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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-16471

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Regular informal meetings were held with Places for People Developments and officials in More Homes Division during that period to discuss progress on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme projects they were delivering.

In addition, officials in More Homes Division regularly engage with the New Avenue Living Fund Manager for Places for People Capital. Performance Review meetings were held on 9 December 2021 and 7 February 2023 to discuss the delivery of over 1,000 homes for mid-market rent.

And on 20 September 2022, the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights met with Places for People on the topic of Heat in Buildings.

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.

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-16318

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 which UK-level bodies and organisations it currently has representation on, and how any such appointments are made.

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-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-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-16302

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 guidance has been issued to local authorities on landlord registration.

General guidance for local authorities to administer and manage the Private Landlord Registration scheme was issued in 2009: https://www.gov.scot/publications/registration-private-landlords-guidance-local-authorities/pages/1/ .

This was updated in 2017 to provide statutory guidance for local authorities regarding the effective regulation of landlord registration: https://www.gov.scot/publications/landlord-registration-statutory-guidance-local-authorities-2017-statutory-guidance-local/ .

We are preparing further guidance, in consultation with local authorities, that we expect to be issued later this year.

Question reference: S6W-16303

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 guidance has been issued to local authorities regarding current houses in multiple occupation legislation.