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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-09393

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding police officers being stationed in schools through the use of pupil equity funding.

Question reference: S6W-09381

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 25 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people did not respond to the 2011 census and, of those, how many people received a fine for not doing so.

Decisions regarding prosecutions remain a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The 2011 census had a response rate of approximately 94%. Of the 6% of non-responding households, approximately 1,800 cases were put forward for non-compliance action which resulted in 900 completed questionnaires being returned. Following Crown Office advice, five cases were subsequently reported to the Procurator Fiscal and two cases resulted in prosecution.

Question reference: S6W-09625

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what checks and monitoring processes it has in place to ensure that the money it provided to businesses through the Business Ventilation Fund has been used by those businesses for the reasons stated in their applications.

Evidence of works was required in order to claim funding from the Business Ventilation Fund. This included providing invoices and proof of payment such as a copy of a bank statement. It was the responsibility of local authorities to validate this evidence to satisfy themselves that funding was being provided for approved purposes. This included spot checks of some premises and asking for further details to be provided before funding was released.

Question reference: S6W-09531

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on advertising and promoting the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme in total; how much it spent on this prior to the interim voucher scheme, worth up to £400 per voucher, being extended, and how much it has spent on this since the interim voucher scheme was extended.

Our website at www.scotlandsuperfast.com is the main means of publicising the R100 programme, of which R100 SBVS is a key component - information is largely updated in-house with more extensive changes commissioned, as and when required.

In addition, we have publicised R100 SBVS via the press, social media, and through continued stakeholder engagement activity across Scotland – including informing all registered suppliers of the extension to the interim voucher portion of R100 SBVS. We have received extensive coverage and reach across local and national media outlets and social media at no cost.

In March 2021, we distributed postcards to around 30,000 SBVS-eligible properties across Scotland. This activity cost around £12,900 plus VAT.

Question reference: S6W-09530

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, how many interim vouchers worth up to £400 had been granted by the date applications closed; what the total value of vouchers awarded in this part of the scheme is; how many vouchers worth up to £5,000 have been granted, and what the total value of vouchers awarded in this part of the scheme is.

As of 1 July 2022, a total of 1,031 installations have been delivered using interim vouchers at a value of £399,468. A further 204 interim vouchers have been issued at a potential value of £73,847. In addition, 1,237 installations have been delivered using main vouchers at a value of £3,104,256, with a further 762 main vouchers issued at a potential value of £2,631,657.

It is worth noting that vouchers issued do not always lead to installations being completed and, therefore, may not lead to actual spend – this can be for a number of reasons, such as the beneficiary deciding they no longer wish to proceed.

Question reference: S6O-01297

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects a decision to be reached on a railway station for Newburgh in Fife following the publication of the Newburgh and Area Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance appraisal.

Question reference: S6W-09096

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government in which academic year it plans for a new Scottish Education Exchange Programme to be operational for the two-way international exchange of students.

Question reference: S6W-09097

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the increase in funding in the Advanced Learning and Science budget for 2026-27, as set out in table 5 of the Resource Spending Review, is to fund a new Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

Question reference: S6W-09095

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to run a formal consultation exercise on the development of a new strategy for international education, and, if so, when.

Question reference: S6W-09093

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many officials worked on international further and higher education policy within the Advanced Learning and Science team in 2021-22.