Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 48968 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6T-01964

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recently reported developments, what plans are being made to support the continued operation of the Grangemouth refinery.

Question reference: S6W-26978

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £60 million National Acquisition Programme funding had been spent by the end of the 2023-24 financial year, and how many social homes this funding delivered, broken down by local authority area.

In 2023-2024 a total of £83.146 million was spent and a total of 1,498 affordable homes were delivered through the National Acquisition Programme (NAP). The following table provides a breakdown of these figures by local authority area.

Due to the nature of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), projects may draw down grant across multiple financial years. Spend, therefore, does not necessarily directly correlate to the number of homes delivered in the same financial year, as homes are only recorded as complete once a project record has fully completed.

Local Authority Area	Spend (£m)	Homes Delivered
Aberdeen City	4.234	126
Aberdeenshire	1.131	16
Angus	1.846	26
Argyll & Bute	0.182	0
City of Edinburgh	9.027	138
Clackmannanshire	1.974	57
Dumfries & Galloway	0.035	1
Dundee City	0.520	13
East Ayrshire	0.925	30
East Dunbartonshire	2.964	21
East Lothian	0.186	34
East Renfrewshire	0.248	6
Falkirk	3.150	70
Fife	2.970	57
Glasgow City	17.069	176
Inverclyde	0.537	33
Midlothian	0.195	38
Moray	0.042	1
North Ayrshire	2.417	7
North Lanarkshire	7.972	110
Perth & Kinross	2.497	59
Renfrewshire	0.897	27
Scottish Borders	1.450	22
Shetland Islands	0.228	3
South Ayrshire	1.455	37
South Lanarkshire	9.723	202
Stirling	1.450	37
The Highland Council	3.932	65
West Dunbartonshire	3.890	41
West Lothian	0.000	45
Total	83.146	1,498

Of the £83.146 million spent a total of £9.587 million was spent on projects to be initially used by Ukrainian displaced persons and later returned to be used within the wider social housing supply after a period of up to 3 years.

Question reference: S6W-26636

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the consultants, Deloitte, provided evidence to the Post Office in 2017 suggesting that errors in the Horizon IT system or remote tampering could have caused the financial losses that were being investigated, what its position is on whether any convictions in Scotland that involved evidence related to the Horizon IT system (a) can be considered safe and (b) should be quashed.

The Scottish Government believes that the Post Office Horizon scandal is a unique situation requiring urgent action to ensure those wrongly convicted can finally access justice. Whilst the determination of innocence or guilt in criminal cases is usually rightly a matter for the judiciary, the situation arising is unprecedented in its scale and nature.

The Scottish Government can confirm that a Bill is currently going through the usual parliamentary process and will be introduced shortly.

The Scottish Bill will need to be passed after the UK Bill has been passed, to take account of any amendments made during passage at Westminster. This is to ensure full compatibility with UK legislation and the UK compensation scheme, in which the Scottish parliament has no locus, as we do not want to see anything that could lead to sub-postmasters not being treated on and equal and fair basis.

Question reference: S6W-26977

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to decrease the time that it takes for women to obtain an endometriosis diagnosis.

We know that diagnosis time for endometriosis is not acceptable and needs to improve. We recognise the time to diagnosis is not itself an effective measurement of improved health and well-being outcomes for those living with endometriosis. It is vital that we improve care and support throughout the whole diagnosis process.

To do this we have taken a number of actions including:

Supporting the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to raise awareness and implement the Endometriosis Care Pathway for Scotland which aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.
Increasing education among healthcare practitioners by working with NHS Education for Scotland to deliver an endometriosis masterclass session for health care professionals, covering diagnosis, treatment and current research.
Developing information on NHS Inform and working with charities such as Endometriosis UK and Young Scot to ensure that women have access to information that can support them to recognise when their symptoms might not be a normal period and enable more informed conversations with clinicians.

Question reference: S6W-26954

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the potential impact on its commitment to ban single-use vapes in the event that the UK Government's Tobacco and Vapes Bill is not passed by the UK Parliament, and what discussions the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has had with the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, or any other UK Government ministers, regarding this Bill.

The passage of the four nations Tobacco and Vapes Bill has no impact on the Scottish Government’s commitment to prohibit the sale and supply of single-use vapes. The prohibition of the sale and supply of single-use vapes is being progressed under existing environmental powers devolved to Scottish Ministers. The UK Government and Welsh Government are progressing similar legislation in England and Wales respectively.

Work on the Tobacco and Vaping Bill, in Scotland, is being led by the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health. This Bill will increase the age of sale for tobacco products and provide powers to legislate on vape flavours, displays, packaging, and other measures. As the Bill makes provisions within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, a Legislative Consent Memorandum was brought forward on 2nd April for consideration by this Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-26939

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce its proposed Heat in Buildings Bill ahead of the Scottish Parliament's 2024 summer recess.

We are in the process of analysing the approximately 1650 responses to our consultation which closed on 8 March 2024. This will allow us to take into account the feedback and perspectives from those who responded as we consider next steps. This follows the commitments made to develop proposals for legislative change, including in relation to Heat in Buildings as established in the Programme for Government where the legislative programme for 2023-24 is set out.

Question reference: S6W-26938

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce its proposed Natural Environment Bill before January 2025.

As set out in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is committed to “Introduce a Natural Environment Bill, putting in place key legislative changes and statutory targets to restore and protect nature” before the end of the current parliamentary term.

Future legislative programmes will be announced in relevant Programmes for Government in the usual way. Meantime, we continue to take action to deliver nature restoration through, for example, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, which has already committed nearly £40 million since 2021.

Question reference: S6W-26947

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out the high-level principles of its proposed Air Departure Tax prior to July 2024.

Question reference: S6W-26942

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle (EV) charging points it has delivered since 2021.

Since 2011, Transport Scotland has invested over £65 million on behalf of Scottish Ministers to support the installation of public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland public EV charging network. As a direct result, Scotland has the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region.

Last year, the Scottish Government published Vision for world class public electric vehicle charging network | Transport Scotland , highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. Through the £30m EV Infrastructure Fund we are supporting local authorities across Scotland to work with the private sector to leverage an additional £30m of private investment to continue to grow the provision of EV charging in Scotland at pace and scale.

Since 2021, 1,232 additional public EV charge points have been added to the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland network. We do not hold information relating to any other public electric vehicle charging networks.

Since 2021 a total of 15,615 EV charge points have been supported through Scottish Government grant funding for fleet, business, third sector and domestic charge point installations.

Question reference: S6W-26956

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any threat of wildfires in national parks ahead of the summer season, and what the outcome was of any such assessment.

SFRS’s new wildfire strategy was created with partnership at its heart. The strategy considers the increased risk of wildfire and changing climate in Scotland; the latest developments in wildfire management, training, and operational procedures; and the advances in technology that have been made in PPE and equipment.

The assessment of wildfire risk lies, first and foremost, with landowners/land managers. However, through the Scottish Wildfire Forum, a wildfire danger assessment is carried out every 5-7 days by a third-party expert. When the risk of wildfire reaches very high or extreme then the assessment is circulated across a wide network of key contacts, including public sector and private interests to ensure as wide a coverage as possible.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service works closely with land managers, communities and other safety partners to prevent these incidents ever occurring. SFRS remains ready and able to respond to any instance of wildfire that occurs across Scotland.