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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-01078

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons have been learned regarding the procurement of new ferries.

Question reference: S6O-01081

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6O-01083

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £500 million Energy Transition Fund for the north east has now been allocated.

Question reference: S6O-01052

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the removal of peak fares from ScotRail services.

On April the 1st, ScotRail passenger services were successfully brought into public ownership. This move now offers us the opportunity to take the right actions to make rail travel more sustainable, affordable and accessible for the people of Scotland.

Affordable rail travel, including a consideration of peak rail fares, will be considered by the Fair Fares review. This review will seek to consider the affordability of public transport across the network, whilst also considering how journeys can be better connected through integrated ticketing, for example. In the context of the cost of living crisis it is absolutely essential that all Governments consider how to support an affordable public transport network.

Question reference: S6O-01029

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults.

In October 2021 I launched the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, providing an initial £15 million to support small scale, community mental health and wellbeing activities. In light of the very positive response to the Fund, and the number of high quality bids received, in February I provided an additional £6 million for this work in financial year 2021-22.

Since the launch of the Fund, the Scottish Government has worked with the 32 Third Sector Interface organisations across Scotland to support hundreds of grass roots, community groups to deliver programmes for adults which tackle priority issues such as suicide prevention, social isolation and loneliness.

Projects are being funded across the whole of Scotland, supporting activities involving sport, nature, the arts and community cafes. There is a clear focus on people who are more vulnerable and in need, including those facing social isolation, refugees, the LGBTQ+ community, and carers.

Officials are currently collating learning from year one of the Fund, which will be used to inform a further £15 million investment in the coming year.

Question reference: S6W-07780

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether any documents recording any communications regarding events leading up to and including the award of the contract for the production of Hulls 801 and 802 have been destroyed, and, if so, whether the destruction of any such records complies with the standing arrangements for the retention of government records.

We welcome the scrutiny into the procurement, award and regrettable delays associated with Hulls 801 and 802. We have engaged fully with both the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee (RECC) inquiry, and with Audit Scotland’s recent review and have endeavoured to provide all requested information. In recent evidence, the Auditor General confirmed that there is no evidence that material has been deliberately destroyed that otherwise should have been retained as part of the formal record, although it is noted that a specific response cannot be located.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to compliance with the requirements of the Public Records (Scotland) Act. The Scottish Government therefore follows procedures that aim to ensure that all employees, contractors, agents, consultants and other trusted third parties who have access to any information held within the Government, are fully aware of and abide by their duties under the Act.

Question reference: S6W-07777

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of paragraph 28 of the Audit Scotland report, New vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides, stating that “it is not clear what discussions took place between Scottish ministers and Transport Scotland about the contract award...there is no documented evidence to confirm why Scottish ministers were willing to accept the risks of awarding the contract to FMEL, despite CMAL’s concerns...we consider that there should have been a proper record of this important decision”, whether there was ministerial direction in relation to a decision that was not supported by the evidence.

The audit trail here is a matter of public record. Advice was put to the then Cabinet Secretary Keith Brown on 20 August 2015, setting out CMAL’s identification of FMEL as the preferred bidder. Advice was also put to the then Minister for Transport and Islands on 7 October 2015, setting out risk associated with contract award in the absence of a guarantee, and mitigation that would be put in place.

The memos to Ministers mentioned have been in the public domain since 2019 and can be found at the following link: Ferguson Marine: key documents - 2015 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

There was no Ministerial direction in relation to the contract award and Ministers did not direct CMAL to enter into the contract. The contract was awarded by CMAL in its capacity as procuring authority following a robust procurement process.

While CMAL did express concerns about the absence of a refund guarantee, mitigations were agreed that were sufficient to assuage those concerns.

Question reference: S6W-07572

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor the impact of self-declaration, in the context of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S6W-08228

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to increase awareness of the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, in light of the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government recognises the acute pressure that is felt by people due to the cost of living crisis and will be pulling forward planned marketing activity to promote the advice and support that is in place for them.

The Scottish Government directs people towards its fuel poverty and home energy schemes, including Warmer Homes Scotland, via the Home Energy Scotland Advice Service. This makes it easier for people in Scotland to access all the support they are eligible for in one place and acts as the referral mechanism for the schemes.

In addition to the forthcoming activity, the Home Energy Scotland marketing campaign for winter 2021-22 concluded on 6 March 2022. The campaign ran over TV, digital and press advertising in two bursts of activity from 1 November 2021 to 12 December 2021 and from 5 January 2022 to 6 March 2022. An evaluation is currently being compiled which will inform future activity.

As committed to in the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, we are now also developing a Public Engagement Strategy and early engagement activities to raise the profile of the heat decarbonisation agenda, including the changes that people will need to make and the co-benefits that can be delivered. Through this work we will also promote increased awareness of existing and future support as part of ensuring a fair and just transition, reflecting and building on the principles set out in our broader Climate Change Public Engagement Strategy.

Further details will be made available in due course.

Question reference: S6W-08067

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the SNP manifesto commitment to work with Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland to improve the business support available to the creative industries, including how much money has been made available to businesses for this purpose to date.

The Scottish Government has worked at pace to deliver emergency business support to creative businesses, via Creative Scotland, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has announced £256 million support to the culture, creative, heritage and events sectors.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government launched a £1 million Creative Digital Initiative to help develop the digital capabilities of creative businesses in response to the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme has been developed through a partnership of enterprise and development agencies, including Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland.

The Scottish Government established a creative industries ‘Future Focus’ working group to enable detailed discussion with Scottish Enterprise, Creative Scotland and other key partner agencies throughout the pandemic to consider key issues facing the creative industries, business resilience and support, and opportunities for partnership working.

The Scottish Government has a Programme for Government commitment to refresh the Creative Industries Policy Statement and will work with CS, SE and other partner agencies to refresh this statement, as well as the Creative Industries Framework Agreement , in order to ensure these documents reflect the priorities of the creative industries and signpost creative businesses to the expertise and business support available to the sector.