Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-03056

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its cities strategy supports town centres within cities to be vibrant destinations, which offer a range of services and amenities to support the community.

Question reference: S6O-03060

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the reduction in funding for Highlands and Islands Enterprise on women in business.

Question reference: S6O-03063

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what dialogue it has had with Inverclyde Council regarding the Scottish Budget for 2024-25.

Question reference: S6O-03073

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is embedding gender equality into its efforts to deliver a just transition.

Question reference: S6O-03069

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration is being given to increasing the funding settlement for local authorities.

Question reference: S6O-03062

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to local authorities from its 2024-25 Budget.

Question reference: S6W-25083

Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-24702

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure the reliability of ferry services, in light of reported figures showing that CalMac's annual compensation figures are eight times higher than they were in 2017-18.

To improve Scotland’s ferry, the Scottish Government have committed to investing around £700m in ports and vessels. This includes 6 new major vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) fleet before the end of this Parliament session.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited and CalMac Ferries Ltd continue to seek additional tonnage. The current charter of the MV Alfred is an example of this, as a resilience vessel on the CHFS network.

We continue to provide resilience funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd to enable additional works and upgrades to vessels where required. This is on top of the funding included in the annual subsidy to CalMac Ferries Ltd for vessel maintenance.

Question reference: S6W-24307

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) civil servants and (b) other staff, including those appointed by ministers, have worked in its Scottish Affairs Office in Canada in each year since its establishment, also broken down by (i) job title and (ii) pay grade.

The Scottish Government Office in Canada has operated with either 3 or 4 members of staff since its establishment in 2018. Provided below are details of salary scale and job titles:

FY	Scottish Government Civil Servants - Salary scale	Job Title	Country Based Staff	Job Title
2018-19	2 x A-C Band	Head of Scottish Government Office Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office	1	Scottish Affairs Officer for Canada
2019-20	2 x A-C Band	Head of Scottish Government Office Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office	1	Scottish Affairs Officer for Canada
2020-21	2 x A-C Band	Head of Scottish Government Office Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office	2 x part time	Scottish Affairs Officers for Canada
2021-22	2 x A-C Band	Head of Scottish Government Office Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office	2 x part time	Scottish Affairs Officers for Canada
2023-24	2 x A-C Band	Head of Scottish Government Office Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office	1	Scottish Affairs Officer for Canada

Please note we are unable to provide a small amount of the information you have requested relating to the specific pay grades of each member of staff. This information is personal data of a third party, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-24295

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) civil servants and (b) other staff, including those appointed by ministers, have worked in its Scottish Affairs Office in Berlin in each year since its establishment, also broken down by (i) job title and (ii) pay grade.

The Scottish Government Office in Berlin has operated with 3 members of staff since its establishment in 2018. Provided below are details of staffing numbers, job titles and salary scale:

Scottish Government Civil Servants / Salary scale

Job Title

Country Based Staff

Job Title

2 x A-C Band

Head of Scottish Government Office

Deputy Head of Scottish Government Office

1

Events and Office Manager

Please note we are unable to provide a small amount of the information you have requested relating to the specific pay grades of each member of staff. This information is personal data of a third party, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

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