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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: S6F-00434

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to meet the requirement for electric car charging points by 2030.

Question reference: S6F-00433

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking in response to reports of an increase in turnaround times for ambulances offloading patients at A&E departments.

Question reference: S6F-00427

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-00424

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-03973

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria will be used to assess any bids for national park status.

To be eligible for National Park Status, under the provisions of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 the area must meet the following 4 Aims:

(a) to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area,

(b) to promote sustainable use of the natural resources of the area,

(c) to promote understanding and enjoyment (including enjoyment in the form of recreation) of the special qualities of the area by the public, and

(d) to promote sustainable economic and social development of the area’s communities

In addition, the Act specifies 3 Conditions which are to be met before a National Park can be designated:

(a) that the area is of outstanding national importance because of its natural heritage or the combination of its natural and cultural heritage,

(b) that the area has a distinctive character and a coherent identity, and

(c) that designating the area as a National Park would meet the special needs of the area and would be the best means of ensuring that the National Park aims are collectively achieved in relation to the area in a co-ordinated way

Satisfying the Aims and Conditions of National Park will be the first step in identifying the area or areas to be taken forward. Further criterion will be required to evaluate the list of candidate areas. The first step in the process will be to develop and publicise this initial evaluation process.

Question reference: S6W-03951

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03450 by Lorna Slater on 21 October 2021, whether it will provide detail of estimates of the amount of re-used materials from second-hand stores, and the (a) number of jobs and (b) economic value associated with that activity, in each year since the Revolve scheme was launched.

Under Zero Waste Scotland’s Revolve certification scheme the number of stores reporting fluctuates year on year which leads to variations in data collated. Zero Waste Scotland do not receive data from all certified stores in a given year.

The data is self-reported by reuse stores, who can update monitoring processes for their unique circumstances over time.

While Zero Waste Scotland collect data on sales income, it does not hold data on the full "economic impact" of the reuse stores which would also include metrics such as other income, services provided, alongside social and employment impact.

Data collected by Zero Waste Scotland is set out in the following table.

Year	Number Of Stores Reporting Data	Staff - FTE	Volunteer Hours	Income From Sale Of Second-Hand Items	Material Reused (kg)	Number Of Items Reused
2013-14	25	no data	no data	1,986,969	1,526,628	no data
2014-15	26	no data	no data	2,878,186	1,802,033	no data
2015-16	99	2,047	300,348	39,884,503	6,817,588	no data
2016-17	88	5,178	285,436	33,867,993	23,940,519	no data
2017-18	82	2,209	337,307	33,760,806	14,689,394	21,219,368
2018-19	68	1,409	192,590	34,014,725	35,796,552	21,628,225
2019-20	42	941	114,319	28,392,122	31,787,481	20,643,926

Question reference: S6W-04008

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what resources it will make available to producers as part of its Deposit Return Scheme to make changes to third party online web shops and introduce the takeback service.

Question reference: S6W-04002

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether retrospective facial recognition technology will be used by (a) Police Scotland and (b) other security organisations as part of COP26 policing operations.

Question reference: S6W-04009

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of online retailers that will be included within the scope of its Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-03983

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considered introducing regulations to prevent the price gouging of accommodation during the COP26 conference.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware of reports of excessively high pricing in the accommodation sector in Glasgow during the COP26 summit and there are existing policies in place designed to address this issue.

Responsibility for consumer protection policy is reserved to the UK Government. Consumer protection enforcement lies with Local Authority Trading Standards Services (LATS) unless it is a market-wide issue which would be considered by the Competition and Market Authority. If people see potential price gouging issues they should contact Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) a national service funded by Scottish Government which is available to all citizens of Scotland. They are available at https://www.consumeradvice.scot/ and also on 0808 164 6000 . ADS will in turn notify LATS and the national team, Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), for further examination.

Although we recognise that this is ultimately a situation of market supply and demand, it is important to note that actions like this are likely to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour in the future. Businesses offering good quality accommodation at a fair price will continue to uphold Scotland’s reputation as a welcoming country, encouraging visitors to return.