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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-26264

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the draft Bioenergy Policy Statement will be published.

The Scottish Government is pleased to announce that today we will publish the draft Bioenergy Policy Statement for consultation.

The draft Bioenergy Policy Statement is seeking views on the priorities and principles that we have set out for the use of bioenergy, as well as views on the potential to scale up domestic production of biomass via planting of perennial energy crops.

The consultative draft of the Policy Statement will be available to view on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781835215074 and the consultation questions will be available on Citizen Space at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/draft-bioenergy-policy-statement-consultation . The consultation will be live for 12 weeks from today until 12 June 2024.

Question reference: S6O-03257

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider stocking alcohol-free variants of spirits, wine and other alcoholic beverages in the Scottish Parliament gift shop.

Question reference: S6O-03240

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to support elected representatives to take parental leave.

Question reference: S6O-03147

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent ONS data, what assessment it has made of the impact on Scotland’s public finances of the UK entering a recession in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-24786

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the dangers of vape spiking, and whether this may differ compared to other means of spiking.

Question reference: S6W-24785

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the prevalence of vape spiking, and how this compares to other means of spiking.

As part of the Minister led roundtable on spiking, which is due to next meet in February, the concerns around vape spiking has been and continues to be discussed. As part of that process, Police Scotland regularly report on current activity and have advised that there is nothing to suggest that this is an emerging trend and that there are no confirmed spiking via vape reports in Scotland. We are alive to recent media reports highlighting the new dangers of “vape spiking” in England and Wales which will be kept under regular review.

Question reference: S6O-03074

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the net zero secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the role of the renewable energy sector in meeting its net zero ambitions.

Question reference: S6O-02994

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns regarding food labelling being a devolved matter, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the potential impact on Scotland's food and drink sector of the reported proposal for "not for EU" labelling on food and drink products in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-24182

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper fares for 2024.

The Scottish Government rightly made the decision to freeze some fares as part of its response to the cost of living crisis, however this is simply no longer sustainable.

Caledonian Sleeper fares will increase by 8.7% from 1 January, excluding seated tickets. Similarly, from 1 April 2024, all ScotRail fares will also increase by 8.7%, including season tickets and flexi-passes which have been frozen since January 2022.

We know that any increase is unwelcome for passengers, therefore we have kept the rise as low as possible to maintain the attractiveness and affordability of rail as a travel option. That is why we are extending our ScotRail peak fares pilot for a further three months until June 2024.

The timing of the ScotRail fares increase has been moved away from January, when personal budgets are often more stretched than other times of the year, to April bringing it into alignment with the financial year.

The basis of the increase has also been moved away from the use of RPI six months prior to January, to one based on CPI 12 months prior to April.

Fares remain, on average, lower than across the rest of Great Britain.

Question reference: S6O-02895

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the recently announced trilateral agreement on total allowable catch limits and management measures for jointly managed fish stocks in the North Sea will have on fishers in Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland.