Seòmar agus comataidhean

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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 40770 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-00053

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will provide to the hospitality sector to mitigate against the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6O-00064

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding allocations earmarked for new and existing teaching posts will be made permanent, to enable local authorities to award a greater number of permanent contracts.

Question reference: S6O-00057

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to provide secure, sustainable and long-term post-COVID-19 pandemic skills and training opportunities.

Question reference: S6O-00051

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will make available to businesses in light of the continuation of the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-00778

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Clare Haughey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards the delivery of the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

The Improvement Service published its latest Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report. The report is available on the Improvement Service website and linked on the Scottish Government ELC Joint Delivery Board web page.

This report provides an update on progress by local authorities towards the delivery of 1140 hours of funded ELC at the end of April 2021 as reported by local authorities, comparing this to their reported position throughout this academic year. As members of Parliament will be aware, the duty on local authorities to provide 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare to all eligible children will come into effect in August 2021.

As the report sets out, local authorities continue to make good progress towards delivery, with an additional 10,510 children accessing 1140 hours since February 2021. The report also shows that the local authority ELC workforce in Scotland is reported to have increased by 7,178 FTE since academic year 2016/17, including an increase of 230 FTE since February 2021.

Following a revision to the Improvement Service data collection framework in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, data gathering is planned for the beginning of each academic term through to April 2022.

Question reference: S6W-00555

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has made available to support larger self-catering units, accommodating seven or more people, that are unable to trade viably because of the COVID-19 household meeting restrictions.

As of 28 May, £3,028,000 has been paid through Exclusive Use and Large Self Catering Grants to 1,434 businesses. Please see the most recent business support management information: Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support management information - 11 June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . While this figure does not currently allow breakdown of the exclusive use and large self-catering grants, the most recent figures from 30 April, when £2.89 million had been paid though Exclusive Use and Large Self Catering Grants showed that the majority of this sum had been allocated to large self-catering properties £2.69 million, while the remainder went to exclusive use properties £0.2 million). Please see - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Strategic Framework: Business Support Funding Statistics (Tranche 6) and other local authority support schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We understand that household meeting restrictions to mitigate transmission risks continue to pose challenges for many businesses across Scotland. The Scottish Government sought to help businesses build greater resilience by making available Restart Grants. On 22 March recipients of support under the Strategic Framework Business Fund received a final 4 week payment, followed by a combined final payment of a further 2 weeks closure support and a one off restart grant. Hospitality and leisure businesses in receipt of the Fund were eligible for grants up to £19,500 based on their rateable value. The restart grant was also awarded to small accommodation providers paying the council tax fund, already registered for support payments under SPA-CTF.

In addition, the Scottish Government will provide 100% rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation businesses for entirety of this financial year.

Question reference: S6W-00557

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the COVID-19 household meeting restrictions have had on the self-catering sector, and what engagement it has carried out with the sector regarding this.

We understand that a proportion of self-catering businesses, which are larger (7+) and rely on multiple households sharing continue to face challenges in trading due to household restrictions. We worked closely with the sector in order to produce tailored grant support for large self-catering businesses and exclusive use properties as well as targeted support for businesses who pay council tax via the small accommodation providers council tax fund. We have engaged regularly with the sector throughout the pandemic to understand operating conditions and to develop support to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions. We have regular dialogue with the STA, the ASSC and STERG and will continue to review areas that may need further support on an ongoing basis as we progress through the levels framework, in particular to those sectors which are subject to greater constraint.

Question reference: S6W-00546

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether Transport Scotland’s growth target for rail freight will be achieved by 2024.

Network Rail is on track to meet our innovative growth target for rail freight. Despite the health pandemic, rail freight demand has held up well and 216 new freight trains ran on the network in Scotland in the past 12 months. Supported by Scottish Government and third party investment more new freight services in Scotland are planned in the next 18 months, in addition to new cross border express logistics services. Modal shift to rail will play a key part in decarbonising the overall transport network to meet our ambitious climate change targets.

Question reference: S6W-00346

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will produce a strategic plan for the procurement and construction of new vessels to serve the ferry network and, if so, by what date the plan will be produced.

The Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan published 4 February 2021 stated that:

"We will produce and maintain a long-term plan and investment programme for new ferries and development at ports to improve resilience, reliability, capacity, and accessibility, increase standardisation, and reduce emissions to meet the needs of island communities, supported by investment of at least £580 million during the next five years as well as completing two new ferries for the Isle of Arran and the Uig Triangle"

A National Mission with Local Impact - draft infrastructure investment plan 2021-2022 to 2025-2026: consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We will produce this long-term plan as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan that will replace the Ferries Plan from January 2023. In the meantime, our investment programme continues to be based on the Vessel Replacement and Deployment Plan; additional detail of the current programme is included in Annex D of the Infrastructure Investment Plan and updates have recently been shared with key island stakeholders.

vrdp-annual-report-2016-30-january-2018.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-00347

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding an inquiry into the historical practice of forced adoption.