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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-15885

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the user interface of The Scottish Register of Tartans website.

Question reference: S6W-15880

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the term of time is over which the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium exists before it expires.

Question reference: S6W-15834

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether every NHS board has adopted the coeliac disease clinical pathway, and, if this is not the case, which NHS boards are yet to adopt it.

Question reference: S6W-15848

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Network Support Grant Plus coming to an end in March 2023, how it plans to keep bus fares “at more affordable levels and networks more extensive”, as committed to in its Programme for Government 2022-23.

The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund to support operators to recover from the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. It has been extended on two occasions since June 2022. Scotland, like the rest of the UK, operates a de-regulated bus market due to decisions taken by the UK Government in the 1980s. This means that bus operators must return to a commercially sustainable model, and adapt their networks to account for the new travel patterns.

Notwithstanding, the Scottish Government continues to provide support through the Network Support Grant, which keeps fares more affordable and networks more extensive than would otherwise be the case. I have committed to review all funding to bus operators to ensure it is delivering best value to the taxpayer. This review will include an exploration of further conditionality being applied to Government subsidy in future.

Question reference: S6W-15869

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what other models to achieve natural capital investment in Scotland were examined before NatureScot agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, and whether it will publish any assessment of alternative models that it undertook.

The Scottish Government has increased public investment and support in our natural capital through a variety of methods. This includes the £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, and the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) that was launched in February this year. However, the Global Biodiversity Framework that was agreed at COP15 last year identified leveraging responsible private finance as a key target, and in Scotland alone it is estimated that there is a finance gap of £20 billion to meet nature-related outcomes.

For the purposes of this agreement, NatureScot entered into discussions with Hampden & Co., Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium and mutually agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding would best define the ways of working and respective roles of parties, as is commonplace.

Question reference: S6W-15868

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium confers any guarantees or preferred status to this consortium of companies in relation to public funds and grants for the area set out in the MOU, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not confer any guarantees or preferred status to the partners and allows NatureScot to work and enter agreements with other parties, both in the locations identified in the MOU and across Scotland. MOU signatories will not have exclusive access to land managers and external parties will still be able to submit applications for public funds and grants. The usual processes and policies for public grants will apply.

Question reference: S6W-15866

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the opportunity of agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium was open to public competitive tender, and, if not, what its position is on how the decision reached by NatureScot can be regarded as being the best available.

Question reference: S6W-15872

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, in addition to investment from public funds, what specific matters it anticipates any private investment will be spent on.

Question reference: S6W-15731

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an assessment of the impact that the Deposit Return Scheme will have on (a) consumer purchasing behaviours and (b) inflation, and, if so, what assessment it has made.

Analysis in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, published in December 2021, shows that on-the-go drinks purchases are largely driven by consumer convenience, and that switching to large containers in this segment of the market is unlikely.

There are other deciding factors for consumers, such as practicality, convenience, brand preference and presentation of the product. This specific issue was examined by the ECCL Committee in 2019, see Report on the proposed draft Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 (azureedge.net) .

Additionally, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) already operates in over 50 other countries and territories around the world. Evidence from these other deposit return schemes indicates that any effect on product or format switching is small, and it is rare that this can only be attributed to DRS.

Everyone who pays a deposit on a drinks container will be able to reclaim that deposit in full therefore that should not have an impact on inflation. In line with the wishes of business, Scotland’s DRS is an industry-run scheme. It is for drinks producers and retailers to deliver the most efficient scheme possible. As an example of this, in December 2022 Circularity Scotland published new producer fees that are 8%, 30% and 40% lower than originally planned for glass, PET plastic and metal containers respectively.

Question reference: S6O-02062

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what steps it will take to create a more family-friendly environment.