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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-27632

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Poppyscotland’s Credit their Service campaign.

We welcomed Poppyscotland’s Credit Their Service campaign last summer and acknowledge the two primary areas of concern highlighted in it. The first of these, Pension Credits, is reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government is therefore unable to intervene on this issue. However, we are in regular discussions with the UK Government on a range of related topics and have made them aware of the issues raised by Poppyscotland. We understand that officials from The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) met with Royal British Legion, Poppyscotland's sister organisation to discuss this.

The benefits administered by Local Authorities that are referenced by the campaign are Council Tax Support, Discretionary Housing Payment and the Scottish Welfare Fund. The Scottish Government recently published an Action Plan outlining improvements to the Scottish Welfare Fund which will be delivered in partnership with Local Authorities. Officials are working to update the statutory guidance and improve the Fund’s administration, accessibility and experience.

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) as a Local Authority benefit is administered by Local Authorities, who consider the circumstances of each individual case when dealing with applications. However, to receive DHP, an individual must be in receipt of either the housing element of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. As both of these remain reserved to the UK Government, neither the Scottish Government nor Local Authorities have any powers over how they are administered.

With regards to Council Tax support, the Council Tax Reduction Regulations already instruct that Armed Forces independence payments should be fully disregarded as income in the calculation of council tax reduction in both the pension age and working age schemes. Therefore, all Local Authorities should disregard these payments as income in relation to applications for Council Tax reduction. The Scottish Government continues to keep the Council Tax Reduction regulations under review.

Question reference: S6O-03295

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its work on wildlife management can help address the reported threats to nature and biodiversity restoration posed by American mink.

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-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: 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: 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.