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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: S6W-14594

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people, who had elective surgery in NHS Lanarkshire in 2022, were treated (a) by NHS Lanarkshire (b) by another health board and (c) in a private hospital, broken down by procedure.

Question reference: S6W-14592

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were awaiting elective surgery in NHS Lanarkshire in each month since May 2021, broken down by procedure.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that are planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards. We would therefore advise contacting NHS Boards to obtain this data.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 30 th September 2022 and can be found using the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17040/ipdc_nov22.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-14591

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the forecast capacity requirements for elective treatment in NHS Lanarkshire are for the next 10 years, broken down by procedure, and how these requirements will be met in each case.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish government or PHS.

Operational planning and decision making with regards to capacity is the responsibility of individual NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Boards to maximise capacity and efficiency for planned care. NHSScotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), launched in 2021, plays a central role in working with health boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign. As well as creating additional capacity, the aim is to develop new pathways of care that are more efficient, enhance delivery of services in community settings, and reduce the variation and waiting times for planned care by adopting minimum standards to deliver higher volume activity.

Question reference: S6W-14648

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected in each round of the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, also broken down by (i) how much has been awarded, (ii) the average award provided and (iii) how many awards have been given to businesses with (A) fewer than 10, (B) 10 to 49, (C) 50 to 99, (D) 100 to 249 and (E) over 249 employees.

Through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF ), we are co-investing with a diverse range of Scottish manufacturers to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions through increased energy efficiency and deep decarbonisation projects. The requested information can be found in the following table:

Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund applications and awards (to date):

	Applications			Award		(iii) Business size (FTE employees)
	(a) Received	(b) Approved	(c) Rejected	(i) Grant awarded	(ii) Average award	A <10	B 10-49	C 50-99	D 100-249	E >249
Call 1	13	7	6	£3,103,311	£443,330	0	1	1	0	5
Call 2	20	14	6	£8,825,907	£630,422	1	1	0	2	10
Call 3	31	Currently at evaluation stage
Totals	64	21	12	£11,929,218		1	2	1	2	15

Source - Scottish Government, DECC, Energy industries, Industrial Decarbonisation, SIETF Tracker, Feb 23

Question reference: S6W-15366

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 24 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the proposed consultation on merging UHI Outer Hebrides College, UHI West Highland College and UHI North Highland College will be published.

The consultation has been published today and is available on the Scottish Government’s Consultation Hub, Citizen Space https://consult.gov.scot/lifelong-learning-and-skills/rural-and-islands-college-merger-proposal

It seeks views on the proposals put forward by the boards of management of North Highland College (UHI North Highland), West Highland College (UHI West Highland) and Lews Castle College (UHI Outer Hebrides) to merge into a single, incorporated college.

Question reference: S6W-14736

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in each local authority area have been estimated to be in fuel poverty in each year since 1999.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually (based on a three-year average) in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) local authority tables starting with the 2003-2006 publication.

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 are available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 .

Estimates from 2010-12 to 2016-18 are available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analyses 2010-2012 to 2016-2018

Estimates dating from 2003-2006 to 2013-2015 are also available on our archive at:

[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Scottish House Condition Survey - Local Authority

Please Note:

Results from 2016-18 to 2017-19 are based on best estimates under the new definition of fuel poverty as set out in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019. They reflect amendments made to the legislation during the Bill process up to and including Stage 2.

Results from 2003-06 to 2015-17 are based on the definition of fuel poverty set out in The Scottish fuel Poverty statement 2002 .

As the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and results from the 2021 External+ SHCS are not yet published and unlikely to be consistent with previous years, the 2017-2019 results are the latest available at Local Authority level.

Due to the recent rise in energy prices and lack of recent SHCS data on fuel poverty, we have published scenario modelling of national fuel poverty rates under the Energy Price Guarantee, at both the current £2,500 level from October 2022 as well as the £3,000 level from April 2023.

This modelling estimates that from October 2022 there are around 860,000 households (35%) in fuel poverty in Scotland. This is an increase of 247,000 households or around 10 percentage points from the latest available 2019 SHCS statistics, which showed 613,000 households in fuel poverty (25%). With the increase in the Energy Price Guarantee to £3,000 in April 2023 we estimate that around 980,000 households (39%) in Scotland will be in fuel poverty. While these modelled estimates are not available at Local Authority level, the large increases in the fuel poverty rate will be reflected across each Local Authority in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-14608

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect jobs in the cultural sector, in light of reported concerns by the Scottish Contemporary Art Network that the proposed reduction to the Creative Scotland Grant in Aid budget in the draft Budget 2023-24 will lead to significant job losses, including the loss of opportunities for artists and freelance cultural workers.

The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with the sector, most recently through holding a series of roundtable discussions. While we have had to make difficult choices to live within budgets, we have also listened to the concerns raised by the culture sector. In response, as announced on 21 February, the Scottish Government will provide an uplift of £6.6 million for Creative Scotland for 2023-24 to ensure their accumulated lottery funding reserves can supplement rather than replace grant funding.

This decision means there will be a substantial increase in the Scottish Government’s funding for culture and major events in the next financial year.

We expect Creative Scotland to set out quickly for the culture sector how it will use these additional resources to support organisations and help protect culture sector jobs at this difficult time.

We will continue to have close discussions with Creative Scotland and the wider culture sector to support workers and ensure our diverse and world-class cultural scene and rich heritage continue to thrive.

Question reference: S6W-14816

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 24 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many types of maritime studies apprenticeships have been successfully completed in Scotland since 2018.

The number of individuals successfully completing the Maritime Occupations Modern Apprenticeship framework across each year since 2018/19 is detailed in the following table. All MA statistics are published on the SDS website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland . Year-end statistics for‎ 2022-23 are expected to be published in May 2023.

Maritime Occupations	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
MA Achievements	20	16	13	18

Question reference: S6W-15077

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research carried out by Survation on behalf of OurSeas Coalition, which reportedly found that 56% of people in Scotland would support banning bottom trawling and scallop dredging within three-nautical miles of Scotland’s shoreline.

We know that some stakeholders would like to see a three-mile limit restricting mobile fishing gear introduced. The Scottish Government has been clear that we have no plans to do so.

Such blanket spatial restrictions are not consistent with an evidence-based approach, do not embrace the benefits of new technology and are inconsistent with the nuanced approach outlined in our 2020-2030 Fisheries Management Strategy.

We have already begun to develop our approach, taking account of the complex ecology and habitats, as well as the different types of fishing and how they interact with the marine environment.

Question reference: S6W-15062

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on efforts to recommence operations at Stoneywood paper mill in Aberdeen.

My officials in Scottish Enterprise remain in regular contact with the Joint Administrators and continue to work closely with them to help find a sustainable future for the Stoneywood site in Aberdeen.

The administration process continues to progress and prior to formal marketing of the site, the Administrator has re-engaged with potential interested parties. Any discussions between interested parties and the Administrator will likely take place in the coming weeks.