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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-14785

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there may be a need for secondary legislation for the Glasgow School of Art reconstruction project, to ensure that the restoration of the building is as faithful to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's original design as possible, and whether (a) it would be possible to introduce and (b) it will give consideration to introducing secondary legislation to this end under (i) the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 and (ii) section 63 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans at this stage to introduce secondary legislation under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 or Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, regarding the Glasgow School of Art’s (GSA) rebuild of the Mackintosh building.

The Mackintosh building is owned by The Glasgow School of Art, which is an autonomous body with responsibility for its own strategic and operational decision making. The GSA have stated that its plans for a faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh building will take into account the practical constraints of the current regulatory environment. Employers, building owners and managers are responsible for their premises, including duties in relation to fire safety and mitigation.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will continue to engage closely with the GSA at senior management and board level on institutional governance, its plans for the delivery of high quality education, and decision making regarding the rebuild of the Mackintosh building. Historic Environment Scotland, as the lead public body for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment, will continue to work with the GSA, Glasgow City Council and other interested parties on the complex issues surrounding the rebuild of the Mackintosh building.

Question reference: S6W-14931

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected timeline is for applications to the 2024-25 round of the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP).

Question reference: S6W-14814

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available to ensure that businesses can offer apprenticeships to fulfil future demand for maritime roles, including (a) skilled offshore wind, (b) workboat, (c) aquaculture and (d) marine construction roles.

Question reference: S6W-14817

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have offered a maritime apprenticeship place in Scotland since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-14818

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of maritime studies apprentices required to support the future demand for maritime industries in Scotland.

The Maritime sector is supported by a range of apprenticeships. Recent employer led developments include a full review of the Aquaculture provision to ensure that skills programmes support current and emerging needs.

There is work ongoing to refresh Engineering apprenticeships to support employers in boat/ship building, wind farm and marine construction across production, maintenance and technical support, which employers have told us are critical skill areas.

Skills Development Scotland work closely with key partners and stakeholders to develop Regional Skills Assessments (RSAs) and Sectoral Skills Assessments (SSAs) across Scotland. RSAs and SSAs provide a coherent evidence base to inform future investment in skills, built up from existing datasets and forecasts, which look at current and future skills demand across Scotland to help plan future skills investment in Scotland’s people and businesses. There are several SSAs that are relevant to maritime industries including Engineering, Construction, Energy and Food and Drink.

Question reference: S6W-14815

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support maritime apprenticeships and training schemes for people seeking a career in the rapidly expanding sectors of (a) windfarm, (b) aquaculture and (c) marine construction projects.

Question reference: S6O-01983

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the continued repair works to the M8 motorway in Glasgow, including on their financial implications.

Question reference: S6W-14574

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authorities have received funding in the last six months to provide free (a) bus passes and (b) rail cards to people seeking asylum.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding to local authorities in the last six months to provide free bus passes or rail cards to people seeking asylum and does not hold information on whether local authorities have received funding from elsewhere.

However, Refugee Survival Trust and partners have been provided with funding from the Paths for All Smarter Choices Smarter Places Open Fund. This has enabled them to begin a pilot scheme to provide free bus travel to people seeking asylum living in Glasgow through the provision of three month bus passes, along with information and digital support to access and use the pass.

The Pilot will run until summer 2023 and will help inform options on how to deliver our Programme for Government commitment to consider how best to provide free bus travel to people seeking asylum across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15226

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to attract investment from the Lockheed Martin Corporation, in light of reports that Lockheed Martin is seeking to develop a satellite manufacturing facility in the UK.

The Scottish Government has identified space as a priority in our Inward Investment Plan and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

We are committed to delivering the joint Scottish Space Strategy, developed in partnership with industry and academia, which sets out our ambition to grow the space sector in Scotland by capturing £4 billion of the global space market and 20,000 jobs by 2030.

We actively engage with the industry, both directly with individual companies and through our economic development agencies and collectively through Space Scotland as the industry body.

The SDI Inward Investment team is engaging with Lockheed Martin to learn more about the company’s plans to develop a satellite manufacturing facility in the UK and illustrate the advantages of locating a manufacturing site into Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-14821

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that the Scottish National Investment Bank's £50 million funding of North Star Shipping's new offshore wind service operations vessel (SOV) shipbuilding programme is best utilised to develop a Scottish industrial supply chain by constructing the fleet of vessels in Scotland.

Although guided by the missions set for it by Scottish Ministers, the Scottish National Investment Bank is operationally independent and makes investment decisions based on its own investment process and strategy.

On the specific matter of North Star, it is for North Star as a private commercial company to make its own decisions in respect to where it sources it vessels. The Scottish Government recognises the opportunity that requirements for offshore wind service vessels presents for Scottish industry going forward and will seek to work together to support this.