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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-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.

Question reference: S6W-23787

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its proposed Land Reform Bill.

The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Land Reform legislation to further improve transparency of land ownership, help ensure large scale land holdings deliver in the public interest, and empower communities by providing more opportunities to own land and have more say in how land in their area is used.

It is important that the proposals in the Bill are robust to address the problems identified and to ensure this we are giving further consideration to measures in the Bill. Land reform is complex, and we are taking time to ensure that we have fully considered all responses to the consultation and subsequent comments from stakeholders.

To allow time for this further consideration and ensure we get the proposals right for introduction, we are planning a slight delay to the introduction of the Bill but it remains a Programme for Government commitment for 2023-24.

The Scottish Government also remains fully committed to ensuring that tenant farmers and small landholders are given equality of opportunity to access the new agricultural support framework. We will ensure that the future four tier agricultural support framework is able to work for all types of land tenure.

Question reference: S6W-23737

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the National Transport Strategy.

Today the Scottish Government published the third Delivery Plan for the National Transport Strategy , which outlines the actions it has taken to deliver the vision and priorities in 2023 and what actions will be undertaken in the coming year.

The first Report to Parliament was also published today, setting out the steps the Scottish Government has taken in delivering the Strategy since its launch in February 2020. The publication of the Report fulfils our commitment in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Transport and travel data has been routinely collected through our annual official statistical publications, however it has not been possible to accurately report on the performance of the Strategy on an annual basis. This is primarily due to our data collection methods being affected by the pandemic and comparisons between the baseline position and travel in 2020 and 2021 not being robust due to the profound impact that the pandemic had on travel behaviour over this period.

The first monitoring and evaluation report setting out what progress has been made will be produced in 2024. The update will primarily provide analysis on the performance of the Strategy against headline indicators, utilising data gathered in 2020, 2021 and 2022, qualitative case studies from our stakeholder groups and transport partners and data from additional sources.

Question reference: S6O-02879

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Aberdeen's journey to net zero through investment in bus infrastructure.

Question reference: S6O-02819

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent correspondence it has had with the UK Government regarding any impact on its housing policies in Scotland of Local Housing Allowance rates.

Question reference: S6W-22328

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the new transport study to explore the reinstatement of the rail network north of Aberdeen, to Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

The Just Transition Fund has provided up to £250,000 to the Campaign for North East Rail (CNER) to produce a study examining possible travel interventions in Dyce, Ellon, Peterhead, and Fraserburgh which will accelerate the region’s transition to net zero.

The early stages of the project are underway. Project consultants have been appointed and the first monthly progress meeting was held in September. The project team continue to work across a range of tasks crucial to meeting the study’s overall objectives and the project remains on track to conclude in March 2024.

Question reference: S6W-22326

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government, following its decision not to continue with the HS2 link to Manchester, regarding any impact that this may have on any related Barnett consequential funding for the Scottish Government.

Funding for the HS2 programme has been provided by the UK Government to the Department for Transport (DfT) who manage the project, at UK Spending Reviews.

The Scottish Government receives Barnett funding based on the movements in DfT’s total budget.

As the UK Government have indicated that all funding for HS2 will be retained by the DfT for other projects, there should be no loss of Barnett funding.

However, this funding falls partly into the next UK Government Spending Review period and confirmation of funding levels will only be confirmed once the Spending Review has concluded.

Question reference: S6W-22327

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will receive any Barnett consequential funding as a result of the additional £8.55 billion of funding announced by the UK Government for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements 2 (CRSTS2) in England.

The additional £8.55 billion of UK Government funding for CRSTS2 relates to financial years 2027-28 to 2031-32.

This funding will form part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) future budget allocation. The Scottish Government will receive additional Barnett funding as part of its block grant based on any increase in the DfT’s total budget for the relevant financial years in accordance with the Statement of Funding Policy.

This funding announcement falls into the next UK Government Spending Review period and confirmation of funding levels for the Scottish Government will only be confirmed once the Spending Review has concluded.

Question reference: S6O-02735

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the provision of electronic devices to all school pupils to support their studies.