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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-00602

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support ferry services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00575

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scale of the problem of sexual assault faced by girls at school.

There is no place for harassment or abuse of any form, whether in the workplace, schools, in the home or in society. Through our Equally Safe delivery plan and review of Personal and Social Education, we are taking action aimed at preventing sexual harassment and gender-based violence, in order to develop positive relationships amongst children and young people.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education take matters of safeguarding very seriously. This is a well-established priority and approaches to safeguarding and child protection are evaluated in every school inspection.

We have committed to commissioning an independent review to establish positive practice and further areas for improvement, during this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-05377

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 December 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to publish the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care.

Significant work has already taken place to develop a National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social care, in partnership with CoSLA.

Pursuant to extensive consultation with stakeholders from across the health and social care landscape, the Strategy will outline our shared vision for the workforce, which supports a tripartite ambition of recovery, growth and transformation. It will also set out the actions we are taking in partnership with the workforce, to achieve that vision.

Unfortunately, the rapid emergence of the Omicron variant including the potential challenges this presents for maintenance of our Health and Social care services as we move through Winter, means that this is rightly our immediate focus. We will do all we can to ensure staff are protected and are rapidly increasing the rollout of our vaccinations programme to protect the public.

In light of these developments, the Strategy will now be published in early 2022 to allow us to focus our efforts on the essential business of responding to Covid-19, It is essential we do all we can to promote staff wellbeing, and we will reflect on this next phase of the pandemic as we move forward with publication of the Strategy as soon as is practicable.

Question reference: S6W-05032

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date a review into the response to Storm Arwen will commence.

Work to review the response to Storm Arwen is already well underway.

I requested that the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division begin work on the scope and terms of a review into the Storm Arwen response on 30 November 2021, and on 14 December 2021 I formally commissioned the Scottish Resilience Partnership to collate evidence from local resilience partnerships to inform the findings of the review.

The Scottish Government will also gather evidence from other relevant groups, for example the voluntary sector and utilities companies.
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I aim to publish a review paper with recommendations as early as possible in 2022, although I now expect that to be later than originally planned due to the need to enable resilience partners to prioritise the pandemic response.

Question reference: S6W-04963

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of premises in each Scottish parliamentary constituency have access to broadband speeds of no more than (i) 5, (ii) 10 and (iii) 24 Mbps.

We do not hold this data. However, Ofcom provides breakdowns at Local Authority and UK parliamentary constituency level as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report . Please also note that Ofcom breaks down this data into different speed categories than those you have requested.

Question reference: S6W-04926

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the development of a new gas-fired power station at Peterhead.

The Scottish Government supports the development of new electricity power stations with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) such as the proposal for a new station at Peterhead. This has the potential to ensure that a net zero electricity system in Scottish remains resilient and secure.

The Scottish Government is supportive of CCUS, an industrial scale decarbonisation system with the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets. The advice from the Climate Change Committee describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net zero emissions.

Question reference: S6W-04825

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has paid for its (a) active and (b) inactive website domain names in each year since 2016.

Scottish Government makes DNS changes to domains on a daily basis. Given the number of change requests that have been processed each day since renewals in 2016 and the way in which domains are managed it is not possible for us to provide an accurate breakdown of the “active” or “inactive” domains for any date or year other than the latest data we have for the current portfolio as it stands today. We can however provide a breakdown of annual costs for the renewal, management and enterprise DNS provision for the Scottish Government domains portfolio each year since 2016.

Date Total domains Total Ex Vat

2021-06-30 1039 £13,267.50

2020-06-30 1021 £12,530.00

2019-06-30 837 £10,455.00

2018-06-30 705 £8,493.00

2017-06-30 640 £7,612.00

2016-06-30 630 £7,186.00

We have defined “active” as a domain that has DNS configuration applied to it. Any domain that is currently parked with our Registrar Com Laude or has no DNS configuration has been defined as “inactive”.

Question reference: S6W-04820

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many further masts it plans to install as part of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) the Western Isles, (c) the Highlands, (d) Orkney, (e) Shetland and (f) Moray.

The Scottish 4G Infill Programme is investing £28.75M to build up to 55 mobile masts designed to bring 4G connectivity to rural and island communities around Scotland. Updates are published on a regular basis at Scottish 4G infill programme: progress update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

In the areas specified, the current breakdown offurther masts planned is:

(a) Argyll and Bute (7) – Ardlussa, Brecklate, Carrine, Craighouse, Crinan, Lochbuie, Kilchoman

(b) Western Isles (2) – Baymore, Manish

(d) Orkney (1) – Rackwick

(e) Shetland (2) – Bruray, Ham

(f) Moray (0)

Question reference: S6W-04821

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many communities are currently without 4G services in (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) the Western Isles, (c) the Highlands, (d) Orkney, (e) Shetland and (f) Moray.

The Scottish Government does not collate or hold data on commercial 4G coverage across Scotland.

However, Ofcom provides this data as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information, including local authority area breakdown, can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report .

Question reference: S6W-04804

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what projects it is developing in Moray through the Just Transition Fund; where they will be located, and how it will ensure that Moray will benefit equitably from investment in (a) projects, (b) jobs and (c) skills development.

We set out an initial £20 million allocation for the Fund in our draft Budget document on the 9th December. Building on our commitment to co-design, we will take forward a series of engagements in the new year with partners across the region to design the approach for the implementation of the Fund, including how investments can demonstrate alignment with the national outcomes we set out in our response to the Just Transition Commission in September 2021.

We are fully committed to ensuring this Fund benefits communities fairly across the North East and Moray region. Our engagement activity will cover the region as a whole, ensuring that communities and businesses in Moray, with others, are able to influence the approach taken for the Fund.