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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-18427

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the longest waiting time has been for a land registry application in each of the last three years, and what the longest waiting time is currently.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that she has instigated a plan to clear the current backlog, which has already resolved over 1000 of the oldest applications, with an initial target of ensuring by the end of this year that no applicants have been waiting longer than 2 years. The oldest application currently with Registers of Scotland is 2 years and
‎ 4 months old (against a service standard of 9 months). The position for each of the last three years is shown in the following table:-

Year	Longest waiting time by number of working days
2015-16	3790 days
2016-17	3869 days
2017-18	2069 days

Question reference: S5W-18426

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people awaiting the processing of a land registry application in each of the last three years have informed Land Registry Scotland that they have had to take out a standard variable rate loan as a result of the delay, and whether it has conducted an assessment of the financial impact of this on applicants.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that historically lenders would not usually require registration applications to be completed before offering customers new deals or rates. Recently some lenders have changed their position. In such cases, where the Keeper is made aware, by a customer or their solicitors, that registration delays are having this sort of impact then the registration application will be expedited. The total number of cases in which this has been done, across the last three years, is 12.

Question reference: S5W-18423

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the last Registers of Scotland staff survey took place, and when the next one will take place.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that Registers of Scotland invite colleagues to participate in the annual civil service people survey (CSPS), which last took place in October 2017. 727 colleagues and external staff (51.4%) chose to take part in the survey.

The next CSPS will open on 1 October 2018 and run for one month, with high level results available from the end of November and detailed comparative data available in December 2018.

Registers of Scotland also undertook a Colleague Wellbeing survey in 2017 which provided insight into colleagues’ physical and psychological wellbeing. This will be repeated in late 2018 with comparative data available in early 2019.

Registers of Scotland further supplements this insight by participating in Investors in People (IiP) assessments which include annual surveys and interviews with samples of colleagues over a three year period. Registers of Scotland was awarded in a Silver status in July 2018 following independent analysis of colleague feedback.

Question reference: S5W-18425

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints Land Registry Scotland has received in each of the last three years regarding the length of time taken to process an application.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that Registers of Scotland is acutely aware of customer and stakeholder concern around how long some applications are taking, and that they are in continual dialogue with the Law Society of Scotland and individual customers as they work through their plan to resolve the current backlog. The number of formal complaints is in the following table.

Year	Total applications	Complaints related to registration delays
2015-16	475,965	2
2016-17	514,048	9
2017-18	541,622	23

Question reference: S5W-18428

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff have been employed at Registers of Scotland in each year since 2007-08.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She has provided me with the information requested in the following table, as taken from the Annual Reports from 2007-08 until 2017-18.

Year	Contractors	Civil Servants	Total Average headcount
2007-2008	50	1297	1347
2008-2009	35	1313	1348
2009-2010	31	1296	1327
2010-2011	26	1247	1273
2011-2012	8	1108	1116
2012-2013	27	972	999
2013-2014	46	882	928
2014-2015	65	838	903
2015-2016	89	967	1056
2016-2017	157	1016	1173
2017-2018	317	1101	1418

Question reference: S5F-02599

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2018

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-17570

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 29 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02378 by Keith Brown on 28 September 2016 and the answer to question S5W-11126 by Derek Mackay on 19 September 2017, whether it will provide an update on the required change to parliamentary procedures associated with approving Scottish Government guarantees.

Since the previous PQs (S5W-02378 on 28 September 2016 and S5W-11126 on 19 September 2017 - all answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx ) were answered, Parliamentary procedures associated with the approval of the Scottish Government entering into a contingent liability or guarantee have changed.

In an amendment to the written agreement between the Scottish Government and the Finance and Constitution Committee it was agreed that the approval of the Committee will be sought for guarantees where the potential exposure exceeds £2.5 million and that the Committee would be notified of all guarantees with a potential exposure falling between £300k and £2.5 million. The previous agreement required that Committee approval be sought for arrangements where the potential exposure was over £1 million. The arrangements outlined above do not apply where the guarantee or contingent liability is granted under a statutory requirement to do so or is of a standard type and arises as an unavoidable feature of an activity authorised by statute.

Question reference: S5W-17591

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it has sought regarding whether the company that has reportedly received more than £475,000 from Scottish Enterprise in the last three years has any links to (a) serving board members and (b) senior staff at Scottish Enterprise.

Question reference: S5W-17590

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to establish whether the company that has reportedly received more than £475,000 from Scottish Enterprise in the last three years (a) has sought and (b) will seek planning permission that could be called in by the Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S5W-17587

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances Scottish Enterprise is permitted to withhold the identity of companies that it gives grants to.