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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: S6O-02470

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to local authorities from its 2023-24 Budget to prevent the closure of local services in light of rising energy and running costs, including to prevent the closure of swimming pools.

Question reference: S6W-19442

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 11 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are plans to raise the maximum threshold of income, which currently stands at £25,000 gross annual income, in order to qualify for the Student Awards Agency Scotland Part-time Fee Grant.

The Scottish Government is considering the income threshold for access to the Part-Time Fee Grant in light of the current changing financial landscape and the issues relating to individual earnings. This will form part of a wider review of student support for part-time learners, highlighted in the Initial Priorities paper of the Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills, published on the 28 June.

Question reference: S6W-18495

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 9 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nursery sector regarding the current funding agreement.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the views of the private, voluntary and childminding sector are heard and reflected in national policy. For example, the Scottish Government consulted on different funding models before the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion to 1140 hours.

I hosted a meeting with sector representatives on Tuesday 18 April to hear about challenges and opportunities for the sector, and I will be undertaking a programme of engagement over the next few months.

Senior Scottish Government officials also engage regularly with the sector, including through the Childcare Sector Working Group and the National Childcare Providers Forum.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have engaged with providers as part of the work on the joint review of the process for setting Sustainable Rates in 2022-23. I will consider the findings of this review carefully when it reports this summer.

Question reference: S6W-18496

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 9 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it makes available to care experienced young people when they become parents.

Support for care experienced young people when they become parents is threaded through a number of Scottish Government policies.

These include the Family Nurse Partnership where first time parents aged under 20 are supported by family nurses from early pregnancy until their child’s second birthday. This intensive, relational based support helps address social and economic factors, such as housing stability, welfare, education, employment and money advice. Over the next few years the Scottish Government has committed to extending this programme to young parents aged 21 and under, and to target parents aged 25 and under who have experience of care..

Through Early Learning and Childcare, parents with experience of care can access up to 1140 hours a year of funded childcare for their child from their second birthday. There is evidence of the particular benefits of high quality ELC for children from disadvantaged circumstances, which includes children with experience of care or whose parents have experience of care. We are continuing to work with local authorities to maximise uptake of the existing offer of funded ELC for eligible two-year-olds.

Support is also available through the five family payments: the Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grants. These payments could be worth around £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns six years old.

As part of our commitment to Keeping the Promise, we will continue to develop and invest in policies to support care experienced parents.

Question reference: S6O-02379

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will make available for community-led initiatives in the Coatbridge and Chryston constituency that promote environmental quality and protection.

Question reference: S6W-17980

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the impact that higher and further education has on reducing poverty and inequality in communities, and what further action it is taking to support the sector through the cost of living crisis.

Fundamentally, access to education is an issue of fairness. Scotland has a truly world-class higher education system, perhaps the most powerful weapon there is to combat socioeconomic inequality. It is our firm belief that Scotland has a moral, social and economic duty to tackle this inequality. We remain committed to the principle that access to education should be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.

With regards to the cost of living crisis, we are committed to providing a student support system that is agile and supportive and prioritises support for those who need it most. We have taken positive steps to reform the student support landscape and made significant progress to deliver a student support package equivalent to the living wage. The most vulnerable students, including estranged and care experienced students, can now access up to £9,000 per year through bursaries and loans. Scottish Government have also reaffirmed their position that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, tuition fees for Scottish students studying in Scotland are free.

We understand that this is a challenging time for many students. We have provided £16.8m in hardship funding to higher education students studying in colleges and universities for the current academic year to support students experiencing financial hardship. We have also provided £135m in student support for FE students attending college in the current academic year. Colleges can use these funds flexibly to meet demand across FE student bursaries, childcare and hardship funding.

Question reference: S6O-02316

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 has assisted the police in responding to reports of coercive control and stalking behaviours from members of the public.

Question reference: S6O-02283

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund is supporting change in the bus sector, in light of Scotland's net zero ambitions.

Question reference: S6W-17643

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the campaign lunched by One Parent Families Scotland, #EndYoungParentPoverty, and its call for a top-up to the Scottish Child Payment for parents who are under 25 and in receipt of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit is reserved to Westminster and the UK Government has deliberately introduced age discrimination within it. We agree with campaigners that it should be paid at the same amount to everyone.

Universal Credit should be supporting families and children, not punishing them and we continue to call on the UK Government to urgently review Universal Credit, as it is fundamentally not fit for purpose.

We already take action to protect people against the impact of UK Government policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap but we cannot mitigate every action from our fixed budget.

The Scottish Child Payment was doubled in April 2022 to £20 per eligible child and increased again to £25 when we extended it to under 16s in November, an increase of 150% in less than eight months.

Question reference: S6W-17648

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the recently-introduced Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2021, what mitigations it can offer to the Church of Scotland, given that the church's over 6,000 congregations are all registered as separate charities and have reportedly described attempting to comply with the new regulations as extremely logistically difficult, expensive, and complicated to roll out.

The Register is a significant transparency measure that will shed light on who makes decisions about Scotland’s land. It has been live since 1 April 2022 and there is no charge to make a submission to the Register. For some, there may be a resource cost for the time taken to gather the information they require as part of their preparation prior to making a submission. The greater the number of properties owned, the greater the effort required is likely to be.

The Church of Scotland are one of the largest owners by volume of property titles held. This makes it important for the integrity of the Register that they comply with the RCI.

On 16 March 2023 the Scottish Parliament unanimously supported a 12-month extension to the transitional period to 1 April 2024 before offence provisions take effect. This is easing the burden by allowing those in scope to spread it over the coming year.

In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.

The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to help support stakeholders through the registration process. This will include additional awareness raising and a review of the existing guidance. It will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.