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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-01233

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Scotland's Census 2022.

Question reference: S6O-01245

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the continued use of Asulox for bracken control.

Question reference: S6O-01241

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards its commitment to deliver a free laptop or tablet to every school child in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01240

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the missions of the Scottish National Investment Bank.

Question reference: S6O-01243

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the support capacity of Home Energy Scotland was before this was increased by 12,000 households.

Question reference: S6O-01244

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is strengthening transport links to rural areas.

Question reference: S6O-01242

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the mental health and wellbeing of officers and staff within Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01246

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-01239

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in encouraging employers to pay the real Living Wage.

Question reference: S6W-08823

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08059 by Mairi Gougeon on 5 May 2022, by how much it aims to reduce the total volume discarded of each species that was recorded as discarded by Scottish boats in (a) future years and (b) ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) areas (i) 4 and (ii) 6a as part of the changes proposed in its Future Catching Policy.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling the wasteful practice of discarding and we have set out our proposals to address this issue in our Future Catching Policy (FCP) consultation, which ran from 15 March to 7 June. The Future Catching Policy has co-management at the heart of its approach, recognising that we need to work in partnership to develop robust and workable practices to reduce unwanted catch of fish and bycatch of other marine species. This will help to reduce discarding as far as possible whilst allowing for limited discarding in certain circumstances under permitted exemptions. We do not have a target for the reduction in discards, rather we are focussed on eliminating illegal discarding, and ensuring that any discarding which does take place under permitted exemptions is properly recorded and accounted for to enable sustainable fishing activity to take place. This is in keeping with the current approach under the current EU/UK landing obligation.

A key component of the proposed FCP is to put in place additional technical (e.g. gear selectivity) and spatial (e.g. area closures to protect spawning fish) measures, designed to reduce unwanted catch further where required.The fishing industry is already heavily regulated, with many rules in place already designed to limit unwanted catch (for example, the use of square mesh panels in fishing nets in the west of Scotland Nephrops fishery, or the spatial measures within the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan). There is scope to increase these measures through the FCP in a proportionate way.

We will be analysing responses to the consultation prior to confirming firm proposals later this year.