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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.

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Question reference: S6W-26022

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 15 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25697 by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2024, how funding decisions are made in relation to the applications that it receives for Regeneration Capital Grant funding.

The Regeneration Capital Grant Fund is delivered through a two-stage application and assessment process for each funding round. All applications are assessed by the independent Regeneration Capital Grant Fund Investment Panel against the fund’s criteria set jointly with COSLA. Only those applications assessed as successful by the panel at stage 1 are invited to submit a full stage 2 application. The panel makes final recommendations to the Scottish Government and COSLA on stage 2 applications to be funded.

Question reference: S6W-26027

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 15 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25697 by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2024, what criteria are used for awarding funding through the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme.

Applications to the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) are assessed by an Independent Panel against:

the basic eligibility criteria;
ability to meet the aims and objectives of the programme;
readiness to make use of available grant; and
wider strategic fit.

Information on the eligibility criteria, aims and objectives for VDLIP can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/vacant-and-derelict-land-investment-programme/pages/overview/ .

Question reference: S6O-03218

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding what cultural events and activities it has planned to mark the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike.

Question reference: S6W-25859

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what engagement it has had with the operators at Mossmorran on future plans to reduce emissions.

As a responsible government, we meet periodically with large industrial operators, such as those at Mossmorran, to discuss operational as well as forward looking matters focused on sustainability and decarbonisation.

To date we have had conversations with both Exxon Mobil and Shell about their participation in the Acorn Project and as part of the wider Scottish cluster, which they see as a key project to unlocking significant carbon reductions across the site.

Later this month I will be visiting the Mossmorran site to hear more about these decarbonisation plans.

Question reference: S6W-25697

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of Regeneration Capital Grant funding will open to applications, and how much funding will be made available.

Funding to support place-based regeneration programmes has been set at £45.8 million for 2024-2025, of which £23 million is required to meet contractual commitments for existing Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF) and Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) projects.

Ministers are considering options for distribution of the remaining regeneration capital budget allocation for 2024-2025 and we will clarify how this will be allocated in due course.

Question reference: S6O-03173

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the improvement plan for the Fife Circle railway line.

Question reference: S6W-25407

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to mark the 40th anniversary of the miners' strike in Scotland.

The Miners' Strike of 1984-85 is considered to be the most bitter industrial dispute in living memory. The Scottish Government recognises that the impact of the strike still runs deep in Scotland's former mining heartlands. Scotland is at the forefront across the UK in recognising the need to provide reconciliation, dignity and comfort to those communities still affected. That is why the Scottish Government brought forward legislation to provide a symbolic pardon to miners and other participants in the strike in relation to various offences committed during the dispute. We also continue to call on the UK Government to undertake a full UK-wide public inquiry into the strike.

The Scottish Government is therefore considering how best to raise the profile of the strike and its legacy in former mining communities, as the 40th anniversary of the dispute approaches.

Question reference: S6W-25436

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) turned down requests from the professor of criminology, Joe Phoenix, to participate in its policy review on the management of transgender people in custody on three occasions, whether the SPS did turn down such requests, and, if so, for what reason.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of all people in Scotland’s prisons is at the heart of SPS’ newly published Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody (2023).

The SPS engaged with approximately 400 people during the review of the SPS Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy (2014), and the SPS has no record of any communication from Professor Jo Phoenix during this period.

Question reference: S6W-25411

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has made available to Fife Council from the Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund.

Question reference: S6W-25051

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24401 by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2024, regarding the additional capital funding spend in the Scottish Budget 2024-25, which budget line covers each of the projects listed in the answer.