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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-10586

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what expectations it has of local authorities regarding the timescales associated with connecting children seeking adoption with families who have applied for adoption.

Question reference: S6W-10587

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how long each step of the adoption process should take for children and families seeking adoption through adoption services.

Question reference: S6O-01404

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent ballot for industrial action by members of the Educational Institute of Scotland trade union.

Question reference: S6W-10525

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that charities that normally qualify for water charge rebates, but were involved in dispersing grants in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, have had their turnover artificially inflated to above £300,000, meaning they no longer qualify, and whether it will undertake to provide an exemption in such cases.

The water and sewerage charges exemption scheme is open to charities which have an income of less than £300,000. Eligibility is assessed based on gross income information as obtained from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and there are no disregards in respect of capital grants or restricted income. This position was agreed in light of a public consultation and reflects the fact that in many cases restricted income/capital grants are not clearly set out in annual accounts.

In recognition that restricted income such as grants or asset disposals would elevate, temporarily, a charity’s income, the income threshold for eligibility was increased from £65,000 to £200,000 for full exemption and £300,000 for partial exemption. Setting a higher income threshold ensures that the administrative costs of the scheme are kept to a minimum as there is no need for individual assessments to be made in relation to the nature of the restricted income. Furthermore, as charities are required to submit annual applications, this means that if an organisation does not qualify in one financial year, it will not be prevented from applying in future years should it meet the criteria of the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-10605

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason annual house completion rates (combining private and social housing) per 100,000 population in the Glasgow City Council area have reportedly not recovered to pre-2008 levels and continue to lag behind rates in other Scottish cities.

It is for Glasgow City Council as the statutory housing and planning authority to set out local housing requirements. The Glasgow Local Housing Strategy 2017 sets a Housing Supply Target of 15,000 new homes over five years, including 7,500 new affordable homes. Scottish Government published new housebuilding statistics, based on private-led completions data provided by Glasgow City Council along with social sector housing association new build completions data from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, and these show a total of 4,923 all-sector completions over the four year period 2017-18 to 2020-21, with more than half of these being social sector housing association homes.

The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown significantly impacted the construction sector across Scotland with associated delays to delivery of homes.

Question reference: S6W-10451

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Project Neptune report will be published.

Question reference: S6W-10316

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to businesses to pursue innovation, in light of UK Innovation Survey 2021 data showing that 39% of businesses in Scotland were innovation active in 2018-20 compared to 44.9% for the UK as a whole.

We are committed to become a world leading, innovation nation, which will help us grow our economy and create sustainable, green jobs. As the recent figures from the UK Innovation Survey show, there is still work to be done.

That is why this year we will publish new innovation strategy which will ensure that our businesses, people and institutions are ready to meet the global economic challenges and opportunities we face over the next 10 years.

The Strategy will build on the support already available to businesses through our Enterprise Agencies, who since 2017 have distributed around £600m directly to businesses to build their capacity and capability to innovate, and initiatives such as the Digital Development Grant, which since September 2020 has invested almost £50m to over 5,600 SMEs to help them utilise digital technologies and enhance workforce skills.

Since 2007 Scotland’s business R&D expenditure has doubled, whereas the comparable figure for the UK as a whole was only 29% growth over the same period.

We recently commissioned The Scottish Council for Development and Industry to undertake research on the specific barriers to innovation faced by Scottish businesses. The findings from the report, together with our engagement with industry and key stakeholders, will inform a reformed package of support within the Strategy to ensure our businesses realise their innovative potential.

Question reference: S6W-10954

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the current members of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund Investment Panel.

The membership of the panel is agreed between Scottish Government and COSLA and consists of a number of organisational representatives. A list of those organisations and current members is as follows.

Scottish Government David Cowan (Co-Chair)

COSLA Calum Lindsay (Co-Chair)

SURF Scotlands Regeneration Forum Laura Black

Scottish Futures Trust Mhairi Donaghy

Highlands & Islands Enterprise Douglas Cowan

South of Scotland Enterprise Bryan McGrath

Scottish Enterprise Gillian Adam

SOLACE – (Chief Executives) Russell McCutcheon

SLAED (Economic Development) John McCrone

HoP ( Planning) Beverley Smith

Directors of Finance vacant

Question reference: S6W-10937

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of registered social landlords merging there have been in the Glasgow region since (a) 2014 and (b) 2010.

Question reference: S6W-10935

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether the Scottish Housing Regulator is aware of Reidvale Housing Association's strategic options appraisal, and what action it can take to ensure the regulator publishes any such document on its website.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) publishes an engagement plan for every Registered Social Landlord which is publicly available on their website. Their engagement plan for Reidvale Housing Association covering the period up to 31 March 2023 states that they are engaging with the Association on its strategic options appraisal.

As an independent Regulator it is for the SHR to make decisions about how they regulate. Their Regulatory Framework sets out how they perform their functions and regulate social landlords.