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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-12889

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its upcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will take account of (a) The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and (b) the recommendation to have a plan B for achieving the equivalent abatement should Negative Emission Technologies, such as carbon capture, fail to deliver, as set out in the previous parliamentary session's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee response to the Draft Updated Climate Change Plan, published on 4 March 2021.

The Scottish Government has drawn upon a range of evidence and analysis, including the The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report, during the development of the draft version of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The UK Government’s decision to not award the Scottish Cluster Track-1 status in their CCUS cluster sequencing process has generated significant uncertainty on the timely deployment of CCUS in Scotland and, therefore, our ability to achieve our emissions reduction targets and economic ambitions as part of a just transition.

Delays in the deployment of CCUS infrastructure in Scotland will require contingency planning (Plan B) to identify the additional emissions reduction effort that may be needed from other sectors to meet Scotland’s net zero commitments. This will be explored in the 2023 Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S6W-12765

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the target timescale is for making payments under the Low Carbon Transport Business Loan scheme, and what (a) number and (b) percentage of payments have met this target, in each of the last three years.

The Low Carbon Transport Loan, launched in 2011, provides interest free loans to help households and businesses purchase electric vehicles. Since its launch, the scheme has invested over £176 million, helped purchase 6,148 low emission vehicles, and saved over 113,000 tonnes of CO2. The LCTL has several distinct streams, including the domestic, business and taxi loan streams.

The Energy Saving Trust deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan on behalf of the Scottish Government. The target for processing submitted claims containing all requisite information is within 10 working days.

The following table shows the percentage of payments made to businesses within 10 working days of all the necessary information being submitted by the applicant. Despite the challenges posed by COVID, for the vast majority of cases falling outside of the target, payments have only been delayed by 1 or 2 days.

	TOTAL	In target	Out of target	% out of target	% in target
19-20	168	147	16	10%	90%
20-21	245	206	39	16%	84%
21-22	253	143	81	32%	68%
22-23*	57	51	6	11%	89%

*as at December 2022

Question reference: S6W-12715

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when Public Health Scotland will next publish data on the prevalence rate for problematic drug use in Scotland, and what years this data will cover.

Public Health Scotland is working with partners to develop and publish data on the prevalence rate for problematic drug use in Scotland. The next publication will include an estimate of the number of people with problematic opioid use during 2018-19 and this will be published by the end of 2023.

The most recent figures on the prevalence rate for problematic drug use in Scotland were published in 2018 and covered 2015-16.

Question reference: S6W-12714

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has modelled the financial costs of implementing Medication Assisted Treatment standards (a) one to five and (b) six to 10, and whether it will publish these costs.

Question reference: S6W-12753

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the average length of time for Social Security Scotland to process applications for Adult Disability Payment has been since it was introduced, and (a) how many and (b) what percentage of applications for Adult Disability Payment have taken more than 10 weeks to be processed.

Official Statistics on Adult Disability Payment were published on 13 December 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 31 October 2022. This publication is available from: https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance.

Information on average processing time and the profile of processing times is available in Table 9 of the accompanying Excel tables.

Question reference: S6W-12782

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the next Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey is due to be carried out.

Question reference: S6W-12980

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether average farm income has increased in real terms for each financial year since 2016-17, and, if so, by how much.

The latest estimates from the Farm Business Survey suggest that in the accounting year 2020-21, the average Farm Business Income (FBI) for businesses in the survey was £39,347. This represented an increase of 20 per cent (£6,517) in real terms from 2016-17, when the average income was £32,830. FBI includes income from grants and subsidies; when these are excluded farms are, on average, not profitable. Figures for other years are shown in the following table.

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Farm Business Income (2020/21 prices)	£32,830	£39,130	£42,636	£29,096	£39,347
FBI, excluding grants and subsidies (2020/21 prices)	-£13,056	-£8,221	-£4,121	-£16,304	-£3,340
Change in FBI from previous year		£6,300	£3,506	-£13,540	£10,251
Change in FBI from previous year (%)		19%	9%	-32%	35%

This table shows averages for all farm types included in the survey; more detailed data, including FBI for different farm types, is available at Scottish farm business income: annual estimates 2020-2021 .

Question reference: S6W-12895

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government who produced NHS Scotland’s new National Digital Platform (NDP).

The development of the National Digital Platform (NDP) is a core commitment from the joint SG/COSLA Digital Health and Care Strategy (2018). This strategy was refreshed in 2021. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was commissioned as the lead delivery partner.

Information on this important work is available via the website: www.nationaldigitalplatform.scot .

Up to 31 March 2022, a total of £6.838m was spent on the design, development and support for the NDP. NES accounts for spend during 2022-23 financial year have yet to be finalised and so associated costs for the NDP in this financial year cannot be provided as part of the answer.

Question reference: S6W-12891

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many delayed breast reconstruction operations have been carried out in 2022, broken down by (a) month and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-12736

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10644 by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2022, whether it will provide an update on its consideration of whether the gross revenue from the option fees raised via the ScotWind leasing process should fall within the scope of the existing 9% agreement with Crown Estate Scotland, and, if it is the case that this consideration is ongoing, what the timetable is for a conclusion to be reached.