Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 3332 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-12179

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce fees for the use of ChargePlace Scotland rapid-charging EV charging stations.

The responsibility for applying fees for use of the public ChargePlace Scotland network lies with the owners of charge points, which includes public, private and third sector organisations. The Scottish Government’s draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network makes it clear that a shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary. As noted in the joint report published by Transport Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust in July 2021, the existence of free provision or below market rates does not incentivise commercial investment in the charging network, and it is important that tariffs reflect true operation, maintenance and asset replacement costs. The Scottish Government is taking steps to support the development of the public charging network in line with our draft Vision, including through our EV Infrastructure Fund.

Question reference: S6W-12423

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the European Commission regarding the Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

Question reference: S6O-01635

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Age Scotland's report, Keeping the Doors Open.

Question reference: S6W-12123

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on existing recycling services provided by island local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-12120

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on delivery of the Carbon Neutral Islands Project.

Question reference: S6W-12122

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it has undertaken on the carbon footprint of any increased transportation generated by the Deposit Return Scheme in island communities.

The Island Communities Impact Assessment ( Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) that we published in March 2020 confirms that the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme will not increase the amount of waste that will arise in island communities. Since most waste is currently transported off the islands it is unlikely that there will be any significant increase in number of journeys made by waste hauliers. No further modelling has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-12121

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the net environmental impact of the Deposit Return Scheme in island communities.

Question reference: S6W-11891

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in subsidies to (a) Barra, (b) Benbecula, (c) Campbeltown, (d) Dundee, (e) Inverness, (f) Islay, (g) Kirkwall, (h) Sumburgh, (i) Stornoway, (j) Tiree and (k) Wick John O'Groats Airport in each year since 2017-18, broken down by capital and revenue allocations.

The following table provides the information requested in relation to capital allocations. For completeness, HIAL Head Office figures are also included. Figures include both grant and loan funding.

Airport	2017-18 (£)	2018-19 (£)	2019-20 (£)	2020-21 (£)	2021-22 (£)
Barra	183,481.08	108,483.61	457,063.78	353,902.34	867,883.49
Benbecula	779,393.75	627,447.75	135,974.70	600,168.73	1,690,104.96
Campbeltown	193,284.51	131,895.32	615,854.76	286,619.78	4,776,933.08
Dundee	207,058.60	367,727.00	184,316.62	1,394,046.70	965,679.77
Inverness	3,082,271.52	2,759,966.51	4,726,100.48	9,406,498.54	11,645,971.05
Islay	100,276.74	125,036.04	170,835.64	470,970.26	735,028.98
Kirkwall	620,656.50	1,654,164.92	354,782.05	1,556,529.87	4,673,773.88
Stornoway	2,802,889.70	433,188.33	291,442.76	2,187,427.27	4,028,778.43
Sumburgh	1,069,276.36	1,018,554.48	2,787,491.56	3,404,861.35	1,912,617.76
Tiree	170,282.71	667,049.27	269,461.82	582,983.03	630,003.17
Wick John O’Groats	341,024.96	269,639.44	400,068.75	315,326.56	530,130.34
Head Office	339,733.76	224,446.02	3,690,673.05	3,241,700.54	4,445,809.64

The Scottish Government does not provide HIAL with revenue allocations on an airport by airport basis. Revenue funding is provided to HIAL as a Group with HIAL then allocating funding across the company, including on Head Office functions, on an as needed basis in order to achieve a breakeven position in any given period. The following table shows the revenue funding provided to HIAL in each year since 2017-18.

Year	Revenue Allocation (£)
2017-18	20,431,303.22
2018-19	21,617,923.68
2019-20	24,304,094.00
2020-21	38,009,537.28
2021-22	38,086,473.99

Question reference: S6W-11971

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05102 by Graeme Dey on 5 January 2022, how much Highlands and Islands Airports Limited's (HIAL) Air Traffic Management System project has cost to date.

Question reference: S6W-11984

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to extend the function of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner to include oversight of biometric data collected in (a) schools and (b) prisons.

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner (SBC) Act 2020 establishes the office of the SBC and provides for its functions in relation to the acquisition, retention, use and destruction of biometric data for criminal justice and police purposes. Therefore, biometric data collected from schools or prisons by Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority or the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner for these purposes, would already fall within the oversight of the SBC.

I would also refer the member to the Scottish Government’s letter to the Criminal Justice Committee dated 19 August 2022 which is published at Annex B to the Committee paper CJ/S6/22/26/1 . This outlined the Scottish Government’s position on extending the SBC’s functions to include oversight of biometric data collected in prisons and other sectors such as education. In relation to schools, I would also refer the member to the Scottish Government’s response to question S6W-06534 on 1 March 2022 raised on such matters.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers