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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: S5O-00833

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what impact independence would have on Scotland's public finances.

Question reference: S5W-07821

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it is helping to deliver the tourism industry’s key ambition of making Scotland a first choice destination for high quality, value for money and memorable customer experiences, and what ambitions it has for more of Scotland’s people to obtain World Host status.

The Government Economic Strategy identifies tourism as a key growth sector and the Scottish Government is therefore assisting public bodies to support the tourism sector, right across Scotland, via the industry-led Scottish Tourism Alliance “Tourism Scotland 2020”. This assistance is delivering, collectively, across the public agencies, especially VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Development International, and the relevant local authorities.

“Enhancing the Quality of the Visitor Experience” is one of the four priorities for the Tourism Strategy 2020 and customer excellence initiatives, such as the WorldHost Destination initiative not only helps individual businesses to upskill their workforce but also enables participating destinations to improve the overall quality of the visitor experience.

The WorldHost customer service training programme has been delivered with Skills Development Scotland support in 12 regions of Scotland. To date World Host has trained over 26,000 individuals across Scotland and engaged with 1,286 tourism businesses of which 641 have so far achieved WorldHost recognition.

Question reference: S5W-07530

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 9 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage participation in mountain biking, and how it works with local authorities in conjunction with this.

A wide range of public bodies, including representatives from local authorities, promote mountain biking through Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBiS). DMBiS is a partnership project which is hosted within Scottish Cycling, the recognised governing body for the sport in Scotland, and is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the national strategic framework for mountain biking in Scotland. The framework is the key driver for DMBiS and its partners in developing the sport and delivering against key initiatives, including increased participation, during the period 2016-18.

Assistance to partners is being delivered by the Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland at Glentress. Launched in June 2014, the Centre is a joint initiative headed by Edinburgh Napier University and DMBiS, with project partner Scottish Enterprise. The project is funded by the Scottish Funding Council and Edinburgh Napier University.

In addition, over the last 10 years, sportscotland has invested almost £850,000 in key mountain bike facilities, and EventScotland have invested almost £1 million in 18 events across 4 Local Authorities. In terms of participation, the number of clubs registered with Scottish Cycling has risen from 122 in 2008 to 190 in 2017, and the Active Schools Programme saw 4,753 participation sessions in mountain biking during the 2015-16 academic year.

Question reference: S5W-07531

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to promote sporting activities to help boost tourism.

The industry-led “Tourism Strategy 2020” identifies events (including sporting events) and festivals as a key growth opportunity.

The Scottish Government, together with its agencies and bodies (including SportScotland) and with VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, EventScotland, playing a lead role, is strongly committed to supporting the further development of Scotland’s wide and diverse events portfolio and the events industry.

To further enhance our international profile as a world class events destination and build upon these achievements, our recently revised national events strategy, "Scotland the Perfect Stage" (launched on 15 September 2015) reaffirms our commitment to the delivery of a One Scotland approach to building a strong and dynamic events industry producing a portfolio of events and festivals that deliver sustainable impact and international profile for Scotland; and further enhance Scotland’s reputation both nationally and internationally as a leader and innovator of best practice in sporting event planning and delivery.

VisitScotland invests around £1.5m annually into supporting sports events and also manages Scottish Government investment in events such as 2019 Solheim Cup and 2019 European Indoor Athletics Championships. These, together with a range of other events, not only deliver economic and profile benefits but also provide direct economic and social benefits in the communities where they take place.

In addition to these larger, organised, events VisitScotland also promotes Scotland as a destination for a wide range of sporting activities, right across Scotland. The Scottish Government is therefore assisting public bodies to support the tourism sector, right across Scotland, via “Tourism Strategy 2020” collectively across the public agencies, especially VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Development International, and the relevant local authorities.

Question reference: S5O-00709

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports tourism in rural areas, and what impact the rural economy hub could have on this.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the importance of tourism to the economy of our rural areas. Its development is supported through the work of a range of public bodies, for example, VisitScotland's national and international marketing campaigns; business and destination support from Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, training and development through Skills Development Scotland; promotion and enhancement of the natural environment through Scottish Natural Heritage.

The rural economy hub is an early stage internal mechanism to strengthen these links across government and to coordinate Scottish Government policy interventions into a single coherent framework that maximises impact on the rural economy.

Question reference: S5W-06913

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how the £10 million in the Workforce Development Fund will be spent, broken down by (a) sector and (b) local authority to achieve its aim to help employers work in partnership with colleges to upskill and reskill their existing workforce and address skills gaps.

Question reference: S5W-05989

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses will pay the Large Business Supplement in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18 and how much it will raise through the supplement.

Question reference: S5W-05635

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its report, Research on the Pub Sector in Scotland - Phase 1 Scoping Study, when it will engage in discussions between the relevant trade bodies and other interested parties to help reverse the reported decline in the public sector.

Question reference: S5O-00555

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to close the skills gap.

Question reference: S5W-05634

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is considering to reverse the reported decline in the pub sector.

The Scottish Government published its research findings on 6 December and I intend to meet with relevant interests to discuss these findings and how we can work together to create a more successful pub sector, reflecting the particular make-up of the sector in Scotland.

More widely, as you will be aware, the Scottish Government has commissioned a review of Scottish rates under Ken Barclay, and we are encouraging all stakeholders including those in the sales trade to engage with the review to ensure that their views are taken into account.