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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-03492

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03503

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the concerns expressed by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee regarding funding to complete the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness by the new target date of 2035.

Question reference: S6F-03493

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that young people are equipped with the skills to recognise online misinformation and disinformation.

Question reference: S6F-03490

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03507

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Government has to end the reported increase in families in the Central Belt living in temporary accommodation, in light of reports of almost 2,000 children in Glasgow living in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation in 2024 and more than 4,600 households in Edinburgh projected to be living in temporary accommodation by 2040.

Question reference: S6W-30786

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the total cost of the consultation process for the proposed Oban Municipal Harbour project, from December 2023 to date.

The Scottish Government applies fixed fees for its processing of Harbour Orders in Scotland. These are as follows:

£2,000 for an order the sole purpose of which is to amend the borrowing powers of an existing authority;
£4,000 for any other order that would not empower an authority to undertake works;
£6,000 for an order which expressly empowers an authority to undertake works where an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required; and
£10,000 for an order which expressly empowers an authority to undertake works where it is decided that an EIA is required.

As this proposal does not involve works, the fee paid by Argyll and Bute Council to the Scottish Government for the Argyll and Bute Council (Oban) Harbour Revision Order application is £4,000.

Question reference: S6W-30785

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeframe was during which Transport Scotland was required to assess and respond to any objections in relation to the proposed Oban Municipal Harbour project; whether Transport Scotland completed this work during the required timeframe and, if this was not the case, what the reasons were for it not doing so.

There is no specific timeframe set for the consideration of a Harbour Order application. The Harbour Order application process can be complex and, depending on the proposed aims and potential impact, some applications require more detailed consideration. Applicants may choose to communicate directly with those who make representations during the formal consultation period, which can increase the time to complete the process. However, this can also help ensure that an application is adequately considered, providing the opportunity for all those impacted by its aims to provide views before a final decision is made.

Question reference: S6W-30790

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent to date on the setting up of the safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-30512

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, what its position is on what any differences in principle are between the proposed domestic homicide and suicide reviews and existing fatal accident inquiries.

Part two of the Criminal Justice Modernisation & Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 24 September 2024, includes provisions to create the statutory framework for what will be Scotland’s first national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model.

The purpose of domestic homicide and suicide reviews is to learn lessons following a death where domestic abuse is suspected to improve services and help prevent further deaths. The reviews will be undertaken by a review panel which will include an independent chair with a review oversight committee overseeing the completing of a review.

The Lord Advocate, is the Head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and is also responsible for investigating all sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths. Supported by Procurator’s Fiscal, in circumstances where a death is sudden, suspicious or unexplained, the Lord Advocate will investigate the death and seek to establish the cause of death and the circumstances of the death. A death investigation may lead to a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI.) The legislative framework which governs the holding of an FAI is the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016.

The purpose of a Fatal Accident Inquiry is to establish:

• where and when the death took place;

• the cause of the death;

• reasonable precautions whereby the death might have been avoided;

• the defects, if any, in any system of working that contributed to the death or any accident resulting in the death; and

• other facts relevant to the circumstances of the death.

As with the aims of a domestic homicide and suicide review, to prevent future deaths from happening in similar circumstances. However, unlike a domestic homicide and suicide review, FAI’s are a judicial process and a public examination of the circumstances of a death conducted before a Sheriff with the Sheriff issuing a determination at the conclusion of the Inquiry.

A domestic homicide and suicide review will take place where domestic abuse is suspected. An FAI is broader and can either be ‘mandatory’ in terms of Section 2 of the Act, and conducted where the death occurred (i) as the result of an accident when the deceased was acting in the course of their employment or occupation or (ii) when the deceased was in legal custody or was a child detained in secure accommodation at the time of the death or ‘Discretionary’ in terms of Section 4 of the Act, or ‘discretionary’ and conducted, on the Authority of the Lord Advocate, where the Lord Advocate considers that the death was sudden, suspicious or unexplained or that it occurred in circumstances that give rise to serious public concern and it is decided that it is in the public interest for an Inquiry to be held in to the circumstances of the death.

It is anticipated that the majority of cases likely to be reviewed under the domestic homicide and suicide review model, would not result in a FAI. The information gathered as part of a domestic homicide and suicide review will be information rather than ‘evidence’ and the reviews will have a specific focus on domestic abuse which will follow through to the learning and recommendations made from a review which will likely have a broader reach to safeguarding victims of domestic abuse in addition to the prevent of deaths.

Question reference: S6W-30686

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards completing the partial electrification of the Fife Circle, in light of its final completion being due by December 2025.

As reported in the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26, Major capital projects progress update (December 2023), I can advise that a refresh of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan is underway. Timescales for this project will be updated in the light of current affordability constraints as part of the wider programme and the rolling stock procurement exercise.

Meanwhile, progress with development work for this project continues and I am pleased to confirm that a contract to provide a new electrification Feeder Station at Thornton has been placed with National Grid PLC.