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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: S6F-01248

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2022

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-08799

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07966 by Humza Yousaf on 17 May 2022, how much of £12 million made available in 2021-22 to support the mental health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce has been spent, broken down by where it has been allocated.

From the £12 million we made available to support the wellbeing of the health, social work and social care workforce in 2021-22, we:

Used £3.5 million to assist in the continuation of our national wellbeing resources
Allocated £2 million to Health and Social Care Partnerships to provide evidence-based support to meet the needs of those working in primary and social care
Allocated £2 million to Health and Social Care Partnerships to be used by Chief Officers of Integration Authorities (IA's) to support staff wellbeing during the winter pressures
Allocated £2 million to Health Boards to support NHS staff wellbeing during the winter pressures
Allocated £1.5 million to Health Boards to provide additional practical support that staff needed due to increased pressure from the Omicron variant
Made £1 million available to support wellbeing projects for staff working in Adult Social Work and Social Care

Question reference: S6O-01238

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has now published all the legal advice it has received in relation to a second independence referendum.

Question reference: S6W-08748

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to support airshows in Scotland in the future.

In 2022, the National Events Programme, which has now closed for applications, would allow an eligible airshow to apply for EventScotland funding of up to £25,000. EventScotland are supporting the Largs Viking Festival (27 Aug – 4 Sept) and the Making Waves festival in Irvine (22-24 July). Both festivals include an air display as part of their event and are receiving funding via the National Events Programme.

For future years, the Resource Spending Review (RSR) published on 31 May provides a high level direction of travel and sets out Scottish Government priorities. The RSR delivers what certainty the Scottish Government can against the challenging context of the spiralling cost of living, Covid recovery and the Ukraine crisis and within the limits of the fiscal framework. The Scottish Government will work with the events sector and our public bodies on the detail of the spending review and what this means for budgets for individual programmes and projects.

Question reference: S6W-08314

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing: Advisory Note, produced for it by the University of Strathclyde Centre for Energy Policy, in April 2020, other than the three pre-defined option fee levels, what, if any, other levels of option fees were considered at that time, and whether it will provide a copy of any information that it (a) holds and (b) published at that time in relation to the recommendation in the Advisory Note “that all levels be fully justified and explained, with consideration and clarity given on why there are no higher increments”.

The Scottish Government did not set the ScotWind seabed lease Option Agreement fees. The advisory note prepared for the Scottish Government recommends that any new, higher, levels be appropriately justified. Crown Estate Scotland (“CES”) proceeded to satisfy those requirements through, in this case, appropriate consideration of externally procured advice. CES explained to SG the rationale for the pricing structure adopted. No further information is held relating to that recommendation.

Question reference: S6W-08317

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it proposed that ScotWind’s option fee model should include annual fees, and, if so, whether it did so (a) prior to or (b) following the announcement of the results, in February 2021, of the Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 auction by the Crown Estate.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) is responsible for the ScotWind seabed leasing process and undertook the review following the Round 4 announcements. The Scottish Government was informed of options under consideration by CES and of the review’s conclusions, which it supports. Annual fees were considered by CES but ultimately not selected as a preferred option, before or after review.

Furthermore, once projects have secured seabed leases and wind farms are generating energy annual rental payments will be made.

Question reference: S6W-08318

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the decision to review the option structure for the ScotWind leasing process, as announced by Crown Estate Scotland on 11 February 2021, which states that “the decision has been taken with the support of Scottish Government Ministers”, whether it will provide details of its role (a) in initiating the review and (b) during the review that followed.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) and the Scottish Government were informed of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results at the same time. These results indicated a significant change in the offshore wind market. As the ScotWind registration and application process had already opened, CES informed Scottish Ministers that it intended to pause the process in order to conduct a rapid review. The Scottish Government provided advice on process and implications for broader offshore wind policies in Scotland. During the review, Scottish Government were kept regularly informed of the review’s progress through to completion as delivery of the review as swiftly as possible was key to keeping the ScotWind process on track.

Question reference: S6W-08315

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all the information that it holds on the market value testing of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind sales process, which launched in June 2020 with the pre-defined option fee levels of £2,000/km2, £6,000/km2 or £10,000km2.

Crown Estate Scotland have not sold seabed through the ScotWind leasing process. Option Agreements and ultimately leases to use areas of the seabed for offshore wind energy generation have been provided, raising around £700 million in initial fees and potentially many millions more in rent, once these projects are operational. If projects do not proceed to full lease, the option agreements expire. Furthermore, through the Supply Chain Development Statements, ScotWind developers will invest an average of £1.5 billion in Scotland for each project – across the 17 different sites, that could lead to more than £25 billion of investment.

As per S6W-08314 on 7 June 2022, Crown Estate Scotland conducted market testing and evidence gathering to inform option fee levels and this is not information held by Scottish Government. Following the announcement of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results and a very clear change in the market, Crown Estate Scotland paused and reviewed the ScotWind option fee levels accordingly.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-08313

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the reasons for Crown Estate Scotland’s position, as stated in the ScotWind Pre-Launch Summary, published in July 2019, that it was “currently minded” that applicants should not pay more than £10,000 per km2 of seabed.

Crown Estate Scotland is responsible for the ScotWind seabed leasing process, including setting Option Agreement fees and rent prices. Crown Estate Scotland informed Scottish Government of its pricing structure based on its own evidence gathering and information available at the time. Once projects are under seabed leases and wind farms are generating energy, rental payments are annual – these are separate from the Option Agreement payments.

Question reference: S6W-08319

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all information that it (a) provided and (b) received in relation to the decision to set the maximum fee per km2 of seabed under the ScotWind leasing process at £100,000, as announced by Crown Estate Scotland on 24 March 2021.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) is responsible for the ScotWind seabed leasing process and the management and collation of the information used to support its decision to review and, ultimately, change the option fee prices for seabed leasing. The Scottish Government has already released the advisory note procured from Strathclyde University ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200277291/ ) and did not provide any further information to CES.

CES also procured additional advice that the Scottish Government do hold but these have not been released due to the ongoing nature of ScotWind clearing process and applications.