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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-15141

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14258 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2023, how many visits ministers have made to state schools over the course of the current parliamentary session, and how many invitations to visit independent schools have been received by ministers over this period.

During this period Scottish ministers received 27 formal invitations to visit independent schools and at least two visits have taken place. Government officials have ongoing engagement with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools to discuss a range of issues that affect the sector.

In addition, Scottish ministers have made 48 visits to local authority schools to date this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-15161

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights report, Racially Motivated Bullying: Policies and Recording in Scotland's Schools, published in November 2022, which found that, in 2020-21, 61% of schools did not record any incidents of bullying using the SEEMiS Bullying and Equalities module, and 83% of schools did not record any incidents of racially motivated bullying.

Bullying or racism of any kind is unacceptable and must be addressed quickly and effectively whenever it arises. Schools need to be clear on the distinctions between bullying and other forms of prejudice such as racism.

It is for schools and local authorities to decide what action should be taken depending on the individual circumstances of challenging behaviour. We expect schools and authorities to record and monitor all incidents of bullying and racism in schools.

On 23 February 2023, HM Inspectors of Education published their report of the thematic inspection we commissioned on the national approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools.

There are positive findings in the report that we should build on. However, we acknowledge that there is also room for improvement and we are taking immediate action to ensure schools and school staff have the right support in place to prevent and respond to bullying.

We are also working with a wide range of anti-racism organisations to further strengthen resources and approaches to prevent and respond to racist incidents through the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board.

Question reference: S6W-15168

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Creative Scotland plans to ask regularly funded organisations to rely on their organisational reserves for the financial year 2023-24, rather than on grant funding.

No. Creative Scotland’s board announced on 19 December 2022 its decision to maintain funding for the Regularly Funded Organisations at current levels for the 2023-24 financial year, using its accumulated reserves from National Lottery funding.

The Scottish Government’s announced on 21 February an uplift of £6.6 million in grant in aid for Creative Scotland so that Creative Scotland can use its lottery reserves for additional support for the sector.

Question reference: S6W-14979

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details, including the dates, of any consultation that (a) has been and (b) is to be undertaken with (i) Aberdeen City Council and (ii) the oil and gas industry, broken down by the specific bodies and companies involved, regarding the Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Engagement events in summer 2022 were part of a series of engagement sprints that have informed the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP). The draft ESJTP is currently open for public consultation and we welcome views from as broad a spectrum of respondents as possible. A series of open engagement events are currently in preparation to which Aberdeen City Council will be invited.

On 9 February 2023, the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work met representatives of Aberdeen City Council to discuss the Just Transition Fund.

I met with the oil and gas industry to discuss the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan at the following engagements:

Cabinet Secretary NZET briefed Melfort Campbell, co-chair Strategic Leadership Group on the draft ESJTP on 10 January
Cabinet Secretary NZET briefed Sir Ian Wood on the draft ESJTP on 10 January
Officials briefed Equinor on the draft ESJTP on 10 January
Cabinet Secretary NZET briefed David Whitehouse, oeuk, on the draft ESJTP on 10 January
Cabinet Secretary NZET briefed SEAB on the draft ESJTP on 31 January
Cabinet Secretary NZET due to engage with David Whitehouse, oeuk, on 8 March

In addition to the above engagements, officials are due to speak to oeuk on 6 March and further official and ministerial engagements with the industry are being planned throughout the consultation phase of the ESJTP.

Question reference: S6W-14752

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people who are living at their parental home have applied for local authority housing in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-14725

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports have been made to Police Scotland in each of the last five years regarding breaches of the short-term let licensing legislation.

Question reference: S6W-14994

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group's interim recommendations.

Question reference: S6W-14878

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Priority Action to 2030 in its draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045, to continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes, adequately reflects the goals and targets for species recovery in the outputs from the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and whether it will increase the ambition and priority given to targeted species recovery programmes in its draft strategy.

The Priority Action in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes’, is one of several actions that supports the recovery and protection of vulnerable species in Scotland, and will help us to meet Goal A and Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are committed to continue protecting vulnerable species, and are determined to step up our ambition in taking action to support nature-friendly farming, fishing and forestry, and to expand, restore and connect existing protected areas, to ensure high quality landscapes for all species across Scotland to thrive, and adapt to our changing climate.

Question reference: S6W-14980

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any formal representations from Aberdeen City Council regarding the Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Question reference: S6W-14753

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what the longest time period is for which (a) a child and (b) an adult has been housed in temporary accommodation, in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government collects information on temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications through the HL3 data collection. This gathers information on date of entry and date of exit (where relevant) for each temporary accommodation placement. It is possible to combine durations of individual temporary accommodation placements associated with the same homelessness application.

The HL3 data collection does not gather information on all persons present in temporary accommodation placements. However, it is reasonable to assume there is at least one adult present. An additional question was added to the HL3 data collection in 2019 to ask how many children require accommodation in temporary accommodation placements, but not all local authorities have so far been able to provide this information.

An estimate of the presence of children in temporary accommodation placements can be derived by linking household records between the HL1 and HL3 data collections. The HL1 data collection is related to homelessness applications and gathers information on household composition. However, it is important to note that households may sometimes make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation and therefore it is not always the case that children included in the HL1 return are present in associated temporary accommodation placements. It can also be the case that children are present for only part of the stay in temporary accommodation e.g. as part of shared custody arrangements.

A full set of HL3 data is available for all local authorities from 2017-18. However, this includes temporary accommodation placements which commenced prior to 2017-18. In addition, some local authorities have provided data prior to 2017-18, but the completeness of this is highly variable across local authorities.

Information at individual (person or household) level cannot be provided due to data confidentiality.

Information gathered through Scottish Government homelessness data collections can be found under the homelessness data provider information section of the homelessness statistics webpages. Within the annual Homelessness in Scotland publications, data tables are included for a) the average time spent in temporary accommodation for closed cases, by local authority and household type and b) the distribution of time spent in temporary accommodation for closed cases, by local authority for i) all households; ii) households with children; and iii) households without children.