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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.

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Question reference: S6O-02099

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on pay negotiations with trade unions representing Scottish Parliament staff.

Question reference: S6O-02098

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had in relation to access to translation services for cross-party groups.

Question reference: S6O-02095

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it will next meet with representatives from the GMB trade union MSP staff branch.

Question reference: S6W-15826

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in the West Scotland region had registered with the Deposit Return Scheme by 1 March 2023, and how this compares with the number of businesses that were expected to register.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

As the Deposit Return Scheme regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is required to publish a list of all producers registered with the scheme before the scheme launches in August.

This list will be searchable by producer name, business address, date registered, registration number, and brand information in cases where the producer does not use their name and address on their packaging.

Question reference: S6W-15740

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated specifically to support the delivery of welfare advice in each of the last five financial years.

The Scottish Government has invested a total of £14,751,739 since 2018 to support the delivery of specific Welfare Advice Services in Scotland. The amount for each year is as follows:

Year	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Amount	£3.1 m	£2.32m	£2.9m	£3 m	£3.3 m

In addition to supporting the provision of specific welfare advice services, the Scottish Government has also invested over £8m since 2018 in the Money Talk Team service provided by Citizens Advice Scotland and their network of bureaux to provide a range of advice including a combination of income maximisation, welfare benefits and specialist debt advice.

Question reference: S6W-15792

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the confirmation of both the scope of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill and of the national service specification for secure transport, jointly developed with COSLA, what plans it has to (a) regulate and (b) improve monitoring of the use of restraint in children, including those in care, by secure transportation providers.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with COSLA to develop solutions for secure transport - to advance our commitment to the UNCRC and the requirements within The Promise. A sub-group of the National Secure Care Group has been set up to develop solutions to these issues.

The service specification for secure transport is still in development. Multi-agency discussions are ongoing about how that will be used in local authority commissioning arrangements.

We will consider the implications of changing the legislative and regulatory framework to make it possible to bring scrutiny of secure transport arrangements within the remit of the Care Inspectorate.

Question reference: S6W-15817

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to date to each hospice by Integration Joint Boards under the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 to plan and commission services for their area using the integrated budget under their control, including palliative and end-of-life care services.

Question reference: S6W-15735

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Deposit Return Scheme, whether any producers that have registered after 1 March 2023 have been registered in accordance with regulations.

Question reference: S6W-16012

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the Scottish Assessors Association's data deficiencies are that mean that it cannot pay Warm Home Discount direct to those who have the same circumstances as Core Group 2 in England and Wales, and what assessment it has undertaken of how to overcome those data deficiencies.

The Warm Home Discount is a rebate upon energy bills that large energy suppliers are obliged to provide, not a social security payment administered by the Scottish Government. Whilst some powers are provided to Scottish Ministers to design a separate Warm Home Discount scheme in Scotland, these require the consent of the UK Government.

All households in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit are automatically eligible for a WHD rebate in Scotland, England and Wales (Core Group 1). Households in England and Wales in receipt of low income benefits or tax credits (Core Group 2) are not automatically eligible for a WHD rebate. The UK Government further restricts eligibility for this group in England and Wales based upon data matching.

These low income households only receive a rebate if they also live in a property that is assumed to have low energy efficiency. The UK Government uses Council Tax data held by the Valuation Office Agency to estimate energy costs and uses this as a proxy for low energy efficiency. This approach reflects the definition of fuel poverty adopted by the UK Government in England (low income, low energy efficiency).

Scottish Ministers do not agree that energy efficiency is the main driver of fuel poverty. The Scottish Parliament has unanimously agreed a definition of fuel poverty that is not dependent upon the energy efficiency of people’s homes. The valuation roll data held by the Scottish Assessors Association is not relevant in establishing fuel poverty on this basis.

In 2021, Scottish Ministers formally proposed a more flexible, fairer and simpler fuel poverty scheme to replace the WHD scheme in Scotland. This would have provided an automatic rebate to vulnerable households across Scotland. We have also repeatedly pressed UK Ministers to increase funding for the WHD rebate to reflect the higher level of need in Scotland. UK Ministers did not agree to do so and continue to decide the total value and number of rebates provided. Nevertheless we remain willing to work with the UK Government to improve the help available to vulnerable families across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-16014

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the take-up rate of the Warm Home Discount is amongst the Broader Group.

The value of the rebate and total value of the scheme in Scotland was established in regulations approved by the Westminster Parliament. The Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Information about the number of rebates provided by the scheme is published as an annual report by Ofgem, the independent regulator. Warm Home Discount (WHD) - Reports and data | Ofgem Further information about delivery of the 22-23 Warm Home Discount scheme has not yet been provided to the Scottish Government.