Chamber and committees

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: S6W-25727

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to digitise audio recordings of court cases that can be easily provided to those involved in a case, if requested.

Question reference: S6W-25487

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many registered pathologists there have been in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-25635

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24855 by Gillian Martin on 6 February 2024, how many members of staff are currently working in the Energy Consents Unit; in relation to the increased staffing resource, by how many the current number of staff in the unit has increased by since 2022-23; whether it expects the unit's budget to increase in 2024-25, and, if so, by how much.

Question reference: S6O-03158

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impact of its current income tax policy, in light of reports that higher taxes could deter experienced professionals from moving to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25637

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the increase in the number of storms in Scotland in recent months compared with 2022-23, whether it will increase Scottish Forestry’s budget to reflect the increase in its workload due to these storms.

Question reference: S6W-25239

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce grants for medical students, similar to the Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB) scheme, which is administered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).

Question reference: S6W-25238

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available to medical students during placement years, when they are unable to work elsewhere.

Scottish domiciled medical students are eligible for the standard student support package which is comprised of tuition fees and living cost support throughout the full duration of their medical degree. Additionally the most disadvantaged students can access up to £9,000 per year through a bursary and loans with the Scottish student support package currently the highest it has ever been. All Scottish domiciled students, irrespective of circumstances are eligible for a loan of up to £6,000 a year for the full duration of their medical degree.

It should be noted that students studying on the ScotGEM programme are eligible to claim a return of service bursary of £4,000 per year. This is only available to ScotGEM students, and for each year of the bursary accepted the students is required to work in NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years.

Question reference: S6W-25091

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what additional requirements exist for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in relation to the monitoring of large battery storage units.

There is no additional statutory requirement on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to monitor large battery storage unit sites.

SFRS continually review and develop their operational response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe. SFRS is committed to work in collaboration with key partners to ensure the highest level of preparedness for potential incidents involving lithium-ion batteries or similar storage facilities.

In the event of incidents involving these facilities, SFRS have the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring the incidents to a safe conclusion.

Question reference: S6W-25067

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent consideration it has given to funding a new health centre in Banchory.

As set out in the draft Scottish Government budget, the capital funding position is extremely challenging due to the UK Government’s decision to cut our capital budget by nearly 10%.

The capital budget settlement allows for Health Boards’ delegated capital budgets to be maintained at 23-24 levels, for all major projects in construction to be completed and for continued support for the national replacement programmes for ambulances and radiotherapy equipment. Given the current uncertainty regarding availability of funding, regrettably, we have advised boards to pause any new capital projects until capital funding becomes more certain.

Our Infrastructure Investment Plan identified priority health capital projects for funding within that period. As a result of UK Government cuts, we will bring forward a revised Infrastructure Investment Plan in the spring. All due consideration will be given to what projects can be included to ensure the revised Plan is affordable and deliverable.

Question reference: S6W-24857

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 6 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the target timescale is for the Energy Consents Unit to log submissions made by members of the public, and whether this target is being met.

The Energy Consents Unit does not have a target timescale for logging representations. Representations may be made to the Scottish Ministers in line with statutory timeframes set out in public notices, which require to be given in accordance with applicable regulations. Representations are managed such that the material issues raised within are always taken into account before any decision is taken by Scottish Ministers.

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