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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-00341

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the announcement that the SQA has entered a two-year agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to improve equalities practices after the Commission established that the SQA was not routinely assessing the impact of its policies and practices against the three needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Question reference: S6F-00339

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

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

Question reference: S6F-00326

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00327

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-03207

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what material impact its policies and enforcement measures have had on incidences of waste crime over the last five years.

The Scottish Government continues to work with and support Scotland's environmental regulator SEPA in tackling waste crime.

The introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced additional enforcement measures for SEPA to utilise which included Fixed Monetary Penalties, Variable Monetary Penalties and Enforcement Undertakings. This has expanded SEPA's toolkit for tackling environmental offending and allows a greater range of remedies targeted at both punishment of offender and remediation of environmental harm.

SEPA participate in several multi agency initiatives such as the Scottish Organised Crime Task Force and the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, a cross UK initiative to allow greater collaboration and operational impact on serious waste crime , particularly those who operate cross border.

In respect of tackling the ongoing issue of litter, a review of the National Litter Strategy was completed in 2019 and published on the Scottish Government website earlier this year. The review provides a snapshot of the activities that took place between 2014 and 2019 and also outlines areas of success and good practice case studies. Work has begun to refresh this as a National Litter and Flytipping strategy, which will be published in early 2022. Enforcement will be one of the four key themes this strategy focusses on.

Data on waste crime convictions is available from SEPA's website ( www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/enforcement).

Question reference: S6W-03175

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether guidance allows for employers to dismiss positive COVID-19 lateral flow tests taken by employees unless the individual has returned a positive PCR test result.

The Scottish Government’s guidance for employers on Test & Protect is regularly updated. This sets out the support that employers should give to employees who are required to self-isolate. It also sets out steps that employees can take if they feel that their employer is not enabling them to complete periods of requested self-isolation. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-test-and-protect/pages/advice-for-employers/ .

Anyone who returns a positive LFD test result should self-isolate and book a follow-up PCR test. Employers should be supportive of any colleague who needs to self-isolate following a positive LFD test while they await their follow-up PCR test results, even if the colleague remains asymptomatic.

Furthermore, employers should carry out COVID-19 risk assessments as part of managing risk in the workplace to reduce the risk of transmission.

Regulators (including local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive) have engaged with businesses throughout the pandemic to ensure they understand the guidance and are able to meet the regulatory requirements.

Question reference: S6W-03234

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many water scarcity incidents have been reported to SEPA since 1 April 2021, and how many of these have resulted in regulatory action.

Question reference: S6W-03198

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-02398 by Patrick Harvie on 13 September 2021, by what date it will have completed "developing and implementing a bespoke public engagement strategy for heat in buildings".

Question reference: S6W-03193

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether 1 July 2022 continues to be the go-live date for the introduction of the deposit return scheme.

Question reference: S6W-03240

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress SEPA has made in "driving all remaining businesses not yet meeting set standards into full compliance with the environmental laws in Scotland", as set out in the foreword to the agency's regulatory strategy.