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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: S6O-01689

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its public consultation regarding the Scottish Aggregates Levy.

Question reference: S6O-01681

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its Covid Recovery Strategy considers the needs of rural communities.

Question reference: S6O-01697

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter signed by over 500 businesses asking for the Deposit Return Scheme to be delayed beyond next summer.

Question reference: S6O-01695

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support off-gas-grid households during the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-11568

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the minutes from the June 2022 meeting of the Ardrossan Harbour Task Force.

Question reference: S6W-12472

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Justice Directorate's budget has been spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each year since 2016.

The Justice Portfolio has spent £11,610.31 on first class rail travel for civil servants since 2016. Ministerial travel costs are paid for from a separate budget. A breakdown of the total cost is provided in the following table:

Calendar year	Calendar year spend (£)
2016	£1860.55

2017	£3975.54

2018	£3392.43

2019	£1009.24

2020	£292.25

2021	£998.35

2022 to date	£81.95

The Scottish Government’s rail travel policy dictates that civil servants should use standard class for all rail journeys. Scottish Government staff are also encouraged to aim to buy reduced rail fares, including day returns, saver tickets and also avoid expensive flexible/anytime rail fares whenever possible.

Civil Servants are, however, allowed to make use of first class rail travel on overnight journeys such as the Caledonian Sleeper or Eurostar. These journeys are reflected in the costs noted above.

Question reference: S6W-12430

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider providing insurance for MSPs, similar to the policies offered to MPs, including professional indemnity insurance.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body currently maintains the following types of insurance that extend to MSPs:

Employers’ liability
Public / Products Liability
Travel and personal injury

There is currently no provision for Members in respect of professional indemnity insurance and there are no current proposals to expand the existing suite of insurance provision. If any such proposals were to be made, consideration would need to be given to the guidance on insurance set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and budget implications generally. In place of insurance, the SPCB approved the Legal Advice Scheme. This Scheme allows the SPCB’s Legal Services function to provide advice to Members subject to certain conditions and exclusions, either directly or through supporting the provision of advice by People Services or Standards Clerks. This covers legal disputes, claims or actions raised against Members when acting in their parliamentary or constituency role; advice in relation to employment of Members’ staff; and advice in relation to Code of Conduct issues.

Question reference: S6W-12470

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much its Justice Directorate has spent on external management consultants in (a) 2012 and (b) each year since 2016.

The Justice portfolio has spent a total of £301,853.07 on external management consultants in 2012 and 2016-2019. This data relates to direct spend by the Scottish Government and does not include expenditure on consultancy services by public bodies. There was no spend on management consultancy services in the years 2020-2022. A breakdown of these costs is provided in the following table:

Year	Total	Business area
2012	£216,511.61	Police and Fire policy
2016	£3,904.60	Digital evidence sharing capability
2017	£26,973.46	Digital evidence sharing capability Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) job evaluation

	£2,000
2018	£51,168	Roadmap for transformation of the criminal justice sector
2019	£5,200	Independent Review into Police Complaints

Question reference: S6W-12452

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-00752 by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 February 2022, what consultation had taken place with island communities on the issue of unbundling the ferry network before 3 February 2022, and what consultation has taken place since.

Further to the answer to S6W-12451 on 6 December 2022 - Consultation was carried out in developing the Ferries Plan 2012-2022, we continue to have regular engagement on general ferry issues with island communities and appropriate consultation with all relevant stakeholders including the work to be taken forward by the Chair of the Ferries Community Board in the near future.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-12649

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the cost of the Cairngorm funicular railway repairs reportedly increased from £16 million to £25 million.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has confirmed that the timetable for repairs to the funicular had to be extended due to unforeseeable delays caused by the weather and Covid. In addition, technical challenges resulted in additional works needing to be carried out. Significant cost inflation in the construction sector and the weakness of sterling in international exchange rates also contributed to the cost increase.

I have asked Stuart Black, HIE’s Chief Executive, to write to you direct with a full explanation of the cost increase.