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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-15438

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14430 by Jamie Hepburn on 9 February 2023, when the full review of homelessness data collections (a) was commissioned and (b) will be published.

In consultation with local authority data providers a review was felt to be valuable to ensure data collections were as up to date as possible, reflecting changes in homelessness legislation, terminology and policy. In addition, the review would aim to rationalise the collections by updating these to better reflect the data needs of the sector and data users.

Work is ongoing and we anticipate that a full review of existing content, development of new or alternative content and agreement on final content will be concluded by end 2024-beginning of 2025. This includes time to adequately research content, hold in-depth discussion with data providers and stakeholders to understand data requirements and feasibility of collection. The work will involve review of all relevant legislation and statutory guidance. The aim is to also build in an opportunity to share draft amended content publicly, with a final opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback before content is fully agreed.

Question reference: S6W-15784

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next publish a Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics report.

Question reference: S6O-02038

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers there currently are in the Edinburgh divisional area.

Question reference: S6W-15283

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants are currently working on the Building a New Scotland series, given as a (a) headcount and (b) FTE staff figure.

Work to develop the prospectus is drawing on a range of officials across the organisation who will contribute to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities in supporting the Scottish Government. The exact number of officials contributing as part of their wider responsibilities is not known as the Scottish Government has no need to record this information.

The Constitutional Futures Division coordinates work on the Building a New Scotland series. As of 22 February 2023, it comprises 24 civil servants, including one Deputy Director. This equates to 23.3 FTE .

Question reference: S6W-15284

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has stopped all planning, and dropped any assumption, regarding an independence referendum taking place in October 2023.

The Scottish Government accepts the Supreme Court’s judgment as to whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate for an independence referendum without a Section 30 order.

There is however a democratic mandate for an independence referendum, and we stand ready to engage with the UK Government to give the Scottish people the right to choose their constitutional future in line with the result of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election which resulted in a clear majority in the Parliament in favour for a referendum.

Given the legislative and other arrangements that would be necessary, the Scottish Government is not planning for a referendum in October of this year.

Question reference: S6W-15330

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the datasets that are published within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio, and what the frequency of publication of each is.

The Scottish Government published the following datasets within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio in the last 12 months:

Publication title	Frequency of publication	Last published	Link
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics	Monthly	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-february-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-january-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-december-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-november-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics/
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise	Ad-hoc one off publication	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/
The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands IndexSM – Scotland	Every 2 years	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/anholt-ipsos-nation-brands-indexsm-2022-report-scotland-scottish-government-constitution-international-migration-analysis/
Local Government Candidate Diversity Survey 2022	No plans to repeat	November 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-government-candidates-survey-2022/
Scottish Social Attitudes Survey – Core module Attitudes to Scottish Government and Parliament	Every 2 years	October 2022 (Survey data 2021/22)	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-2021-22/
Scottish Household Survey : Culture and Heritage	Annually	February 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2020-telephone-survey-culture-heritage-report/pages/2/
Survey of the extension of the voting franchise to prisoners	No plans to repeat	May 2023/TBC	Not published, forthcoming publication

Additionally, the Scottish Government publish a calendar of forthcoming statistical releases. The calendar can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

Question reference: S6W-15394

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14560 by Neil Gray on 21 February 2023, who the members of the group undertaking the Joint Assurance Review are.

Question reference: S6W-15393

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14560 by Neil Gray on 21 February 2023, how many times the Joint Assurance Review group has met since November 2022.

Question reference: S6O-01986

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, 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 has plans to extend free bus travel to everyone under the age of 26.

Question reference: S6W-15282

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many cabins were occupied on the MS Ambition on (a) 1, (b) 8 and (c) 21 February 2023.

The Scottish Government routinely publishes the latest data and information on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland, including the number of people temporarily housed on the MS Ambition. As published on 23 February, there were around 995 guests onboard the MS Ambition as at 14 February 2023, occupying 475 cabins. The next update is expected to be published in late March.

The data are provisional management information from live operational systems and are subject to change. The number of displaced people from Ukraine in welcome accommodation on M/S Ambition is reported directly by operational teams.

The published tables and accompanying methodology notes for the February publication can be found here: Supporting documents - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)