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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-16139

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any funding remains available, through the Scottish 4G Infill Programme, that could be used to site new masts or provide upgrades to the capacity of existing sites.

Question reference: S6W-16668

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce a three-mile fishing limit around the coast of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-16707

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm what guidance is in place for NHS boards regarding Freedom of Information requests.

NHS Boards are each distinct Scottish public authorities for the purposes of FOI legislation and each one is responsible for its own compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Section 60 Code of Practice, produced by the Scottish Ministers, provides guidance for all Scottish public authorities on discharging their functions under the legislation. Additionally, as the independent public official responsible for promoting and enforcing FOI law, the Scottish Information Commissioner encourages Scottish public authorities to develop good FOI practice, providing guidance and support materials on his website: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/law-and-guidance .

Question reference: S6W-15627

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is, regarding the potential impact on Scotland, on calls for a permanent tax on energy companies' excess profits to help support families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government believes that windfall taxes should be levied on unearned, excess profits to fund support for struggling households and businesses. However, windfall profits are not permanent by definition. A permanent, additional tax on energy companies predominantly based in Scotland would therefore not be appropriate, and may serve to undermine businesses’ confidence and investment in an important sector of Scotland’s economy.

Question reference: S6W-16818

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what system of monitoring it uses to ensure that hotels used to house those in emergency accommodation remain suitable.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households in May 2020 to ensure all homeless households are provided with the highest quality accommodation to support them out of homelessness.

This means that the maximum number of days that local authorities can use unsuitable accommodation for any homeless person is seven days and has the effect of ending stays in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels, apart from in emergency situations.

Any household placed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than seven days should be recorded as a breach.

The Scottish Housing Regulator is obliged to monitor and assess local authority compliance with the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) and, if any UAO breaches are reported, will intervene as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-16461

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the implementation of the business rates reforms, resulting from the Barclay Review of non-domestic rates, will be concluded.

The independent Barclay Review of non-domestic rates reported in 2017 and made 30 recommendations, the majority of which were accepted by the Scottish Government in the implementation plan published in December 2017. All of the agreed recommendations of the Review have been implemented, including those which came into effect on 1 April 2023 such as the move to revaluations with a one-year tone date, the introduction of a new two-stage appeals process, and powers for councils to tackle rates avoidance.

Question reference: S6W-16544

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14327 by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023, whether it will provide a timeline for the (a) Health and Social Care Alliance programme and (b) Wellbeing of Women research project, and whether its findings will be made publicly available.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland to undertake a programme of lived experience engagement and information sharing, that supports the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan: 2021 - 2024 over the lifetime of the plan.

An update on the delivery of this work since the publication of the Plan can be found in our recently published Women’s Health Plan: A Report on Progress .

The jointly funded £250,000 endometriosis research project with Wellbeing of women covers a period of 3 years, and began in the financial year 2022-23.

The findings from the research will be published in an open access journal after the research completion in 2025. The results will also be presented at national and international endometriosis conferences.

Question reference: S6W-16496

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Ricardo-AEA Ltd since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

The Scottish Government has had a number of meetings with Ricardo AEA Ltd since May 2021:

Meetings to discuss research and analysis that Ricardo AEA Ltd has been commissioned to deliver for Scottish Government: this has involved around 20 research commissions, each with regular meetings to discuss project progress and direction, to agree method and approaches and to review and sign off outputs.
Meetings related to working groups and advisory groups to which Ricardo provides technical expertise, for example related to air quality, either convened by Scottish Government or convened by others (eg UK Government) and in which Scottish Government is a co-participant. These meetings discuss matters such as data and evidence provision, analytical methods and research dissemination.

Question reference: S6W-16338

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a whisky levy.

Question reference: S6W-16340

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with the Scotch Whisky Association to discuss decarbonisation, and what the objectives were of any such meetings.

The Scottish Government meets with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) regularly to discuss a range of topics, including decarbonisation matters.

The Scottish Government Industrial Decarbonisation Team is due to meet the SWA by mid April 2023 to discuss their implementation of the NetZero/Sustainability Strategy and opportunities for decarbonisation by fuel switching or shifting to more energy-efficient technologies.

The Scottish Government recognises the role that the Scotch Whisky industry has in moving towards net zero and welcomes the work carried out by the sector in this area.