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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: S6W-08674

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05590 by Clare Haughey on 28 January 2022, what its position is on the issue of historical forced adoption in light of the responses received to its questionnaire that has now closed.

Question reference: S6W-08721

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue it estimates (a) it and (b) Crown Estate Scotland will receive from ScotWind leases in each of the next 10 years.

The ScotWind lease option awards process has yet to be completed and the final figure raised through option agreements is still to be confirmed. Revenues received by Crown Estate Scotland from awards made to date amount to £699m.Crown Estate Scotland may raise further lease option revenues through the ScotWind clearing process, which is currently underway.

When projects enter a lease, they become operational and commence lease payments. Projects are currently at a very early stage and potential lease payment figures will become clearer as projects are further refined and progressed through the development phase. Payments to Crown Estate Scotland under lease agreements will be received by Crown Estate Scotland and transferred to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-08842

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the proposals to allow Ukrainian refugees settling in Scotland access to study at Scottish universities free of charge, with access to living cost support.

Ukrainians who arrive in Scotland and wish to undertake a course of study in Further or Higher Education will be entitled to home tuition fee status, free tuition and living cost support for the duration of their studies. This entitlement has been enshrined in the new student support regulations which were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 2022 and come into force on 1 August, being the start of the 2022- 23 Academic Year.

In addition, the Scottish Government also announced on 14 April, the creation of a new £1 million International Students’ Emergency Fund for international students who were facing financial hardship as a result of a significant change of circumstances.

Ukrainian students who have previously chosen to study at a college or university in Scotland and are facing financial hardship as a result of the Russian invasion will be eligible to apply to their college or university for support.

Question reference: S6W-08843

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the next monthly recorded crime in Scotland statistics are due for publication.

When the monthly recorded crime in Scotland statistics were last published in April, they highlighted to users that these official statistics would be replaced with a quarterly release of National Statistics, which will present the latest rolling 12-month period. As part of the transition to a quarterly release schedule, and to ensure the publication of data in as timely a manner as possible, the release of the annual National Statistics publication for 2021-22 is being brought forward from September to 28 June.

These and other changes to the production of the recorded crime statistics are a matter for independent statisticians and the Scottish Crime Recording Board, not Ministers. They were approved by the Board following a public consultation of users. The Board’s remit includes ensuring the production of crime statistics is undertaken in a manner consistent with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. An associated report on responses to the consultation and the resulting changes was published on 24 March ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/consultation-future-recorded-crime-police-activity-statistics-summary-responses-discussion-next-steps/ ).

Question reference: S6W-08777

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing statutory powers to apply a public interest to all landholdings above an agreed scale.

We are committed to bringing forward a new Land Reform Bill in this parliamentary session. We will undertake a wide-ranging consultation this year on proposals for the Bill, which will build on our land reform measures to date and will further tackle Scotland’s historically iniquitous patterns of land ownership - including by tackling problematic scale and concentration of ownership. The Bill will aim to ensure that the public interest is considered on transfers of particularly large scale land holdings.

Question reference: S6W-08781

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done to map out land ownership since the publication of the 2019 report, The effects associated with concentrated and large-scale land ownership in Scotland: a research review by the Scottish Land Commission.

Documenting land ownership in Scotland is a key aim of the Land Register of Scotland which is held and maintained by The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (ROS) and is accessible online free of charge. Registers of Scotland (RoS) RoS are continually working to record land ownership and improve land mass coverage of records on the Land Register. Full completion of the Land Register is dependent on landowners submitting applications, however, RoS have made significant progress over the last year in their approach to making data held within the General Register of Sasines rather than the Land Register more accessible. As a result they can now link Sasine property search sheets to a map for the first time, making it visually more helpful and accessible. This is also a way of showing indicative ownership extents of Sasines titles which will help fill in current gaps in the Land Register.

Question reference: S6W-08919

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made against Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government do not hold the data requested.

Since the formation of Police Scotland in 2013, Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department have been responsible for investigating complaints against officers up to the rank of Chief Superintendent. Any complaints against senior officers are a matter for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

The SPA Complaints and Conduct Committee provide annual and quarterly reports on complaints. The most recent annual report covers the period 2020/21: https://www.spa.police.uk/spa-media/mq1jgwsq/spa-complaints-conduct-committee-2020_21-annual-report-final-dp-update.pdf

Further information, including archived reports are available on the SPA website: https://www.spa.police.uk/meetings.

You may also be interested in information published on Police Scotland’s disclosure log where responses to FOIs are published: https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/

Question reference: S6O-01236

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, 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 contribution local culture, evidenced in museums such as the Trimontium Museum in Melrose and the National Mining Museum Scotland in Newtongrange, makes to the local and wider Scottish economy.

Question reference: S6O-01238

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has now published all the legal advice it has received in relation to a second independence referendum.

Question reference: S6O-01237

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what priority it attaches to developing relationships with other European countries.