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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-00794

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authorities to ensure that disabled and partially sighted people are able to participate in the 2022 local government elections.

Question reference: S6O-00801

Asked by: Joe FitzPatrick, MSP for Dundee City West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its action to decarbonise buses.

Question reference: S6O-00810

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that farms are at the cutting edge of innovation and technology.

Question reference: S6W-05330

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government regarding the devolution of aspects of asylum support.

The Smith Commission recommended that the Scottish and UK Governments should ‘explore the possibility of different powers being in place in Scotland for asylum seekers to access accommodation and financial support and advice.’ Discussions on this recommendation took place over a period of around two years, but concluded without making progress.

The Scottish Government continues to raise issues which impact people seeking asylum living in Scotland and has consistently pressed the UK Government to ensure that people have access to the support and services they need. This includes raising concerns about use of hotels as contingency initial asylum accommodation in correspondence published in January 2022: Use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers: correspondence with UK government - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

I have also requested that the Home Office re-establish regular four nation meetings on asylum to support continued discussions on asylum policy and operations.

Question reference: S6W-06315

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to communities in LOT 1 of its R100 broadband programme, in light of reports that, due to high interest in Openreach's Fibre Community Partnership programme, the company has had to temporarily pause new registrations while focussing on existing requests.

Openreach’s Fibre Community Partnership is a commercial offering and, therefore, the Scottish Government has no remit to intervene in their operation of that scheme, given the reserved nature of telecoms in the UK.

Properties, including those in the R100 North lot (Lot 1), may be eligible for a voucher through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – either an interim voucher (worth up to £400) or a main voucher (worth up to £5,000), depending on connection status. People can check their eligibility using our online checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com .

Question reference: S6W-06085

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to facilitate access for businesses to information on COVID-19 outbreaks by area, in light of reports of insurance companies requiring evidence of this, prior to processing claims.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published guidance on what is reasonable for a policyholder to rely on to satisfy the burden of proof for claims against Business Interruption Insurance. This includes, but is not limited to, a range of publicly available data including the Public Health Scotland Daily Dashboard which provides information about the location of positive cases in Scotland.

We have been as open and transparent as possible, with professional analysts publishing available data seven days a week to inform the public on how the pandemic is progressing. The data made available will continue to evolve over time to ensure the most relevant information is included, and it is fit for purpose. This supports public scrutiny and transparency, providing timely and equal access to data for the public, media and other commentators.

Work is underway with Public Health Scotland and other partners to review the content and frequency of all Scottish Government current data reporting to identify what is required to support resilience and recovery in the future. This will involve prioritising the modelling, data and analysis that is essential to support the future monitoring and surveillance of Covid. We also need to establish the data and evidence required to monitor the wider harms of Covid in the future. A data and reporting strategy will be published in Spring to support implementation of the Strategic Framework following consultation on any planned changes.

There is no evidence at this time to suggest that insurance companies are not following the FCA’s guidance or that there are any specific issues regarding access to data to support insurance claims being made by businesses in Scotland. The Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with the United Kingdom Government, the FCA and the insurance industry and will engage with them specifically on this matter as part of regular ministerial and official engagement activity.

Question reference: S6W-06194

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the levels of stocks of smoke alarms available to people seeking to install battery-operated alarms in line with the new legislation on interlinked fire alarms.

We are aware that there is significant public interest in carrying out work to comply with the new standard for fire alarms in all Scottish homes. We are also aware that some retailers have short term supply issues, and may be affected by difficulties with imported components. Whilst we encourage homeowners to install these alarms at their earliest opportunity to protect lives and possessions, we have emphasised consistently that there will be no penalties for non-compliance and individual circumstances, including availability of suitable alarms, will be taken into account.

Question reference: S6W-06420

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reserves of an independent Scottish central bank would be funded entirely from an independent Scottish budget.

Question reference: S6W-06058

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the (a) Strategic Framework Business Fund and (b) COVID-19 Restrictions Fund has been distributed from its total allocated funding in each month since its inception.

The Strategic Framework Business Fund made payments to businesses from November 2020 to March 2021. The Local restrictions fund made payments to businesses made from May to July 2021. The Scottish Government has regularly published management information and statistics on all Covid-19 business support funds covering payments made from January 2021 to January 2022: Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support funding statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

A summary of business support funding paid out since the start of the pandemic is available on the Scottish Government website, providing Scotland-wide management information on the funds delivered up to January 2022: Coronavirus (COVID-19): summary of Scottish business support funding - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-06208

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to support businesses that are experiencing higher than average instances of long-term employee absence, in light of research by the CIPD reportedly showing that 26% of organisations list long-COVID among their main causes of long-term sickness absence.

The Scottish Government is keen to support businesses in ways we can and since the start of the pandemic have provided support of more than £4.4bn including COVID-19 non-domestic rates reliefs which have saved businesses around £1.6bn in reduced rates bills since 1 April 2020. To date we have spent almost half a billion pounds more in support of Scottish businesses than the funding we received from the UK Government for that purpose.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has worked in partnership with NHS 24 to develop a long COVID information resource on NHS inform, in order to provide people living with long COVID with clear and accessible guidance about self-management. This resource includes specific advice on navigating a return to work and signposts to information developed by the Society of Occupational Medicine and Acas, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.

The National Wellbeing Hub has also produced guidance for employers and managers. This platform also features interviews with people affected by long COVID sharing first hand experiences of how a supportive and successful return to work can be achieved.