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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: S6T-00678

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the ruling of the Scottish Information Commissioner that it should release legal advice that it received regarding a second independence referendum.

Question reference: S6T-00671

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to ensure that Ukrainian families understand the conditions of its Super Sponsor Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-08068

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £1 million funding under the Creative Digital Initiative has been spent to date.

The Scottish Government funded a £1 million Creative Digital Initiative to deliver a range of activity and support to upskill creative businesses in their digital capabilities and capacity through a public sector partnership.

Creative Scotland were allocated over £290,000 to deliver multiple projects, including a digital commissioning programme via The Space to help creative businesses grow the skills, knowledge and confidence required in key areas of their digital activity. Creative Scotland also delivered a Digital Pivot mentoring and peer support programme, and the Next Level Up programme to transform those who were already digitally engaged into digital leaders and support creative industries and to cultural sector participants to take the digital opportunity to the next level.

£40,000 of funding was allocated to the delivery of an XpoNorth web portal and nearly £30,000 was allocated to South of Scotland Enterprise to deliver digital skills webinars and short courses to support the understanding of the potential of digital.

Skills Development Scotland were allocated £60,000 to deliver a Creative Game Changers programme, providing specialist mentoring, coaching and 1-2-1 support, engaging with up to 20 creative businesses, freelancers or sole traders. Skills Development Scotland are also leading on an evaluation of the project to consider next steps for upskilling the digital capability of creatives.

£525,000 was provided to Scottish Enterprise to provide large enterprise grant support.

The CDI Steering Group will consider how best to allocate any remaining funds, using the CDI project evaluation to consider sector needs.

Question reference: S6W-08071

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will commission its proposed feasibility study on rent data collection.

The level of engagement with the ‘New Deal for Tenants’ consultation has been positive, generating a large number of responses. The Scottish Government are currently considering these responses to inform the development of our approach to collection of rent data. The emerging findings from the consultation will help to define the scope of the proposed feasibility study, which we will seek to commission as soon as we have fully taken into account the analysis of responses from the consultation.

Question reference: S6W-07754

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it collects information on the measures being put in place by local authorities to address any barriers faced by disabled people who work for local authorities.

The duty to ensure equality of opportunity rests with employers and so the development and implementation of plans is a matter for Local Authorities. The Scottish Government does not collect this information centrally.

Public sector bodies, including local authorities, are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) which requires listed public authorities, in all their functions, to have due regard to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic, such as disabled people, and those who do not.

Furthermore, local authorities in Scotland are subject to The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. This includes a duty to gather and use employee information in relation to their protected characteristics, before using that information to better fulfil their duties under the PSED; as well as a duty to publish statements on equal pay and occupational segregation (within organisations) regarding disabled people. Responsibility for ensuring compliance with these duties lies with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the effectiveness of the PSED in Scotland. This means reviewing the Scottish Specific Duties as well as the implementation environment in which they sit. From December 2021 to April 2022 we ran a public consultation containing ambitious and detailed proposals for changes to the duties, several of which will help to address barriers faced by disabled people in the workforce.

After consultation responses have been analysed, we will continue to work with public bodies and equality advocacy groups with a view to introducing new regulations that will deliver better outcomes for those who experience inequality.

Question reference: S6W-08066

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards the SNP manifesto commitment to create a fund for public artwork, and when it anticipates that this will be in place.

This Government is committed to broadening the range of people represented in Scotland’s public places, reflecting in particular the contribution of women and ethnic minorities. A specific fund is being considered in the context of the Scottish Government’s longer term spending plans and we will discuss how such a fund might be best deployed with Creative Scotland, whose remit includes public art.

Question reference: S6W-08072

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the scope of its proposed feasibility study on rent data collection will include.

The Scottish Government has published proposals on the collection of additional rent data on pages 76 to 78 of the Draft Rented Sector Strategy Consultation paper titled ‘ A New Deal for Tenants ’.

The scope of the feasibility will cover all the aspects raised on pages 76 to 78 and will also take into consideration any additional issues raised through Consultation responses and during discussions with key delivery partners.

Question reference: S6W-08089

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when a (a) Women's Health Champion and (b) Women’s Health Lead in every NHS board will be appointed, as stated in its Women's Health Plan.

We published the Women’s Health Plan in August 2021. The actions in the Plan are divided into short term (one year), medium term (one to three years) and long term (three years or more) timescales.

As set out in the Plan we will be appointing a national Women’s Health Champion. In addition, a Women's Health Lead will be established in every NHS board to drive change and share best practice and innovation. These are medium term actions but scoping work is underway and further announcements will be made in due course.

Question reference: S6W-07791

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07145 by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022, whether it will now provide the information requested on whether Circularity Scotland has entered into signed contracts with partners to deliver the Deposit Return Scheme's logistics, operations and IT systems, in line with the timescale that it set out in December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-07795

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some local authorities are not paying the £150 council tax rebate to people who do not pay by Direct Debit, and stating that they will instead deduct it from next year's council tax bill.

Our guidance to local authorities on the administration of the cost of living award, available at Local government finance circulars - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , sets out that councils have discretion to choose how this support is provided to eligible households in order to ensure delivery in April 2022.

All local authorities have now confirmed that most payments are included as a credit in Council Tax Bills for 2022-23.