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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-02623

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available to cultural organisations that are operating in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-21757

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it can offer to car sharing organisations that work to support the National Transport Strategy aim to promote car and ride sharing in preference to single occupancy car use, in light of reports that such work is being undermined by insurance premiums increasing by more than 100% in a single year.

Transport Scotland provide funding sources, such as the Smarter Choices Smarter Places Open Fund, to encourage people to change their behaviours to drive less and to walk or cycle as part of their everyday short journeys or to use public transport for longer journeys for which shared transport projects, including those supporting car clubs, are eligible.

The cost of motoring through vehicle excise duty, fuel duty and motor insurance is subject to legislation fully reserved to the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-22269

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-21850

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to ensure that any electric vehicle (EV) chargers installed at Scottish Government agency locations across Scotland are made available for the wider public through the ChargePlace Scotland system, as is the case with the SEPA EV chargers in Elgin.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is owned by many different executive agencies and other public bodies (such as SEPA) which are funded by the Scottish Government, as well as a small proportion owned by the Scottish Government directly. Each individual organisation is responsible for managing their own charge point assets and for making decisions about whether they should be designated for staff, visitors and/or fleet vehicle usage or for general public access. Not all charge point sites are suitable for general public access, for example those in secure staff car parks or in fleet vehicle depots.

There are no plans to centralise the management of EV charging infrastructure across all Scottish Government agencies or public bodies.

Since 2011, the Scottish Government has provided £65 million to support the installation of over 2,600 public charge points across Scotland, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive public EV charging networks in the UK. The Scottish Government’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to provide a further £60 million of public and private sector investment to increase the number of public charge points to 6,000 by 2026.

Question reference: S6W-21561

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance and support can be given to local authorities to enable more communities to run Play Street events, including through simplifying the process of applying for temporary traffic regulation orders, designing traffic management schemes, loaning signs and cones to organising groups and enabling group stewards to be suitably trained to safely put out and collect road signs on the day of the event.

Local authorities are responsible under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 for the management and maintenance of local roads within their areas. Where necessary, this includes restricting local roads for events such as Play Streets. In certain circumstances Scottish Ministers consent is required to make a temporary traffic regulation order that closes or restricts a road for a special event.

A number of Play Street events are already undertaken in Scotland with great success utilising the powers that local authorities already have. Glasgow City Council’s Street Play initiative for example allows communities to close local streets free of charge. Given that local authorities are best placed to know their streets, the Scottish Government has no current plans to issue further guidance on this matter.

Question reference: S6W-21614

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on phase 3 of the Learning Estate Investment Programme, and in relation to how it can work with local authorities to deliver any necessary improvements to the school estate.

I understand that local authorities are keen to get clarity on Phase 3 of the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP). We wrote to councils to explain that consideration of potential Phase 3 projects was still ongoing.

It is important to recognise that we are trying to make these important investment decisions against a backdrop of market volatility on current projects, which has meant that we have agreed to provide an 11% adjustment to 20 Phase 1 and 2 projects, and this was communicated to local authorities on 3 August. The incidences of RAAC in a small number of our schools is also a factor we are taking into consideration.

These are big decisions, it is important that we get them right, and I have committed to updating the Parliament by the end of October.

LEIP is an important part of our investment in education provision and will build on this government’s proud record in improving our school estate, which has saw the number of schools in Scotland in good or satisfactory condition rise from 61% in 2007 to 90.7% today.

Question reference: S6W-21321

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering a Norwegian-style system where vessels would be required to report the coordinates of lost fishing gear when such a loss occurs, if it occurs in the offshore region outwith the 12 nautical mile limit, so that the gear could be recovered during an annual summer “clean up” organised by its Marine Directorate.

Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government is not considering a Norwegian-style system of funding and running an annual clean-up of fishing gear reported as lost. Scottish vessels are required to carry retrieval equipment aboard unless working exclusively within 12 nautical miles or never more than 24 hours at sea. Vessels must attempt to retrieve lost gear in a timely manner if it is safe to do so. Any gear that remains lost must be reported to the UK Fisheries Monitoring Centre. Fishing licence holders have been reminded of these responsibilities with a fact sheet from fishery offices.

Question reference: S6W-21598

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its support for beaver translocation, what steps have been taken to ensure that Forestry and Land Scotland applies for a licence from NatureScot to release beavers in Glen Affric, following an extensive period of consultation and planning.

In light of the change to the scale and scope of the project and because there is now only one landowner involved, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) will now conduct a further round of public engagements in 2023.

FLS will work together with Trees for Life to engage with the community with a view to this exercise evidencing the community and stakeholder support that gives FLS the assurance to then submit a licence application for a Spring 2024 release.

Question reference: S6W-21597

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its support for beaver translocation, what action Forestry and Land Scotland has taken to apply for licences from NatureScot to translocate beavers from Tayside to areas outside of their normal range.

Question reference: S6W-21318

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of cetaceans known to have died as a result of fishing bycatch or entanglement in disused fishing gear in Scottish or UK territorial waters, in the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government are funding partners of the UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme, which deploys dedicated observers onboard UK fishing vessels, with the purpose of recording protected species bycatch across UK fisheries. Numbers of bycaught cetaceans are reported in the programme’s annual reports. Reports from 2012-2017 can be accessed on the MB5203 project webpage: Science Search (defra.gov.uk) and reports from 2017 onwards can be accessed on the ME6004 project webpage: Science Search (defra.gov.uk) .

The Marine Directorate and Scottish Fishermen’s Federation also operate a Joint Observer Monitoring Programme, which records numbers of protected species bycaught in specific fisheries across Scottish waters. Between 2015 and 2022, this programme observed one incident of harbour porpoise bycatch.

In addition to at sea monitoring programmes, information collected through the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS) can be valuable in investigating the cause of death of marine animals stranded around the Scottish coast. While the scheme has recorded bycatch and entanglement as a cause of death in some strandings, it can be difficult to distinguish between active and lost or discarded fishing gear. Annual reports can be found on the SMASS website: Published Reports - SMASS (strandings.org) .