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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: S6O-02556

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the measures in its Programme for Government 2023-24 will have on the growth of the economy in North Ayrshire.

Question reference: S6O-02575

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what road safety improvement works have been planned for the A96 near Huntly.

Question reference: S6W-21001

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Green Heat Finance Taskforce will publish its final report.

The Green Heat Finance Taskforce final report is expected to be published in early 2024.

The Taskforce’s part 1 report, which will be published shortly, will focus on potential finance and funding solutions for individual property owners. It will include consideration of the structure, availability and demand for green finance products; identify barriers which impede the flow of private finance at present; and make recommendations on how to reduce these constraints. It will cover financing mechanisms like green mortgages, equity release, green leases and property linked finance.

The Taskforce’s part 2 report will set out conclusions on communal and place-based financing solutions which can apply to multiple properties, for example, heat networks, municipal bonds and heat as a service subscription models. It will also consider options for the social housing sector, as well as further discussing how mechanisms like blended financing can help utilise public funding to crowd in additional private finance.

Question reference: S6W-21046

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many public buildings in the Mid Scotland and Fife region have been identified as containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

We have previously noted that it is for organisations responsible for buildings to make information on this issue available on affected buildings. For example local authorities have published information on RAAC identified within their school estate.

Survey work is underway across public buildings and is at various stages of discovery in different sectors.

Where the presence of RAAC is confirmed in a public building, we expect the owner to take appropriate measures to assess and manage any risk identified in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers.

We remain in regular contact with organisations across the public sector on this matter, directly and through our cross-sector working group.

Question reference: S6W-21015

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how its 2021 Affordable Housing Supply Programme resource planning assumptions compare with (a) national budget allocations and (b) local expenditure to date.

We have published resource planning assumptions covering 2021-2026. When annual financial year expenditure is concluded and finalised we publish an annual out-turn report which illustrates actual spend compared to original resource planning assumptions at the start of the financial year. The report for 2022-23 is currently being finalised but the report for 2021-22 can be found here – Affordable Housing Supply Programme: out-turn report 2021-22 - ( www.gov.scot )

Question reference: S6W-20889

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that its recent statutory guidance on Scotland's Guiding Principles on the Environment is embedded in the process of developing a new agricultural policy framework.

The Scottish Government is committed to upholding high standards of environmental protection. The statutory guidance on Scotland’s Guiding Principles on the Environment will help ensure that these high standards are maintained through the policy development process. Once the duty to give due regard to the environmental principles comes into force later in the year, Ministers will be legally required to consider these principles in the development of new policies, including through the Strategic Environmental Assessment process. This requirement will encompass policies within the new agricultural policy framework. We have committed in our Programme for Government to ‘continue the Agricultural Reform Programme to produce more of our food sustainably, cut carbon emissions, and farm with nature, by increasing the uptake of carbon audits, soil testing, and biodiversity audits and funding to improve animal health’.

Question reference: S6W-21057

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when its dedicated Cabinet Sub-Committee for Keeping The Promise will meet, and who will attend.

Question reference: S6W-20853

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of summer school programme funding that it made available in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023, also broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government provided funding for summer programmes by calendar year below:

1. Total funding for the summer of 2021 - £15 million allocated to 32 local authorities via General Revenue Grant, and an additional £5 million provided to national public bodies and partners

2. Total funding for the summer of 2022 - £10 million allocated to 32 local authorities via General Revenue Grant

3. Total funding for the summer of 2023- £4 million allocated to 32 local authorities via General Revenue GrantThis funding provided in 2021 and 2022 was specifically aimed at developing additional plans for summer programmes on top of existing local provision to help children and families recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The additional £4million funding provided for the 2023 summer programme was to mitigate some of the costs, and to relieve financial pressures many local authorities noted they would experience associated with pre-planned summer activity.The detailed breakdown of funding made available to each local authority can be found in the following table:

Local Authority	2021 Allocation	2022 Allocation	2023 Allocation
Aberdeen City	£418,000	£279,262	£107,169
Aberdeenshire	£562,000	£355,229	£143,271
Angus	£335,000	£211,328	£83,227
Argyll & Bute	£232,000	£134,711	£55,450
Clackmannanshire	£162,000	£109,837	£46,553
Dumfries & Galloway	£529,000	£329,037	£135,492
Dundee City	£432,000	£293,671	£122,373
East Ayrshire	£405,000	£278,454	£107,297
East Dunbartonshire	£184,000	£105,186	£44,909
East Lothian	£277,000	£161,537	£64,931
East Renfrewshire	£187,000	£118,349	£46,851
Edinburgh, City of	£846,000	£575,459	£230,693
Eilean Siar	£78,000	£45,906	£17,994
Falkirk	£443,000	£286,300	£116,317
Fife	£1,160,000	£740,209	£299,516
Glasgow City	£2,249,000	£1,665,024	£662,910
Highland	£721,000	£465,403	£177,451
Inverclyde	£201,000	£131,096	£57,965
Midlothian	£252,000	£161,643	£65,939
Moray	£256,000	£173,447	£67,937
North Ayrshire	£452,000	£323,894	£131,670 2
North Lanarkshire	£1,104,000	£765,665	£294,095
Orkney Islands	£68,000	£40,589	£16,638
Perth & Kinross	£397,000	£242,363	£98,712
Renfrewshire	£436,000	£292,415	£120,655
Scottish Borders	£353,000	£208,377	£86,853
Shetland Islands	£53,000	£49,195	£13,852
South Ayrshire	£295,000	£189,380	£77,964
South Lanarkshire	£882,000	£576,816	£227,778
Stirling	£213,000	£138,819	£55,560
West Dunbartonshire	£276,000	£197,643	£80,212
West Lothian	£541,000	£353,756	£141,766

Question reference: S6W-21166

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the five actions listed on page 25 of its report, Cleaner Air For Scotland 2: Towards a Better Place for Everyone, broken down by which actions (a) have been completed, (b) are underway and (c) have not yet started.

Question reference: S6W-21136

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, following the First Minister's statement on the Programme for Government 2023-24, what powers the Cabinet Sub-Committee for The Promise will have.

The details of the Cabinet Sub-Committee are currently being determined. As set out in the recent Programme for Government, the Sub-Committee will direct and support the cross-portfolio change required to improve outcomes for Scotland’s care experienced children, young people, adults, and families. The Cabinet Sub-Committee’s early tasks will include exploring the role that both prevention and philanthropy might play in delivering better outcomes.