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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: S6T-00933

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported findings of an independent review of the cladding remediation programme that “successful delivery of the project is in doubt with major risks or issues apparent".

Question reference: S6T-00926

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to fit sensors for the LNG system on ferry 801 as reported to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

Question reference: S6F-01481

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

To ask the First Minister what work the Scottish Government is doing to improve Living Wage equality.

Question reference: S6F-01480

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

To ask the First Minister what urgent action the Scottish Government is taking to prevent poverty-related malnutrition and food insecurity, in light of reported growing concerns from healthcare workers, school staff and charities about the impact of hunger on people across Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-01479

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Government has to increase and improve the provision of mental health services in Scotland's universities.

Question reference: S6F-01477

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will be building on the legacy from the Glasgow Climate Pact by attending COP27 in Egypt.

Question reference: S6F-01463

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01464

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-10815

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how long it estimates it will take to complete the (a) medium-term and (b) long-term replacement route for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, in light of Transport Scotland awarding a contract to Atkins WSP Joint Venture.

On 29 August I announced Transport Scotland’s intention to appoint Atkins WSP Joint Venture to progress design and development work for the route through Glen Croe. The contract represents £25m of Scottish Government investment, an estimate of the overall contract value for undertaking the design, promotion, procurement and construction supervision of medium and long-term solutions.

Ministers share the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, which is why we are progressing measures for the short, medium and long term in tandem.

We will bring forward proposals for the medium term by the end of this year, with an announcement on the preferred route option for the long term by Spring 2023.

Question reference: S6W-10764

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support and advice it has given to (a) local authorities and (b) transport providers to reduce vehicle emissions in cities.

The 2022-23 local government finance settlement of almost £12.7 billion represents an increase of over £1 billion or 9.2 per cent in cash terms compared with 2021-22.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on reducing vehicle emissions, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government provides support for lower income households and small businesses to get prepared for Low Emission Zones. The LEZ Support Fund offers financial support towards the disposal of non-LEZ compliant vehicles and offers ‘Travel Better’ grants to help households to switch to more sustainable modes of transport. Administered by Energy Saving Trust, the LEZ Support Fund provides people and micro-businesses with financial support to travel more sustainably and comply with forthcoming measures to improve air quality and protect public health. The LEZ Support Fund awarded £1.7 million in grants In 2020/21, and £3.85 million in 2021/22; with a further £5 million made available in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government has also made LEZ retrofit grants available to micro business owners (including taxi operators) which cover up to 80% of the capital costs for the retrofitting of non-compliant vehicles to the latest Euro 6 emissions standard. The fund also provides an incentive of a cash grant (up to £2,000) for the safe disposal of a non-compliant vehicle. To date, LEZ Support funding has resulted in over 2,000 non-LEZ compliant vehicles being disposed of or retrofitted with cleaner technology. Since 2019, over £4 million has been received by business operators through the fund, comprised of approximately £2 million in disposal grants for micro-businesses, and approximately £2 million for taxi retrofitting.

On rail, the Scottish Government has made a commitment to decarbonise rail passenger services by 2035, removing diesel trains that will improve the air quality across Scotland’s cities and communities.

To support bus and coach operators with the financial costs associated with engine and exhaust retrofitting to meet LEZ standards, the Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit (BEAR) grant funding has been offered by Scottish Government since 2018. BEAR Phases 1, 2, 3 and 4 provided £18.4 million funding to support the costs of retrofitting of 1143 buses and coaches to Euro VI standard in Scottish Air Quality Management Areas from 2018 to 2022. An additional £2.65 million has been made available for BEAR 5 in 2022/23, with further funding also currently under consideration.

On 10 August 2022, the Scottish Government opened the Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme, which makes funding available to transport providers and local authorities to develop new business models for a rapid decarbonisation of bus transport. This fund – worth £500,000 – is open for applications until 09 December, or until all funding has been awarded, whichever occurs first.

Further details of these, and other recent schemes designed to enable local authorities and transport operators to reduce emissions is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63670)