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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-34014

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost of PAT testing Christmas decorations in the Parliament building has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34020

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many Parliament passes have been reported lost or stolen in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34016

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost of window cleaning services has been in each of the last five years.

Window cleaning services at the Scottish Parliament are carried out by both Mitie Cleaning and Environmental Services Ltd (general cleaning contract) and TRAC International Ltd (High-level Building Maintenance Contract). We do not hold information in a format which allows us to identify the costs of cleaning windows. Payments made under both contracts do not distinguish window cleaning from other cleaning services undertaken by Mitie or as part of the work regularly done by Trac. Information about suppliers for each business area within the SPCB, including the provision of cleaning services is publicly available in the Contracts Register on the Scottish Parliament website.

Question reference: S6W-34008

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average occupancy rate of the Parliament crèche has been in each of the last five years.

We can’t easily calculate an occupancy rate for the creche, as the overall capacity of the creche varies depending on the ages of the children using it and the required staffing ratios (i.e. 0-2 years requires 1 staff member to every 3 children, 2-3 years requires 1 staff member to every 5 children, 3-5 years requires 1 staff member to every 8 children).

In terms of overall usage, in 2019/20 the creche had a total of 2759 bookings with average length of stay of 1hr 41mins. In 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, the creche service was closed due to the pandemic and the time required to set up a new service contract. In 2023/24, the creche returned with reduced opening hours (now only operating 3 days per week, rather than 5 day per week). There were 894 bookings in 2023/24 with an average length of stay of 2hr 13mins. The number of bookings in 2023/24 only reflect 10 months of opening, as the service was still being mobilised for the first 2 months of the year.

Question reference: S6W-34004

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has conducted a review into the environmental impact of supplying sauce sachets and salt and pepper sachets.

We consistently monitor and review the use of single-use items throughout the catering services with our contractor, with sauce sachets now only available by request at the till to minimise waste. We have previously tried using pump-style dispensers to reduce the number of sachets, however there were several challenges around stocking, cleaning, and maintenance. We will continue to work with our service provider to identify measures to reduce single-use items across the services where possible.

Question reference: S6W-34017

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost of gardening and landscaping services has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34006

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much has been spent on new and replacement (a) televisions and (b) monitors in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-34011

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many flags it has purchased in each of the last 15 years, and what flags were purchased.

Question reference: S6W-34002

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many (a) plastic, (b) paper, (c) metal and (d) glass straws (i) it and (ii) its suppliers have procured, and what the average cost of each straw was, in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-34003

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many sachets of (a) sauce and (b) salt and pepper (i) it and (ii) its suppliers have procured, and what the average cost was for each item, in each of the last 10 years.

Our catering services contractor holds data from 2015 onwards:

Salt & Pepper sachets	Quantity	Average value
2015	60,000	0.00341p
2016	62,000	0.0034p
2017	62,000	0.0036p
2018	58,000	0.003595p
2019	64,000	0.0036p
2020	24,000	0.0036p
2021	22,000	0.0037p
2022	38,000	0.003677p
2023	58,000	0.00409p
2024	62,000	0.00292p
2025	8,000	0.00292p

Sauce sachets	Purchased	Average value
2015	39,600	0.0228p
2016	40,200	0.024p
2017	19,600	0.02625p
2018	16,200	0.032p
2019	9,000	0.0329p
2020	10,800	0.0319p
2021	13,400	0.0337p
2022	14,800	0.0236p
2023	16,400	0.0236p
2024	18,200	0.0376p
2025	1,000	0.0348p

	Paper straws		Metal straws
Year	Straws purchased	Average price	Straws purchased	Average price
2022	250	0.005p	0	n/a
2023	500	0.005p	20	0.78p
2024	500	0.005p	0	n/a