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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-07580

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources will be made available for rural transport infrastructure.

Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government ambitions for future investment in rural transport infrastructure are included in the 45 draft recommendations within the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2 ), published on the 20 January 2022. The recommendations form the future transport infrastructure investment priorities for Scotland over the next twenty years and cover the whole country with a focus on active travel; bus priority; getting more freight onto rail; improving the safety and resilience of the transport network and the decarbonisation of the transport system. STPR2 provides the necessary evidence base required to help secure the future funding of these projects, including those that have potential to transform the way we travel in rural areas.

More specifically, STPR2 recommends investment in Demand Responsive Transport and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to support improved public transport connectivity, including in rural areas where conventional fixed route services may not be suitable or viable. In addition, much of Scotland’s rural population resides in towns and villages and there are a number of draft active travel recommendations for these settlements. This includes connecting towns and villages, improving active travel on trunk roads through communities and long distance active travel networks.

Investing in our Trunk Road and Motorway network is important in order to improve safety and resilience of the network for the communities and businesses of Scotland. STPR2 recommendations for strategic roads focus on safety, climate change adaptation and resilience. For safety improvements these will be a primary, but not exclusive, focused on rural sections. Specifically for South West Scotland, STPR2 recommends that safety, resilience and reliability improvements are made on the A75 and A77 strategic road corridors, in turn supporting placemaking opportunities. While to encourage greater use of public transport and support wider town regeneration proposals, STPR2 recommends that consideration should also be given to upgrading or relocating Stranraer rail station.

Question reference: S6W-07743

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many notifications the Building Standards Division has received from verifiers of building warrant applications, citing BS 8414 as a route to compliance, since the April 2021 update of the Building Standards Technical Handbooks, broken down by (a) type of building and (b) local authority.

Question reference: S6W-07836

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is provided to victims of stalking.

The Scottish Government has long recognised the hugely damaging impact of stalking and acted to criminalise it via the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

In March 2022 we announced funding of £495,000 over the period 2022-25 from the new Victim Centred Approach Fund to enable Action Against Stalking to deliver expert support to victims and continue their work to improve the understanding of, and response to, stalking behaviours.

We are also providing up to £230,000 a year through the Scottish Legal Aid budget and £384,000 in 2022-23 from the Justice portfolio to the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre to offer free legal information and advice to women experiencing gender based violence, including stalking and harassment.

Question reference: S6W-07790

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide its revised estimate of the entire cost of the Haudagain Improvement project, in light of the reported delayed completion.

Question reference: S6W-07633

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the starting salary for a police officer in Scotland, and how this compares with (a) England and (b) Wales.

At present, in Scotland a new constable will start on a salary of £26,737, and we understand that in England and Wales the lowest starting salary for a graduate is £21,654, and £19,164 for a PCDA (Police Constable Degree Apprentice).

More information on Police Officer salaries in Scotland can be found on the Police Scotland website using the following link: Pay and Grading Structure - Police Scotland

Question reference: S6W-07419

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Zero Waste Scotland report on Operational Assessment of Alternative Residual Waste Treatment Technologies, (a) when it will be published and (b) whether it includes an independent peer review, and, if so, who the peer review was conducted by.

Question reference: S6W-07989

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the publication of the Joint Business Plan for Unlocking Investment in Scotland’s Energy Sector.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Scottish Energy Task Force, have committed to developing and publishing a Joint Business Plan for Unlocking Investment in Scotland’s Energy Sector.

This work is vital to identifying and overcoming many of the short-term barriers to decarbonisation and development of the energy system in Scotland, and enabling a green recovery from Covid-19.

I am pleased to say that the Joint Business Plan has now been published and is available here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804350119 .

Question reference: S6W-07506

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06967 by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2022, whether it will provide an answer to the specific question regarding whether it has taken legal advice on whether it is legally competent to tax the same piece of property under both the business rates scheme and the workplace parking levy; if legal advice was taken, whether it will publish this advice in order to allow the official legal position, as opposed to ministers' views, to be considered, and, if no legal advice was taken, whether it will confirm this.

I can confirm that the legal position has been considered and I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06967 which sets out that the provisions in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 were subject to policy and legal scrutiny and that there is no legal issue arising from this matter.

The content of any legal advice is confidential. By long-standing convention, successive Scottish and Westminster Governments have not disclosed the content of legal advice other than in the most exceptional circumstances.

Question reference: S6W-07536

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Switched-on Taxi Loan Scheme, how many (a) applications it has received and (b) loans have been approved, and what the total value of loans issued is, to date.

The Scottish Government through Transport Scotland provide annual funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST) to deliver the Switched-on Taxi Loan scheme on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

a) To date the Switched-on Taxi Loan scheme has received 920 applications with a value of £37,822,348.

b) To date the Switched-on Taxi Loan scheme has offered 662 loans worth £22,859,952 to taxi owners and operators who have passed the credit, affordability and eligibility checks. Owners/operators who are unsuccessful are given the opportunity to appeal the decision directly with EST.

c) To date Switched-on Taxi Loan scheme has paid 574 applications to the value of £22,859,952. The remaining 88 applicants are finalising documentation or awaiting confirmed delivery dates for their new vehicles.

Question reference: S6O-00988

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the agricultural and fishing industries with rising fuel costs.