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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-18253

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to local authorities to support the roll-out of the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, since it was launched, broken down by local authority.

A total of £52,000 of financial support was awarded to seven local authorities through a grant funding agreement with the Improvement Service. This was one-off support to assist with the operational implementation of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme. The breakdown by local authority is as follows;

Aberdeenshire Council £6,500
East Renfrewshire Council £6,000
Glasgow City Council £10,000
North Ayrshire Council £6,500
North Lanarkshire Council £10,000
South Lanarkshire Council £6,500
West Dunbartonshire Council £6,500

Question reference: S6W-18281

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that NatureScot spent approximately £650,000 of its Farming with Nature budget on pay rises for its staff.

In the 2022-23 financial year, it was highlighted that the Farming with Nature programme expected an underspend.

Separately, given the significant levels of inflation we saw throughout the financial year, it was evident that public sector pay budgets were insufficient to cover the pay settlements eventually agreed.

The Scottish Government therefore agreed with NatureScot that the underspend from the Farming with Nature programme could be used to support the agreed pay settlement.

These are therefore 2 separate matters. The key elements of the planned 2022-23 activity on Farming with Nature have been carried forward to 2023-24 and will be funded from the budget allocation for this financial year.

Question reference: S6T-01421

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to commence its Deposit Return Scheme on 1 March 2024.

Question reference: S6W-18205

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the report on electricity system stability and security of supply in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18278

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what year it plans to have electrified the full extent of the East Coast Main Line between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and whether Network Rail has confirmed that it plans to deliver electrification by that year.

No date has been set for the electrification of the full extent of the East Coast Main Line between Aberdeen and Edinburgh. However, in line with the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, this route is under consideration for future electrification by Transport Scotland, with plans at an early stage of development.

The Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced; the order and programme in which that is done will depend on business cases and available budgets. The Plan itself is intended to be dynamic, with regular updates.

Question reference: S6W-17982

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15987 by Patrick Harvie on 23 March 2023, whether it will provide an update on when it will publish the data, in light of reports that it is already being used for policy formulation and implementation.

Question reference: S6W-17911

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many green jobs currently exist in Scotland, broken down by the region in which they are located, and what the definition is that it uses for such jobs.

Approaches to measuring green jobs are still under development and as a result estimates on how many green jobs exist differ.

A definition of green jobs was published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in March in 2023 “Green jobs” update, current and upcoming work - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) . ONS will now develop a detailed framework to underpin this definition, including the identification of appropriate activities (what the definition does and does not cover) and grouping them into useful sub-categories.

In the meantime our focus is on extracting the greatest number of job opportunities linked to the net zero transition, including via grants from the Green Jobs Fund to create new green jobs throughout Scotland and the Just Transition Fund to support people’s jobs and livelihoods in the North East.

Question reference: S6W-18277

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme were (a) received and (b) successful, and what continued engagement and support has been offered to unsuccessful applications in relation to future or alternative funding streams.

The Hydrogen Innovation Scheme received a total of 74 applications with 32 successful projects offered grant funding.

Unsuccessful applicants to the scheme were directed to potential alternative sources of assistance, including available business grants and other funding calls and the SME Loan and Cashback Scheme which provides interest free loans (from £1,000 up to £100,000) to small and medium sized Scotland based businesses.

Question reference: S6W-18274

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the support that applicants receive when applying to the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, including any targeted support offered to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Application guidance was made available to all applicants to the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme via the Scottish Government’s Website. In partnership with Energy Technology Partnership and the Enterprise Agencies, the Scottish Government hosted a webinar on 5 July 2022 to provide further guidance to prospective applicants and to direct them to additional sources of support. All applicants to the scheme were able to seek additional support from Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and/or the Energy Technology Partnership.

Question reference: S6W-18256

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when Trucheck cancer-detecting blood tests, which reportedly have 92% to 93.1% accuracy, will be made available on the NHS.

Any healthcare products being used by NHS Scotland require the undertaking of due diligence to ensure the safety of everyone concerned. This involves seeking clinical advice and undertaking a full health technology assessment (HTA).

In the first instance, all health technologies must be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before being placed on the market.

Following that, we refer enquiries around health technologies to the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG), who are part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland. SHTG undertake HTAs, providing evidence support and advice on the use of new and existing health technologies. This includes analysing the benefits, costs, ease of implementation as well as considering any unintended clinical consequences which may arise.

It is ultimately for the 14 Territorial Health Boards across Scotland to decide whether to procure and apply this intervention as part of their treatment for patients. Health Boards receive support from Healthcare Improvement Scotland and SHTG in making such decisions.

The SHTG has not provided advice on the use of Trucheck to date.