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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-35156

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to taxi licensing, what information it has on what the average cost is to drivers or operators to meet the requirement for a taxi with tinted windows to have CCTV installed.

Taxis and private hire cars (PHCs) are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

While the Scottish Government has responsibility for the overarching legislation, the day to day administration of the licensing regime is devolved to independent licensing authorities – in effect the 32 Scottish local authorities.

All licensing authorities have wide discretion to determine appropriate licensing arrangements according to local needs and circumstances and their own legal advice.

Within this context, the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for individual taxi drivers and/or operators, in conjunction with licensing authorities.

In May 2023 the Scottish Government published updated best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi and PHC operators on the licensing of taxis and PHCs and their drivers.

The guidance was updated with the assistance of a working group that consisted of representatives from the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, various local licensing authorities, taxi and PHC trade representatives and UNITE the Union.

The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/taxi-private-hire-car-licensing-best-practice-licensing-authorities-taxi-private-hire-car-operators-3rd-edition/

Chapter 5 (vehicles) of the guidance provides examples of best practice that independent licensing authorities may wish to consider in relation to security in vehicles, such as the use of CCTV.

Question reference: S6W-35162

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to taxi licensing, testing and retesting, what information it has on what the average cost is to drivers or operators of (a) gaining a taxi licence, (b) testing and (c) retesting.

Question reference: S6W-35168

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent information it has is, regarding the number of workers directly employed in the (a) offshore decommissioning sector and (b) carbon capture, utilisation and storage sectors.

Data on direct employment in offshore decommissioning is not held centrally. However, these jobs will be included as part of the data from Office of National Statistics, on overall employment for the “oil and gas extraction support services” sector. The most recent data for 2023 states there were 13,000 people working in this sector in Scotland.

Evidence available for CCUS is mostly predictive in nature, and due to the nascent nature of the industry in Scotland, there is no robust evidence regarding the current number of CCUS jobs in Scotland.

When Track-2 commences, Scottish Cluster analysis suggests that there will be around 7,000 jobs in CCUS development, construction and operations in Scotland in the period to 2050.

The continued delays from successive UK Governments in confirming the Acorn Project is putting these jobs at risk. The Chancellor stated on 29 January that net zero is the “economic opportunity of the 21st century” and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero wrote to the First Minister, stating that that the UK Government ‘remain very firmly committed to the Track 2 clusters’, with Acorn being one.

To harness the economic potential, including thousands of CCUS jobs, the UK Government must confirm funding for the Acorn project without delay.

Question reference: S6W-35163

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities currently have a requirement for specific MOT testing for licensed taxi (a) licensing, (b) testing and (c) retesting.

Question reference: S6W-35172

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to the Just Transition Commission to date.

The details of the budget we have provided to the Just Transition Commission to date is as follows:

Financial Year	Spend
2022-2023	£102,000
2023-2024	£138,591
2024-2025	£215,214*
2025-2026

*Final spend will be available end March 2025

The budget includes payment of a daily fee, which is set at Tier 2 by Public Sector Pay Policy as well as travel and subsistence, meeting costs and procurement of other services (such as research and website).

Question reference: S6O-04395

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on state schools of the UK Government's decision to make independent schools liable for VAT, how it plans to use any Barnett consequential funding resulting from this decision to support state schools.

Question reference: S6O-04401

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Action 20 of the Housing to 2040 strategy to "streamline and accelerate the adaptations system".

Question reference: S6O-04399

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed the future of Greenock police station with Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04396

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported view of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that proposed changes to legislation on religious observance diverge from the recommendation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to allow young people to independently opt out of religious observance at school.

Question reference: S6O-04398

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support increased levels of sport and physical activity in Dumfries and Galloway.