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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-11950

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07307 by Shona Robison on 25 March 2022, and in light of its tender, OCT462463, for the audit anticipating that the research will extend over six months, what the (a) scope and (b) timeline is of the empty homes audit.

The full scope is available to interested suppliers via the Public Contracts Scotland website and includes: 1) an overview of Scotland’s empty homes; 2) the key barriers and opportunities for bringing homes back into use; 3) an assessment of the effectiveness of current approaches and interventions; 4) suggestions on how these could be improved. We anticipate the exercise will be complete by summer 2023.

Question reference: S6W-11897

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in allocating the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund, and (a) how much and (b) what percentage of the available funding has been allocated to the Ayrshire Local Action Group to cover staffing and resourcing costs in connection with the distribution of the Fund.

Question reference: S6W-12056

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is in favour of increasing the length of future Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contracts beyond eight years.

Question reference: S6W-12031

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports that Ayrshire Local Action Group is carrying out unspecified "technical checks" in relation to applications to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23 that are separate to determining whether organisations are eligible to apply to the Fund, and, if this is the case, what information it holds on any such "technical checks", including what (a) they involved and (b) the outcomes were, including whether they resulted in an otherwise eligible organisation being excluded from applying to the Fund.

The Ayrshire LAG and South Ayrshire Council Internal Audit have approved and undertaken technical checks on all projects applying for funding. Guidance on these checks is in the public domain.

https://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/media/5979/ARIA-Fund-Applicant-Guidance/pdf/ARIA_Fund_22

Only those projects that meet the technical checks progress for consideration by the Local Action Group. Of the twenty seven organisation that applied, seventeen of those progressed to the technical check stage, sixteen of which proceeded to assessment stage.

Question reference: S6W-12054

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what power it has to extend the current Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract after its conclusion in September 2024; if it has the power, whether it plans to do so, and, if so, for how long.

Question reference: S6W-11898

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local authorities should be considered as potentially suitable recipients of the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding that has been allocated to each local authority area, and what is the definition of local authority core funding that is used to assess eligibility for the Fund.

A Local Authority cannot apply alone for funding. This funding is not intended to replace core/statutory duties of Local Authorities. Local Authorities may however allocate funding to facilitate the commissioning of recruitment, upskilling and the rebuilding of the Local Action Group (LAG) but are not direct recipients of the funding.

Funding is allocated to Local Action Groups rather than single Local Authorities areas. Local Authority area spend is ongoing and unavailable at present. The LAG allocation breakdown is provided in the following table;

LAG Area	Allocation £
Aberdeenshire North & South	£924,990,00
Angus	£288,469.00
Argyll & Islands	£618,889.00
Ayrshire	£533,604.00
Cairngorms	£281,606.00
Dumfries and Galloway	£665,492.00
Fife	£279,306.00
Forth Valley and Lomond	£213,746.00
Greater Renfrewshire	£115,520.00
Highland	£1,069,878.00
Kelvin Valley and Falkirk	£140,600.00
Lanarkshire	£282,826.00
Moray	£292,405.00
Orkney	£188,330.00
Outer Hebrides	£255,806.00
Rural Perth and Kinross	£447,098.00
Scottish Borders	£487,275.00
Shetland	£188,538.00
Tyne Esk	£204,382.00
West Lothian	£151,240.00
TOTALS	£7,630,000.00

Question reference: S6W-11900

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, what the process was for selecting members of the Ayrshire Local Action Group (LAG); whether any Ayrshire LAG members and the organisations that they represent are eligible to apply to the Fund, and what potential conflict of interest procedures are in place, and what percentage of the overall Fund was available at the outset for distribution to Ayrshire LAG members.

Local Action Group (LAG) Membership has continued with the LEADER membership that was based on a skills matrix. Plans to recruit new LAG members through a procurement process are planned. Representation will be drawn from the public sector, businesses/third sector and community interests.

LAG members may be representatives of wider rural bodies or applying on behalf of organisations they represent. LAG members are not permitted to participate in any decision making process where they have a conflict of interest. This is a standing item on the agenda for the LAG.

There is no allocation of funding to individual LAG members since decisions are taken as a collective LAG.

Question reference: S6W-11901

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire LEADER programme (2014-2020), whether any analysis, by local authority area, has been carried out of the distribution of funding; what organisations were successful in securing funding, and what impact analysis has been carried out of the outcomes secured by each successful project, such as in reducing inequalities and supporting community wealth-building.

Within the Ayrshire LEADER 2014-2020 Programme there were 90 projects (61 organisations) supported over the funding period. Project awards were as follows:

34 projects funded in East Ayrshire with £1,836,762;
14 projects funded in North Ayrshire with £808,123;
40 projects funded in South Ayrshire with £1,205,832; and
2 pan-Ayrshire projects funded in North Ayrshire with £227,919.

Just over half were Community projects (56%), with the remainder split between Farm Diversification (20%) and Small and Medium sized enterprises.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation by the James Hutton Institute. Additionally, outcome evaluations by each of the 21 Local Development Strategies were required as part of closure of the 2014-2020 LEADER Programme.

Question reference: S6W-11892

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it costs for Social Security Scotland to carry out a re-determination request in relation to benefits administered in Scotland.

Social Security Scotland has 16 working days to complete a re-determination for Low Income Benefits. In the case of Adult Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment, the timescale for completion of a re-determination is 56 calendar days. Work on a particular case may fluctuate during these time periods depending on progress to reach a conclusion. The number of hours invested by colleagues will depend on the complexity of the case.

Therefore Social Security Scotland is unable to provide an estimated cost of a re-determination request. How long it takes can vary depending upon the benefit involved and the complexity of the case - with a key factor in this being time taken to gather any further evidence. We do not monitor hours spent on processing a re-determination, we monitor the total turnaround time for providing a response to clients to ensure we do this in a timely manner and within the statutory periods. As our staff become more experienced, we would expect to see further efficiencies in this service.

Re-determination is an important part of our decision-making process and gives people the opportunity to ask us to look again and reconsider their application. At the re-determination stage, people often provide additional information that can be used to determine eligibility.

If on re-determination someone is found to be eligible, they will be paid from the date they first applied. Providing the option for re-determination minimises the need to go through the Tribunal Service with an appeal.

Question reference: S6W-11861

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by when it anticipates Police Scotland’s dashcam safety portal will be operational.

The Programme for Government 2021-22 stated that we will work alongside Police Scotland to develop an online reporting system that will enable anyone to upload camera footage of dangerous road use. The National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) initiative, which deal with all matters of careless road use including riding, cycling or walking, is being led by Police Scotland with financial support from the Scottish Government through Scotland’s Road Safety Framework Fund.

The project to introduce a pilot Dash-Cam Safety Portal into Police Scotland is in the initial business case stage with Police Scotland currently looking at the internal processing, handling and storage of digital images and how that best fits with current and projected processes.