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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.

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Question reference: S6W-01678

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish (a) the contract and (b) all correspondence regarding its appointment as the managing agent of Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd during its administration.

Question reference: S6W-01676

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all correspondence between it and (a) Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) and (b) HCC International Insurance Company regarding the reported forfeiture of the £25 million bond from HCC International Insurance Company.

Question reference: S6W-01993

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it allocated to and (b) has been distributed to performing arts venues from the (i) Third Sector Resilience Fund, (ii) Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund and (iii) Heritage Emergency Fund.

(i)The Third Sector Resilience Fund

(a) The £25 million Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF) was open to all third sector organisations (TSOs) in Scotland affected financially by Covid-19.

(b) 151 awards totalling £2,518,605 were made to organisations under the category “Creative Industries” which included theatres and workshops.

An analysis of the TSRF was published in November 2020 -

Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF): analysis of applications and wards - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

(ii) Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund

Data for awards made specifically to performing arts venues through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund is unavailable at this time. 154 awards were, however, made to businesses which fell within the Creative Industries sector accounting for £12.473 million of the funding awarded. This fund ran concurrently with the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund through which 552 payments were made to businesses classified as being in the creative industries sector contributing £5.725 million of funding.

Additionally, a total of £24.5 Million has been available specifically to performing arts venues via the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund which was distributed in two stages. This is in addition to the £28 million made available through the Cultural Organisations and Venue relief fund which was also distributed in two stages.

(iii) Heritage Emergency Fund

The Heritage Emergency Fund is a UK wide fund supported by the National Lottery. Further information on funded schemes can be found at www.heritagefund.org.uk or alternatively contact scotlandcontact@heritagefund.org.uk.

Question reference: S6W-01828

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in each local authority it estimates (a) currently and (b) will access broadband through (i) the R100 contracts, (ii) the superfast broadband voucher scheme and (iii) commercial coverage.

As of 22 July 2021:

a) the number of households in each local authority that can access broadband as a direct result of (i) the R100 contracts, (ii) the main voucher (MVS – worth up to £5,000) and the interim voucher (IVS – worth up to £400) portions of the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) and (iii) commercial coverage stands at:

Local Authority	Current R100 Build	Current MVS Build	Current IVS Build	Current Commercial Build
Aberdeen City		4		122,481
Aberdeenshire		164	5	108,247
Angus		14		54,577
Argyll and Bute	367	8		45,024
City of Edinburgh		3		270,177
Clackmannanshire	180	4	6	25,216
Dumfries and Galloway	675	15	38	72,662
Dundee City		1		79,814
East Ayrshire	4	1	4	61,319
East Dunbartonshire		1		48,830
East Lothian		6		51,887
East Renfrewshire		1		40,089
Falkirk	52		3	77,212
Fife	398	18	7	185,153
Glasgow City		2		329,173
Highland		100	13	111,880
Inverclyde				40,882
Midlothian	131	2	5	41,754
Moray		44	4	43,054
Na h-Eileanan an Iar				13,393
North Ayrshire	10	6	7	73,446
North Lanarkshire	135	3	3	163,379
Orkney Islands		6		8,645
Perth and Kinross	75	14	8	69,112
Renfrewshire		2	2	92,330
Scottish Borders	120	32	84	57,893
Shetland Islands				9,149
South Ayrshire	344	3	2	56,515
South Lanarkshire	423	11	6	157,898
Stirling	2	9	51	41,672
West Dunbartonshire			2	47,421
West Lothian	4			85,365
Total	2,920	474	250	2,685,649

We estimate that the number of properties expected to benefit from broadband connections through (i) the R100 contracts, (ii) the main voucher (MVS – worth up to £5,000) and the interim voucher (IVS – worth up to £400) portions of the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) and (iii) commercial coverage will be as follows:

Local Authority	Planned R100 Build	Planned MVS Build	Planned IVS Build	Planned Commercial Build
Aberdeen City	567	3		5,404
Aberdeenshire	12,554	79	4	379
Angus	5,541	116		11
Argyll and Bute	7,041	69	3	486
City of Edinburgh	539			2,486
Clackmannanshire	829			11
Dumfries and Galloway	7,532	21	6	968
Dundee City	103	1		645
East Ayrshire	1,995	4	2	203
East Dunbartonshire	315			106
East Lothian	852	19		174
East Renfrewshire	238	11		96
Falkirk	1,310	2		220
Fife	4,655	1		668
Glasgow City	63			1,107
Highland	10,360	99	1	2,407
Inverclyde	785			166
Midlothian	1,079			176
Moray	4,159	24	1	2
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	1,885			7
North Ayrshire	1,970	1		225
North Lanarkshire	1,649	3		283
Orkney Islands	1,747	5	1	284
Perth and Kinross	7,433	115	2	883
Renfrewshire	655			1,340
Scottish Borders	6,667	14	4	522
Shetland Islands	2,166			268
South Ayrshire	2,074			291
South Lanarkshire	4,526	3	2	949
Stirling	2,814	31	15	348
West Dunbartonshire	572			153
West Lothian	853		1	560
Total	95,528	621	42	21,828

( Please note that voucher figures are subject to change, depending on future R100 contract and commercial build. It should also be noted that owners and tenants will have to order a service to access superfast broadband. )

Question reference: S6W-01979

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to decarbonise the (a) West Highland Line and (b) Highland Main Line.

Transport Scotland continues to progress detailed proposals to deliver the Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan which was published in July 2020. rail-services-decarbonisation-action-plan.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

This includes developing the potential options to serve the West Highland Line by hydrogen or battery trains as well as considering partial or full electrification of the Highland Main Line. As set out in the action plan, these are longer term projects that will contribute to our commitment to decarbonise passenger services by 2035. A full update on progress with the action plan will be provided in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-01882

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all children at pre-school and early years settings who currently receive free milk through the UK Government Nursery Milk Scheme will continue to receive free milk when the existing scheme is replaced by the new Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme on 1 August 2021.

The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme replaced the UK Nursery Milk Scheme (UK NMS) in Scotland from 1 August 2021 following further devolution.

3,079 Scottish settings were registered to the UK NMS and claimed from that scheme in the 12 months to 1 August 2021. Initial data shows that 3,101 childcare settings and 116,293 eligible children are registered to the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (out of around 8,395 total childcare settings in Scotland).

The Scottish Government continues to work in partnership with local government and eligible childcare settings to increase registrations to the new scheme during the course of its first year.

Question reference: S6W-01677

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it was agreed that it would act as the managing agent of Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd during its administration.

Question reference: S6W-01329

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to fund a national sepsis awareness campaign.

Question reference: S6W-01328

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide data on people affected by sepsis, broken down by (a) age, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity and (d) location.

Question reference: S6W-01563

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the alleged findings of the report, External Review – Culture and Governance, Emergency Department, Forth Valley Royal Hospital, what (a) action it is taking and (b) discussions it is having with NHS Forth Valley to ensure that people who had not been informed of mistakes in their patient care are now advised of these errors, and, to avoid the risk of a claim being time-barred, whether it will ensure that any subsequent legal or civil action can be dated from the date that the person was informed an error had taken place, and not the date of the error.