the manufacturer’s discretion whether they use a domestic reprocessing facility located in Scotland or the UK