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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: S6O-01482

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had with the UK Government regarding making MSPs prescribed persons under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and extending parliamentary privilege.

Question reference: S6O-01473

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given in its planning policy to the role of mixed energy generation methods.

Question reference: S6W-11352

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all currently operational Scottish Development International offices, broken down by location and staff numbers at each office.

Our Internationalisation Plans take an evidence-led approach to trade and investment policy and delivery, focusing on those sectors and opportunities where Scotland strengths align to global trends in trade and investment. All of our plans were developed in collaboration with our key delivery partners including Scotland's enterprise and skills agencies. Implementation of the Plans align our priorities around trade and investment with those countries and markets where Scotland already does well, but could perform better. This evidence base enables Scottish Development International, on behalf of the enterprise agencies and Scottish Government, to align their resources, including international offices and specialist staff.

For details of the specifics in this question, I have asked Scottish Enterprise to write to you directly with the information you seek.

Question reference: S6W-11140

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff currently working in the overseas offices network are also employed by the UK Government's overseas embassies.

There are no Scottish Government staff working within our international offices, who are also employed by the UK Government.

Scottish Government international offices are staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff.

Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel which includes the posts’ line manager. Appointees are recruited from existing Scottish Government roles or from wider UK Government departments.

Country Based Staff are recruited using the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recruitment processes in each country and are paid for by the Scottish Government. There are currently 17 Country Based Staff employed within our Scottish Government international offices. It is common practice with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to recruit country based staff for their overseas offices in the same way.

Question reference: S6W-11139

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons Scotland’s Winter Festival Fund for the 2022-23 season is no longer in operation, and what support exists for winter events in Scotland in 2022.

Following the emergency budget review announced by the First Minister on 11 August 2022, the Scottish Government took the difficult decision not to provide funding for the Scotland’s Winter Festivals Fund in the 2022-23 season. This decision was considered carefully and taken based on the need to focus the Scottish Government’s finite resources in order to mitigate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, where possible.

Round 46 of Event Scotland’s National Events Programme is providing approximately £280,000 for 29 events taking place from September to December 2022 (inclusive). Additionally, over £600,000 has been provided to support 21 events to take place during 2022 through the Year of Stories 2022 Open Events Fund, with 181 community events supported by over £700,000 through the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund, which is funded by the Scottish Government, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Museum Galleries Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-11179

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what factors it has identified as being the cause of the reported drop in life expectancy for (a) men and (b) women in Scotland.

The National Records of Scotland published the latest life expectancy statistics on 22 September 2022. The report shows that COVID-19 deaths accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy in 2020 and 2021, in both men and women. However, there were also some increases in other causes of death, including drug related deaths and deaths due to circulatory problems in men.

The Scottish Government expresses its deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost a loved one as a result of the pandemic.

Question reference: S6F-01419

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022

To ask the First Minister what discussions she has had with the UK Government about new investment zones for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10752

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 3 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many social workers have been employed in the Forth Valley region in each of the last 10 years.

The information requested by Mr Kerr, MSP, is publicly available on the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) website. Last month, the SSSC published official statistics in the ‘ Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2021 Workforce Data’ report. This Report contains official statistics dating back to 2012. As well as this report, the SSSC will publish more detailed tables in late 2022, providing a breakdown of the number of people working in all sub-sectors in individual local authority areas.

Question reference: S6W-10787

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with Trivago.co.uk since 1 March 2022, and for any such bookings, what the (a) lowest, (b) highest and (c) average cost per night is, and what the (i) shortest, (ii) longest and (iii) average length of a stay in a hotel is.

The Scottish Government’s absolute priority is ensuring the wellbeing and safety of displaced people from Ukraine. Our aim is to reduce overall hotel stay lengths and for people to be settled in accommodation in communities as soon as possible and for as long as they wish to stay.

The contract notice with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) (North) Ltd, was published on 09 August 2022. The contract is the primary route used to source and provide travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine including accommodation in hotels and on the M/S Victoria I and M/S Ambition.

The full contract has a value of up to £100 million with a start date of 8 July 2022 and an end date of 12 December 2024.

Question reference: S6W-10791

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many nights' accommodation have been booked for Ukrainian refugees under the Super Sponsor scheme with ebooking.com since 1 March 2022, and for any such bookings, what the (a) lowest, (b) highest and (c) average cost per night is, and what the (i) shortest, (ii) longest and (iii) average length of a stay in a hotel is.