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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-10476

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the ministerial short-life working group, set up in response to the Sturrock review into cultural issues related to allegations of bullying and harassment in NHS Highland, has met; whether it will meet again in future, and, if so, when.

In the Scottish Government’s response to the Sturrock Review, a Ministerially-led Short-Life Working Group was convened, with representation from NHS boards, staff-side organisations, medical Royal Colleges based in Scotland and the professional and regulatory bodies representing medics, nurses and allied healthcare professionals.

The focus of this group was to examine how to take forward measures that support open and honest workplace cultures, specifically with a view to delivering sustainable behavioural and attitudinal changes to leadership and management across NHS Scotland.

This group met on 31 July 2019, 28 October 2019 and 18 June 2020. As this work has evolved, there are no plans for this group to meet.

Question reference: S6W-10471

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be a further round of support grants for bus operators as they continue to recover passenger numbers to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

The Scottish Government continues to provide financial support for bus services to keep services more extensive, and fares more affordable than would otherwise be the case. On 1 April 2022, the Network Support Grant was introduced, with up to £93.5 million allocated for 2022-23 and an additional £25.7 million is being provided to extend the Network Support Grant Plus until October of this year. The Scottish Government continues to engage with bus operators and local government to keep support under review.

Question reference: S6W-10468

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it recycles the funding received through sales and tranching up of first-time buyer and Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) support schemes, and what total amount of funding it has recycled in each year since 2010.

Since 2010-11 the Scottish Government has recycled all receipts raised from shared equity sales.

Recycled receipts in each year are as shown in the following table.

	Open Market Shared Equity £m	New Supply Shared Equity £m	Help to Buy £m	First Home Fund £m	Total £m
2010-11	1.969	-	-	-	-
2011-12	0.956	0.354	-	-	1.310
2012-13	1.367	1.037	-	-	2.405
2013-14	3.007	1.981	-	-	4.989
2014-15	6.271	5.125	0.171	-	11.567
2015-16	8.151	6.316	1.100	-	15.567
2016-17	9.979	9.860	6.608	-	26.447
2017-18	17.887	8.431	12.464	-	38.782
2018-19	22.236	9.921	22.817	-	54.974
2019-20	23.798	10.817	35.063	-	69.679
2020-21	23.253	9.197	37.519	0.062	70.032
2021-22	31.714	12.678	48.997	3.003	96.392

Question reference: S6W-10470

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is offering to bus operators that may be impacted by COVID-19 support subsidies ending in October 2022.

The Scottish Government is supporting bus operators through the Network Support Grant and Network Support Grant Plus which started on 1 April 2022 and which replace the Bus Service Operators’ Grant and emergency Covid funding.

I met with operators over the course of Summer recess to identify actions for Government and the sector to work in partnership on. As a result I will be convening a Taskforce with operators to further explore what practical solutions can be delivered to help maintain bus services across the country.

Question reference: S6W-10514

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to remove the majority of diesel buses from public transport by 2023.

I updated Parliament of progress towards its plans to remove the majority of diesel buses from public transport by 2023 in answer S6W-10271 given on 9 August 2022. As noted in S6W-10271, as with every other part of the economy and society, delivery of further progress has been slowed by the pandemic, and Brexit is also causing supply chain issues and delays in investment decisions. The Pathway sets out a shared approach between Transport Scotland and the key sectors represented on the taskforce (bus operating, manufacturing, energy, finance and public sector), that, by working together, we will achieve a future where all buses in Scotland are zero-emission buses.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-10473

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of public funds given to waste incinerator operators in each of the last five years, either through grants, loans or other funding mechanisms.

Question reference: S6W-10486

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of public bridges that are closed in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by the number of years that they have been closed for.

The Scottish Government has not permanently closed any trunk road bridges in the Highlands and Islands region. Decisions on the closure or re-opening of Local Authority bridges is a matter for the relevant Local Authority. Following consultation, Local Authority colleagues have indicated the following local bridge closures:

Local Authority	Route Number	Location	Bridge	Closure
Moray Council	C2E	Near Elgin	Clodach Bridge	< 1 Year
Highland Council	U1177	Foyers	Lower Foyers	34 Years

Question reference: S6W-10469

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) gains and (b) losses it has made on its equity shares through the (i) sales and (ii) tranching up of properties purchased through first-time buyer and Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) support schemes in each year since 2010, broken down by each scheme.

We do not hold information centrally on whether income from shared equity investments relates to tranching up or open market sales.

Providing the information requested prior to 2017 could only be answered at disproportionate cost. Following a change to the way we recorded shared equity sales from 2017-18 we are able to provide the information requested in the following table.

	Open Market Shared Equity £m	New Supply Shared Equity £m	Help to Buy £m	First Home Fund £m	Total £m
2017-18	1.069	0.416	0.659	-	2.144
2018-19	2.239	0.317	1.476	-	4.032
2019-20	4.060	0.412	2.453	-	6.926
2020-21	4.142	0.494	3.598	0.014	8.248
2021-22	6.812	1.035	7.355	0.277	15.479

Question reference: S6W-10503

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the section 36 application limit for windfarm proposals remains at 50MW, in light of this reportedly directly limiting windfarm proposals decided by local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-10520

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is working with other UK administrations to ensure that each administration’s registration systems for COVID-19 vaccinations are accessible by staff in all of the UK’s health authorities.

The Scottish Government works closely on a four nations basis to ensure that vaccination records can be updated where required. In line with General Data Protection Regulations health records and associated systems can only be accessed by health officials from the same country within which an individual resides.

With Covid vaccinations, if a resident of Scotland is vaccinated in England and provides a Scottish address, this information is automatically transmitted to NHS Scotland records.

NHS Inform also provides a vaccination record update service for those who have received one of their Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations outwith Scotland, allowing them to upload proof of vaccination from another country to their Scottish vaccination record.