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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-27907

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any impact of its Infrastructure Investment Plan on it meeting its climate ambitions.

On 17 January, the Scottish Government published a carbon assessment of the Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26, drawing on a range of evidence, including results from a taxonomy assessment. Through this assessment, there is clear and consistent evidence that supports the assessment that the Infrastructure Investment Plan contributes positively to the achievement of Scotland’s emissions reduction targets. This assessment can be found here: Infrastructure investment plan 2021-2022 to 2025-2026: carbon assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The publication of the Infrastructure Investment Plan Annual Report and Pipeline Reset has had to be postponed due to the timing of the UK General Election. Scottish Ministers will now consider a revised publication date, and will inform Parliament in due course. The outcomes of the carbon assessment published in January 2024 will be reviewed in conjunction with these publications.

Question reference: S6W-27904

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish an analysis of its consultation on the implementation timescales for a new environmental quality standard (EQS) for emamectin benzoate, as used in fish farms, which closed on 24 July 2023.

Question reference: S6W-27914

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27515 by Ivan McKee on 23 May 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of the work undertaken by the consultancies that were awarded funding in the 2022-23 financial year.

Following on from the answer to S6W-27515 where a list of 132 Scottish Government consultancy suppliers total annual spend was provided. Due to the high volume of transactional data that provides the breakdown of this spend (1,199 in total) and the work that would need to be carried out to provide the line level detail would be a substantial piece of work. To help to provide additional information to support the ask, a further breakdown on the top 10 suppliers has been provided which includes the number of annual transactions again for FY22-23. This captures approximately 83% of the total annual spend.

Supplier Name	Sum of Aggregate Spend	Transactions
Deloitte LLP	£8,298,702.55	44
SAC Commercial Ltd	£4,571,346.65	79
Ernst & Young LLP	£3,917,671.36	68
Ricardo-AEA Limited	£1,585,598.88	62
Taleos Consulting Limited	£1,305,222.50	12
James Harvard Limited	£558,950.00	52
This is Milk Limited	£518,035.00	33
Palladium International Limited	£517,364.31	6
Sniffer	£341,667.00	15
Civil Service Learning (CSL) - KPMG LLP	£278,150.73	23
	£21,892,708.98

Question reference: S6W-27915

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that the public has confidence in organisations that receive public funding, by ensuring that its funding processes operate at the highest level of governance accountability and transparency.

There is a robust framework for the stewardship of public funds by the Scottish Government, its public bodies and recipients of public sector grants. The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) sets out statutory, parliamentary, and administrative requirements in relation to managing public resources, emphasising the need for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, and promoting good practice.

There are ‘framework documents’ between the SG and public bodies covering accountability arrangements, financial controls and processes, and associated annual assurance processes. Accountable Officers are personally answerable for the regularity and propriety of the finances under their stewardship and report in annual accounts which are scrutinised by Audit Scotland and potentially by the Public Audit Committee. SG Sponsor teams work with public bodies, ensuring appropriate framework documents and governance arrangements are in place and action is taken on any audit recommendations.

The SPFM sets out the expectations of grant funding and the financial control framework required if public bodies disperse grants. Bodies in receipt of public funds are subject to binding agreements that are monitored as part of established grant management processes.

Question reference: S6W-27829

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the Scottish breast screening programme data 2022-23, what steps are being taken to increase uptake of breast screening to reach the achievable 80% target in all NHS board areas.

Question reference: S6W-27972

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider strengthening provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill to support prospective tenants in addition to those with existing tenancies.

The Bill provides a number of rights for existing tenants and only some would relate to availability of housing which will be the main concern of prospective tenants.

The rights created in the Bill mainly apply to those who have a tenancy and there is a clear difficulty in extending those rights to prospective tenants as those rights could then apply to anyone with an interest in renting a property even if they may never take up a tenancy of the property.

Question reference: S6W-28010

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of short-term lets operating without a licence have been received by each local authority to date.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information that has been requested. Local authorities will have local arrangements in place for managing reports of licence breaches and non-compliance. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28008 on 11 June 2024. 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-28013

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet with (a) MSPs and (b) relevant industry leaders to discuss the reported concerns of people living in oil-heated homes in relation to its proposals for the decarbonisation of buildings, in light of its recent announcement that it will review regulations on wood-burning stoves.

Question reference: S6W-27940

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Edinburgh Eastern constituency has received from the CashBack for Communities fund since it was established, and what projects this funding has supported.

Question reference: S6W-28009

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 11 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many inspections of short-term let properties have been conducted to date where they were found to be (a) in breach of their and (b) without an appropriate licence.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information that has been requested, as local authorities are responsible for administering the scheme and making relevant inspections. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28008 on 11 June 2024. 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