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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-15932

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Biffa’s contract as the logistics service provider for the Deposit Return Scheme, what (a) type and (b) number of lorries have been negotiated for the scheme’s launch on 16 August 2023, and what its response is to reports that Biffa is (i) buying and (ii) manufacturing new lorries for the implementation of the scheme.

Circularity Scotland, the scheme administrator is a private non-profit company and is responsible for operating the scheme, including its logistics. Questions regarding the detail of their contracts should be directed to them.

The Scottish Government can however confirm that an extensive tender process for a logistics service provider was carried out by Circularity Scotland over a period of around 12 months and was open to businesses of all sizes. The process involved extensive due diligence by Circularity Scotland. BIFFA was awarded that contract in July 2022.

Question reference: S6W-15978

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many jet ski owners have had enforcement action taken against them in each year since the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park was established, broken down by the nature of the enforcement.

Question reference: S6W-15989

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11906 by Shona Robison on 18 November 2022, whether it will provide an update on the status of each of the recommendations, broken down by each action from the review in (a) October 2021 and (b) July 2022.

Question reference: S6W-15704

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its Programme for Government 2022-23 commitment to consult on proposals to restrict alcohol promotions, what preparatory work it has undertaken (a) in the lead-up to the consultation being published and (b) for the eventual implementation of the policy.

Preparatory work pre-consultation involved gathering, analysing and commissioning academic evidence. We also commissioned projects with Young Scot and the Youth Parliament to ensure that young people’s voices were central to our proposals.

We have not done any preparatory work on implementation as no decisions have been taken on scope or on the type of restrictions that might be taken forward, our next steps depend entirely on the responses to the consultation itself.

Question reference: S6W-15954

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to issue revised guidance to local authorities, regarding the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, to ensure that the definition of high hedges specified in the Act, which includes “a hedge which is formed wholly or mainly by a row of 2 or more trees or shrubs”, is used by local authorities, rather than the definition in the current guidance, issued in 2019, which requires that, for trees and shrubs to be considered as a “high hedge”, they must first be considered to form a hedge.

Question reference: S6W-15941

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list any cases in which sewage leaks have been recorded in NHS hospitals in each year since 1 January 2022, broken down by (a) hospital and (b) part of the building in which the leak occurred.

Question reference: S6W-15993

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether all elements of the Caledonian Sleeper operations will be brought in-house when it is taken back into public ownership in June 2023, or whether some will be contracted out.

From 25 June 2023, all elements of the Caledonian Sleeper operations undertaken by Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd will be delivered by Caledonian Sleeper Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd . Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd is a company wholly owned by the Scottish Government

It will be a matter for Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd and Caledonian Sleeper Ltd to determine the optimum arrangements post mobilisation of the Operator of Last Resort (OLR) arrangements.

Question reference: S6W-15980

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has undertaken into the use of data centres as “digital boilers”.

In September 2020, ClimateXChange published a study titled “Potential sources of waste heat for heat networks in Scotland”. The report examined a variety of potential waste heat sources, including data centres.

The study identified nine commercial data centres located in Scotland, but recognised the actual number is likely to be much higher. In addition, some commercial data centres are likely to be kept confidential for security reasons. It concluded that the total waste heat that can be recovered from data centres is therefore likely to have been underestimated in the study.

The study can be accessed at the following address:

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/projects/potential-sources-of-waste-heat-for-heat-networks-in-scotland/?msclkid=42fdd948b3fe11ecbd09640b7d2a6cc2

Question reference: S6W-15990

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to end any long shift patterns of its staff, in light of the findings of the article published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, Night shift work and risk of aggressive prostate cancer in the Norwegian Offshore Petroleum Workers (NOPW) cohort.

The Scottish Government has reviewed the article Night shift work and risk of aggressive prostate cancer in the Norwegian Offshore Petroleum Workers (NOPW) cohort and notes its findings.

As an employer we adopt Fair Work practices and we take the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff very seriously including ensuring appropriate breaks and periods of rest and annual leave, as well as having a right to disconnect policy.

The typical working arrangements for staff in the Scottish Government is flexible working hours (within the hours of 7am to 7pm) with a full time working day equating to 7 hours 24 minutes.

Question reference: S6W-15992

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that operations are to be contracted out on the Caledonian Sleeper when it is brought back into public ownership, what parts of the service or operations will be contracted out; which companies will be contracted for which part of the service or operations; for how long each contractor will be contracted for, and how much each contractor will be paid for the services that they provide over the course of their contract.