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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-11002

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 23 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm the costs associated with the production and publication of the paper, Renewing Democracy through Independence.

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the Building a new Scotland paper, ‘Renewing democracy through independence', are set out in the following table.

Costs
Task	VAT %	VAT	Net Price
Formatting and Online Publication (including HTML Web Conversation)	20.0	589.97	2,949.85
Printed Copies	0.00	0.00	1,782.59
Summary Document	20.0	57.28	286.38
Summary Document – Language Translations	20.0	482.73	2,413.64
Summary Document – BSL Translation	20.0	137.85	689.24
Summary Document – Audio Translation	20.0	14.16	70.81
Summary Document – Easy Read Version	20.0	93.24	466.22
Total (GBP)		£1,375.23	£8,658.73
Total including VAT (GBP)			£10,033.95

Papers in the Building a New Scotland prospectus series are available at the following link: www.gov.scot/newscotland.

Question reference: S6O-01228

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will align its priorities for local government services with future projects by local authorities that are funded through the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund.

Question reference: S6O-01194

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its target of generating 50% of energy use from renewables by 2030 is sufficiently ambitious in light of new opportunities arising for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07515

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the most recent data on levels of income tax paid at the UK median wage level for all employees in Scotland, and how that compares with the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S6O-00954

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact of the UK Chancellor’s Spring Statement will be on Scotland's SMEs.

Question reference: S6O-00906

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what ministerial discussions have taken place regarding whether its net zero ambitions could be supported through the introduction of new fiscal measures.

Question reference: S6W-06773

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many baby boxes have been delivered to new and expectant families in the Falkirk East constituency in each year since their introduction.

The registration for Baby Boxes in Scotland opened on 15 June 2017 and delivery began on 15 August 2017.

We are unable to give the number of Baby Boxes delivered in the Falkirk East constituency area as we only record numbers of Baby Boxes distributed by Health Board.

The total number of Baby Boxes issued in Forth Valley Health Board up to 18 February 2022 is 10,965.

The total breakdown is provided in the following table:

2017(15 August – 31 December)	1132 Baby Boxes
2018	2525 Baby Boxes
2019	2466 Baby Boxes
2020	2310 Baby Boxes
2021	2242 Baby Boxes
2022 (up to 18 February 2022)	290 Baby Boxes

Question reference: S6W-06771

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the Falkirk East constituency are currently receiving new benefits through Social Security Scotland, and what the average amount of benefits being received is.

In the current financial year, between April 2021 and October 2021, 2,985 people living in Falkirk Local Authority received one or more payments for Social Security Scotland benefits they applied for. The mean average amount received by recipients living in Falkirk during this time was £519. These figures include applications made for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, Funeral Support Payment, Young Carer Grant, Job Start Payment, Scottish Child Payment, and Child Disability Payment.

Between April 2021 and October 2021, 2,695 Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments of £231.40 were made to people living in the Falkirk Local Authority. Statistics for Child Winter Heating Assistance by local authority covering winter 2021-2022 are due to be published on 26 April 2022.

Question reference: S6W-06770

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided to Falkirk Council for housing in each year from 2000-01 to 2020-21, and how much it projects it will provide in each year from 2023-24 to 2025-26.

The following table shows the Scottish Government funding provided to the Falkirk Council area in each year from 2000-01 to 2020-21, and specifically within that, the funding provided directly to Falkirk Council to deliver council homes:

Financial Year	Total Spend Falkirk Council Area	Falkirk Council Spend on Council Homes
	(£m)	(£m)
2000-01	2.992	0.000
2001-02	2.532	0.000
2002-03	2.142	0.000
2003-04	0.919	0.000
2004-05	0.879	0.000
2005-06	1.894	0.000
2006-07	4.350	0.000
2007-08	4.063	0.000
2008-09	4.966	0.000
2009-10	9.139	0.000
2010-11	5.865	0.000
2011-12	3.511	2.400
2012-13	4.900	1.992
2013-14	6.729	3.821
2014-15	4.835	2.116
2015-16	4.142	2.315
2016-17	5.917	4.077
2017-18	6.321	4.125
2018-19	6.872	4.524
2019-20	9.531	5.484
2020-21	11.142	4.033
Total	101.241	34.887

With regard to future funding, the Scottish Government has allocated Resource Planning Assumptions for the full five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26, and the following table sets out the funding allocated to the Falkirk Council area:

Financial Year	Resource Planning Assumption (£m)
2021-22	14.601
2022-23	12.586
2023-24	12.550
2024-25	12.594
2025-26	12.802
Total	65.133

Question reference: S6W-07024

Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kate Forbes on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the publication of the COVID-19 Strategic Framework will be followed by the publication of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, and when that will be published.

Following the publication of the strategic framework in relation to how Scotland moves forward whilst the threat of Covid 19 remains present, I am today publishing the National Strategy for Economic Transformation which sets out the actions, within the Scottish Parliament’s current powers, that the Scottish Government and partners will take to boost economic prosperity.

The next ten years have been branded the “decisive decade” where we face a choice to either lead or to lag behind other successful economies while we recover from COVID-19, deliver a just transition to net zero and tackle structural inequalities in our society.

This presents us with a unique opportunity to set out how we can build on Scotland’s strengths, recognise the challenges that face us, and maximise the opportunities of the next decade as far as possible within current constitutional arrangements to achieve our vision of a low-carbon, wellbeing economy that creates good well-paying jobs.

The strategy is framed around five policy programmes identified by close analysis of the available evidence https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802016703 . They have been shaped by an expert Advisory Council, as well as through extensive stakeholder engagement and consultation.

The Strategy sets out a comprehensive set of actions for each of these policy programmes and I look forward to engaging with Members in a parliamentary debate as we collectively take forward our ambition to ensure these are realised for the benefit of all the people and places across Scotland.