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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-16468

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with An Lanntair since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

An Lanntair are a key stakeholder of our public bodies. The Scottish Government has not met An Lanntair directly during this period, however Highlands and Islands Enterprise hold regular meetings with An Lanntair, normally on a monthly basis, to discuss operational matters.

In addition, as they are a regularly funded organisation (RFO), An Lanntair has met with Creative Scotland during this period through virtual and in-person meetings, and phone calls.

The key outcomes from those discussions include (i) funding levels, (ii) additional financial support from the various Scottish Government COVID-19 Emergency Funds and (iii) updates of An Lanntair’s ongoing RFO activity including artistic planning, annual review and annual reporting.

The Scottish Government will continue to have regular dialogue with the culture sector and, given the recent changes in the Scottish Government Ministerial team, introductory meetings between relevant Ministers and Creative Scotland and partners across the sector are currently being considered.

Question reference: S6W-16359

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken to determine whether its changes to tax rates have increased or decreased tax revenue.

From the analysis available, evidence shows our reforms have been effective in raising additional revenue for the Scottish Budget. In December 2021 we published a policy evaluation of the Income Tax reforms implemented in 2018-19, showing the policy raised £239m that year.

The Scottish Government actively works with stakeholders, such as HMRC on Income Tax, to continually improve the evidence base to help inform policy development and evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-16495

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Research Data Scotland since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Since the establishment of Research Data Scotland (RDS) at the end of 2021 my officials have had ongoing engagement with RDS.

Regarding formal meetings, my officials hold quarterly review meetings with the CEO and senior management of RDS. The more recent ones were held respectively on 14 December 2022 and 22 March 2023.

Mr Ivor McKee, MSP and former Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise also met with the CEO of RDS on 18 January 2023.

This list is not exhaustive of engagement my officials have had with RDS.

A range of issues were discussed at these meetings, including RDS service offering, operating and workforce model, revenues streams and how RDS will support our long-term vision for data and data-led innovation.

Given the cross-cutting nature of RDS and its role in advancing research data and other data matters, there is ongoing engagement between RDS and other portfolios across Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-16479

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Harper Macleod LLP since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Harper MacLeod are a provider of external legal services to The Scottish Government via call-off contracts under the Legal Services Framework 2019 to 2023 .

The Scottish Government Legal Directorate hold quarterly review meetings with Harper MacLeod to discuss contract performance; adherence to service levels; sustainability; community benefits and contract governance. Other ad hoc meetings will be held between Harper MacLeod and policy and legal colleagues.

The Scottish Government does not comment on legal advice or communications between itself and its legal advisors. In doing so the Scottish Government observes legal professional privilege between client and lawyer. This also maintains the Scottish Ministerial Code, paragraphs 2.38 and 2.39. Therefore, the sharing of content or outcomes of these meetings would be inappropriate.

Question reference: S6W-16335

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have (a) opened and (b) closed in Scotland since May 2021.

Statistics on business births and deaths are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) within their Business Demography publications. Data are available on a calendar year basis and on a quarterly basis. Links to the latest versions of these publications are provided below. The business births and deaths in the ONS publications are based on registrations and de-registrations for Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Note that VAT/PAYE registrations/de-registrations do not represent a complete picture of business churn – as this excludes the smallest businesses without employees and an annual turnover of less than the VAT threshold (currently £85,000).

Business Demography, UK: 2021 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemography/latest

Business demography, quarterly experimental statistics, UK: October to December 2022 - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/octobertodecember2022

Question reference: S6W-16326

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on delivering affordable housing in each year since 2016.

Information on annual spend on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme is reported through our published annual out-turn reports and can be accessed through the following link Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The following table provides the expenditure on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) in each financial year since 2016-17.

The expenditure incurred in a particular year does not correlate directly to the number of completions within that year as the construction of new affordable housing developments can span a number of years:

Financial Year	Total Expenditure (£m)
2016-17	550.779
2017-18	592.306
2018-19	745.188
2019-20	839.939
2020-21	754.497
2021-22	671.539

* 2022-23 spend has not yet concluded

Question reference: S6W-16325

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes have been constructed in each year since 2016.

Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/ .

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes completed in each financial year since 2016-17:

Financial Year	Number of homes delivered
2016-17	7,493
2017-18	8,527
2018-19	9,566
2019-20	9,290
2020-21	6,479
2021-22	9,757
2022-23*	6,381

* 2022-23 figure relates to 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2022.

The homes provided through the AHSP comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

Question reference: S6W-16301

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on landlord registration.

Local authorities are responsible for the administration and enforcement of landlord registration, and are the data controllers of the information held on the landlord registration IT system for landlords in their area.

The Scottish Government works with Registers of Scotland to provide local authorities with an online platform to prepare and maintain their registers.

The Scottish Government receives monthly aggregate information extracted from the system, including the total number of active registrations and the number of properties that these relate to.

Question reference: S6W-16317

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many appointments it has made to UK-level bodies and organisations in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-16319

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many vacancies currently exist for any Scotland representation on UK-level bodies and organisations.