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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-04244

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete being found in current and formerly council-owned residential properties in Dundee.

Question reference: S6O-04246

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, Economic Impacts of Short-term Lets in Scotland, specifically in relation to the Scottish Borders.

Question reference: S6O-04232

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the chief executive of NHS Fife, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-32965

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what protocols Police Scotland has in place to manage the discovery of unexploded wartime military ordnance near critical infrastructure, including ports and transport hubs.

Question reference: S6W-32933

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether SEPA’s customer hub will include specific provisions for handling regulatory compliance queries outside of standard working hours.

Question reference: S6W-32820

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has reportedly been a 24% decrease in solicitors registered for children's legal aid since 2020, what analysis it is undertaking to understand any issues caused by this, and what action it will take to address those issues, including reversing the reported decrease in numbers.

The Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 gave the Scottish Legal Aid Board the function of monitoring the availability and accessibility of legal services in Scotland, and it has arrangements in place to monitor legal services. However, any assessment of registered solicitor numbers does not offer an accurate measure of the provision or supply of legal aid. This is because there is a large number of registered solicitors who are inactive, so the reduction in the number of registered solicitors, doesn’t necessarily equate to the same size of reduction in active solicitors. Therefore, registered solicitor numbers should not be viewed in the same context as active solicitors. The relevant measure of supply is active solicitors.

However, fluctuations in the numbers of Children’s solicitors occur for various reasons, these are:

Children’s legal assistance volumes are directly related to the numbers of children’s hearings taking place. The volume of hearings is in turn related to the number of Compulsory Supervision Orders (CSOs) being made or reviewed.

There are fewer Compulsory Supervision Orders and therefore less business for solicitors in this field.

At 31 March 2024, 6,490 children were subject to Compulsory Supervision Orders. In 2019-20, the number was 8,875 – a reduction of 27%.

The number of children subject to Compulsory Supervision Orders has decreased for a fourteenth consecutive year.

The Scottish Government recognises that reform is needed to the legal aid system, which is why we are currently developing a legal aid action plan for reform which will be published in early 2025.

Question reference: S6W-32789

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 12 actions in Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan have been achieved to date.

Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy is a ten year strategy and most of the actions relate to the ongoing delivery of our management functions. The progress being made with these will help ensure a stable context for fishing businesses to operate within. We intend to publish an updated Future Fisheries Management Delivery Plan in the coming months, which will provide information on the progress made for each of the 12 actions.

Question reference: S6W-33199

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15040 by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2023, what proportion of the venison sold by Forestry and Land Scotland in each year since 2016, was sold to public sector organisations.

Question reference: S6W-33214

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work in relation to the Arctic Policy Framework.

Scotland’s first Arctic policy framework, Arctic Connections, was published in 2019. In line with commitments in Scotland’s International Strategy, work has begun on an evaluation process. This will consider the impact of the framework, how Scotland’s relationship with the Arctic has developed during the implementation period and make recommendations on future engagement. It is due to be completed by the end of 2025.

Question reference: S6W-32957

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how Police Scotland evaluates the potential risks of unexploded ordnance to critical infrastructure, and what measures are in place to mitigate these risks.