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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-05899

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much investment it has made into active travel initiatives in Stirling since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-05954

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of the PAS 2035 standard.

We already require projects funded as part of our fuel poverty schemes including Local Authority Area Based Schemes, Warmer Homes Scotland and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund to comply with all relevant building regulations, retrofit standards and guarantee requirements. The PAS 2035 standard has applied since July 2021 and retrofit installers must now work to this specification.

This was further developed in our Heat in Buildings Strategy where we announced our intention to adopt PAS 2035 for all our domestic schemes.

Question reference: S6W-05952

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether Unique Property Reference Numbers were used during Storm Arwen to locate people who are identified on the vulnerable persons list, and, if not, for what reason.

Question reference: S6W-05942

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Deposit Return Scheme will be expanded in a similar way to the Latvian scheme, to include standardised refillable bottles and containers for one-way recycling.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will focus on non-refillable single-use drinks containers. Including refillables in the scheme would add a significant degree of complexity, with the need for industry to agree and operate standard bottle and collection crate designs and put in place bottle washing and refilling facilities in addition to the infrastructure already required for our DRS.

Once our DRS is operational we intend to consider options to expand the scope of the scheme. If there is a case for including refillable containers at this point then we can explore this as part of that work.

Scotland’s DRS will be ambitious by the standards of European schemes, including Latvia’s. I would note that Latvia’s scheme, unlike ours, is intended to exclude wine and spirits and that, while our scheme will reach 90% of containers collected for recycling by 2025, Latvia will not do so until 2030 for plastic and glass, and their target for aluminium is only 60%.

Question reference: S6W-05930

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons no requests have been granted for victims to attend parole board hearings since this was permitted in March 2021.

The measures that the Parole Board had to take in response to COVID, to ensure the safe working of staff and others, meant that it has not been feasible to facilitate arrangements for a victim to observe a Tribunal. The Parole Board rules require proceedings to be kept confidential which means that a member of staff needs to be present, with the victim observing by video link.

The Parole Board has however, used this time to put in place the mechanisms needed to allow this to happen when it is safe to do so. In light of the relaxation of the working from home guidelines from 1 February 2022, the Parole Board has indicated that it will now begin to consider requests to observe hearings, with a view to testing first before moving to full implementation in the Spring. Granting of requests to view a Tribunal is a matter for the independent Parole Board following consideration of representations from the prisoner.

Question reference: S6W-05962

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on implementing the recommendations of the Scottish Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance in relation to owners (a) in tenements forming owners' associations, (b) and building reserve funds and (c) and five-yearly building condition reports, which it committed to support through voluntary and incremental change until legislation is in place.

The Scottish Law Commission have accepted a reference from the Scottish Government, commissioning project work to review the law of the tenement in Scotland and to make recommendations regarding the establishment of compulsory owners’ associations, building reserve funds and building inspections.

The Scottish Government has commissioned research on repair costs and the viability of owners’ associations, and engaged with stakeholders including tenement owners regarding compulsory factoring.

Separately, the Scottish Government will be publishing a public consultation on a new housing standard for Scotland in the course of 2022 which will inform plans for future legislation. We will also be circulating draft guidance for private landlords on changes to the repairing standard which come into force in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-05955

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the removal of fireplaces in properties in rural communities in order to meet new housing standards, in light of the potential impact that this could have during events such as Storm Arwen, and whether it will consider allowing fireplaces to be kept as a back-up heating source.

Social landlords are responsible for ensuring their housing stock complies with housing standards including the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). Decisions on how the energy efficiency ratings required by EESSH are met, is an operational matter for individual social landlords and not something in which the Scottish Government can intervene. EESSH does not require the removal of fireplaces. Any decisions to remove fireplaces in social housing in rural communities lies solely with the social landlord who owns the housing stock.

Compliance with EESSH is reported to the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) and social landlords can claim exemptions where there are significant obstacles relating to cost, technology and necessary consent.

Question reference: S6W-05977

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making (a) Distance Aware badges and (b) COVID-19 lateral flow tests available for collection in local retail community shops in rural, remote and island areas.

The Scottish Government has given full consideration to ensuring Distance Aware badges and lateral flow device (LFD) tests are available across Scotland, including in rural, remote and island areas.

As well as Distance Aware products being available in ASDA stores and online from a number of charities, we have also ensured badges and lanyards are available in all community and mobile libraries across Scotland. We will monitor and evaluate awareness, uptake and impact of the initiative over the coming weeks.

People living in rural and remote areas can also access LFD tests online, or collect from participating local pharmacies and dispensing GPs. Additionally, we have provided local partners with LFD tests, signage and posters, to establish additional LFD test community collection points over the winter period. These sites range from transport hubs to vaccination centres and are advertised on local authority websites.

Question reference: S6W-05967

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, following the publication of Audit Scotland’s report, Planning for Skills, what action it is taking to improve collaborative working between Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council on skills alignment.

The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendations that Audit Scotland has made in its report and there are a number of areas highlighted in the report where progress has already been made.

The first of these is bringing the responsibility for the tertiary education and skills system within a single Ministerial portfolio. This represents a material change to the leadership and oversight of both agencies responsible for delivering improvements to our skills system and provides clear lines of accountability.

New governance arrangements have recently been established to oversee a number of collaborative projects in this space. This is the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group which brings together the Senior Responsible Officers from both agencies and government to provide constructive challenge, seek assurance on delivery and to identify solutions to any issues and challenges arising.

There are also numerous examples of positive collaborative working that are already well established, including delivery of apprenticeships, the Young Persons Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund.

We will update Parliament on how we plan to take forward our response to the report’s recommendations in due course.

Question reference: S6W-05924

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) women have frozen their eggs and (b) men have frozen their sperm through NHS fertility services in each of the past five years.

This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact the Health Boards for the four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland who may be able to provide this information. Contact details for each Health Board is set out below.

NHS Grampian – for the Aberdeen Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: gram.communications@nhs.scot

By Post:

NHS Grampian
‎ Summerfield House
‎ 2 Eday Road
‎ Aberdeen
‎ AB15 6RE

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – for the Glasgow Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

By Post: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Board Corporate Headquarters

JB Russell House

Gartnavel Royal Hospital

1055 Great Western Road

GLASGOW

G12 0XH

NHS Lothian – for the Edinburgh Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk By Post: Lothian NHS Board

Waverleygate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

NHS Tayside - for the Dundee Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: tay.informationgovernance@nhs.scot

By Post: Information Governance

Maryfield House (South)
‎ 30 Mains Loan
‎ Dundee
‎ DD4 7BT