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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-00175

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 11 February 2021 from the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy to the Finance and Constitution Committee, whether it will provide a breakdown of the commercial fees (a) received and (b) it expects to receive in future, and the dates and value of these fees.

Question reference: S6W-00172

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the milestone payment scheduled for March 2021 was delivered by the GRG Alliance to the Scottish Government-controlled project account, as reported to the Finance and Constitution Committee by the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy in a letter of 11 February 2021; how much the payment was scheduled to be worth, and whether this was met in full.

Milestone payments are inter-company payments related to planned investment at the Lochaber smelter and are not payments due to the Scottish Government. No payments due from GFG Alliance companies to the Scottish Government are outstanding. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we do not publish details of compliance with commercial contractual terms although such information may be shared in confidence with the Finance and Constitution Committee where appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-00084

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35339 by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 February 2021, whether it will provide an update on the steps it is taking to improve the response times for enquiries to SEPA, given that responses to some routine enquiries are reported to be taking in excess of six months.

Following the criminal cyber-attack on SEPA in December 2020, the Scottish Government is working with SEPA, Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, to a clear recovery strategy in response to a complex and sophisticated cyber-attack.

As part of this recovery strategy, frontline regulatory and flood warning services continue to be prioritised. SEPA’s Floodline and Pollution Hotline contact points continue to operate. The agency has increased resource to respond to customer enquiries, with customer enquiry backlogs, in areas such as environmental incident and permitting, being cleared.

SEPA has advised that regulatory teams have been deployed on over 170 occasions since January. Furthermore, 154 flood guidance statements have been issued and over 1045 regional flood alerts and local flood warnings have been issued.

SEPA has reported that since January, over 1,650 industrial pollution prevention and control, water environment, waste and other authorisations have been issued, with new high volume online services introduced for registrations of septic tanks. The Agency has completed or is progressing 304 planning cases to support Scotland’s recovery, engaging with 33 of 39 local councils to date.

Question reference: S6W-00075

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its planned spending on walking, cycling and wheeling over the next parliamentary year, until May 2022.

Spend on walking, wheeling and cycling increased to £115.5 million in 2021-22 and is budgeted over the financial year, rather than the parliamentary year. The budget for active travel is presented in the following table on the basis of the published Level 4 budgets:

Active Travel Budget	2021-22 (£m)
From Sustainable and Active Travel Capital	74.4
From Sustainable and Active Travel Resource	6.3
From Future Transport Fund - Cycling Infrastructure	10.9
Local Government Capital Grant - Cycling Walking Safer Routes	23.9
Total	115.5

Question reference: S6W-00171

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 11 February 2021 from the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy to the Finance and Constitution Committee, whether it will provide an update on the progress since that date of (a) Project Silver, (b) Project Corpach and (c) Project Loch; how many additional jobs it anticipates each will create, and how this compares to the original business plan.

The GFG Alliance continues to invest in and progress its expansion plans for its Fort Williams operations and has published details on the ALVANCE Aluminium website https://alvancealuminiumgroup.com/news/expansion-plans-fort-william/ .

The GFG Alliance’s new investment plans still require to go through the formal planning approval process with the Highland Council. Depending planning approvals, the business has indicated that the new integrated business plan and associated developments will secure the long-term future of the Fort William aluminium smelter, safeguarding 200 direct local jobs and creating 70 new direct high quality roles.

Question reference: S6W-00167

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, following the mass disruption in George Square on 15 May 2021, what support is available to businesses who were advised to close due to concerns for their welfare.

Operational policing decisions are matters for the Chief Constable, however Police Scotland confirmed that dialogue was maintained with business premises in the relevant locations contacted prior to 15 May 2021 where details of any threats, risks or potential harm were shared with business owners and operators. The decisions were then made by those businesses as to whether or not they remained open.

The Scottish Government worked closely with Rangers Football Club, Police Scotland and Glasgow City Council to prepare and provide appropriate communications and support ahead of the proposed march by Rangers supporters following the football club’s Scottish Premiership title win.

Question reference: S6W-00091

Asked by: Neil Gray, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in the Airdrie and Shotts constituency it estimates will be included in the roll-out of the Scottish Child Payment to 16-year-olds.

Using the latest available forecasts published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in January 2021, Scottish Government analysis estimates there could be up to 3,500 children potentially eligible for the payment in Airdrie and Shotts in 2023-24 (the first full financial year of the payment for under 16s). The number of children receiving the payment in Airdrie and Shotts is likely to be around 2,600 in that year - this is a separate forecast based on the take-up assumptions for the payment.

Question reference: S6W-00159

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the forecast by Audit Scotland that Scotland’s colleges face a £54 million funding gap.

Question reference: S6W-00068

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with Police Scotland and Rangers FC prior to 15 May 2021 regarding potential concerns in relation to the mass gathering of football fans.

Question reference: S6W-00100

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to replace the passenger footbridge at Kirkconnel Railway Station to improve platform access for disabled people.

Accessibility is a reserved matter under the Devolution Settlement and for rail accessibility there is a DfT-sponsored fund, Access for All, that enables eligible projects to be supported. Unfortunately, Kirkconnel did not fulfil the criteria for funding under that programme. Accordingly, an application was made by SWestrans to the Scottish Government’s Local Rail Development Fund to assess the need for the bridge.

The application was successful and £30,000 was allocated for a study. SWestrans subsequently began engagement with the local community and disability representatives which was then unfortunately paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. Transport Scotland is keen SWestrans continues to make progress with this project and will work with SWestrans to provide any assistance if required.