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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-27466

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise last met Children's Hearings Scotland, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-27473

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the chair of Children's Hearings Scotland has refused to meet representatives of the group, Children's Hearings Scotland Scandal, to discuss its concerns.

Question reference: S6W-27472

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise last met the chair of Children's Hearings Scotland, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-27471

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has recently considered an independent review of the Children's Hearings Scotland system, in light of the concerns raised by the group, Children's Hearings Scotland Scandal.

Question reference: S6W-27467

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether panel members at Children's Hearings Scotland have the right of appeal after a decision is made on any complaint involving them.

Question reference: S6W-27470

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the concerns raised by the group, Children's Hearings Scotland Scandal, and whether (a) the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, (b) any other minister and (c) its officials have met representatives of the group to discuss its concerns.

Question reference: S6W-27277

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the work to upgrade existing fibre broadband connections to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections across Scotland; what the projected timeline is for this upgrade work; what steps are being taken to ensure that people can benefit from this work, in light of reports of some landlords not allowing permission for their property to be connected to FTTP networks, and how it can ensure that the pricing of FTTP broadband remains affordable, in light of the roll-out receiving public funding.

The latest update to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report shows that full fibre coverage across Scotland now currently stands at 58%, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points – around 138,000 premises – over the previous three months. This means that over 1.57 million homes and businesses in Scotland can now access a full fibre broadband service.

While most of this full fibre deployment has been delivered commercially, the over-£600 million that the Scottish Government is investing in the Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that homes and businesses in some of Scotland’s harder-to-reach communities are also benefitting from future-proofed full fibre digital connectivity.

Where it is not possible for an operator to reach agreement with landlords, they can seek to have one imposed by the courts. The UK Government has recently reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make this process easier and we are working with operators to understand any issues, so that we can press the UK Government if further reform is needed.

While the Scottish Government is funding build through the R100 contracts, it is doing so through a gap funding model, whereby it is subsidising our delivery partner, Openreach, to extend its own commercial network across Scotland. As you will know, all regulation and legislative competence in the area of telecommunications is wholly reserved to UK Ministers and the UK Parliament under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. As such, the Scottish Government has no mechanism for intervening on any commercial decisions a telecoms operator chooses to make, such as how much they charge for installation, services etc. Responsibility for commercial matters of this nature ultimately rests solely with Ofcom in its capacity as the UK’s telecoms regulator.

Question reference: S6W-27380

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has offered (a) ScotRail, (b) Transport for Edinburgh and (c) bus operators any additional support to ensure that all people travelling to and from the upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh can do so without any concerns for capacity issues on public transport.

Question reference: S6W-27381

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and (b) her officials have had with (i) Lothian Buses and (ii) the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the reinstatement of service 69, which was originally withdrawn in 2020.

Question reference: S6W-27382

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18553 by Emma Roddick on 14 June 2023, whether it has since received the initial findings, and whether it will publish these in due course.