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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-11970

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide further information on the £1.4 million Island Cost Crisis Emergency fund, which was announced by the Deputy First Minister as part of the Emergency Budget Review on 2 November 2022.

The £1.4 million Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund was developed acknowledging islands are uniquely exposed to the current cost crisis.

In line with due process, the joint Scottish Government/COSLA Settlement Distribution Group will make recommendations on the allocation mechanism for the funding at their next meeting on 15 November. COSLA Leaders will be asked to give their final sign-off on 25 November.

As soon as possible after that date we will be in a position to share further information about allocation of the Fund. However, we can share that we will allow as much flexibility to Local Authorities as possible and support them to complement existing or new measures where appropriate. Any criteria and reporting processes required will be very light touch to minimise the impact on the workloads of Local Authorities colleagues.

Question reference: S6W-12000

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-01419 by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 October 2022, what consideration it has given in its discussions with the UK Government to facilitating new investment in Scotland’s islands.

Discussions with the UK Government on possible Investment Zones remain at an exploratory stage: but we have been clear that any Investment Zones in Scotland would have to be the right fit for Scotland’s economy, reflect our policy and governance landscape, and respect the devolution settlement, in particular in relation to planning and environmental protection. The UK Government is currently reviewing its policy, and we await further information.

Question reference: S6O-01544

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what priority it attaches to developing relationships with other European countries.

Question reference: S6W-11826

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11322 by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £119 million targeted at fuel poor households in 2022-23 by (a) local authority area and (b) type of measure.

Question reference: S6W-11825

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11322 by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £336 million allocated in 2022-23 by (a) local authority area and (b) type of measure.

The Scottish Government has allocated £64 million by council area as part of our Area Based Schemes for 2022-23. Details of the grant allocations and outturns for each council as part of our Area Based Schemes programme since 2013 are published on the Scottish Government website.

Area Based Schemes: allocation per local authority - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The majority of local schemes aim to deliver external wall insulation but numbers of measures delivered reflects individual retrofit assessments of properties. These are reported by councils and published on the Scottish Government website.

Area Based Schemes: annual final measures reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Funding for national schemes, such as the Warmer Homes Scotland service, is not allocated by council area but reflects numbers of successful applications by householders or organisations. The Scottish Government will publish further details about the number of measures delivered by each scheme as part of wider annual reporting at national level.

Question reference: S6W-11824

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11322 by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2022, how much of the £119 million targeted at fuel poor households in 2022-23 has been allocated to (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland.

Question reference: S6W-11322

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will be increasing funds allocated to delivering the fuel poverty strategy, in light of the reported increased number of households estimated to be in fuel poverty, and, if not, whether it still expects to meet its target of no more than 5% of homes in fuel poverty by 2040.

Our Fuel Poverty Act is the most ambitious fuel poverty legislation in the UK, setting us challenging but achievable targets, that in 2040 no more than 5% of households are fuel poor, and no more than 1% are in extreme fuel poverty. As required by the 2019 Fuel Poverty Act, a new statutory Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel was established from January 2022. The panel is an advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB) which will oversee the implementation of the Fuel Poverty Strategy, providing an important means of external scrutiny of our progress towards meeting the statutory targets.

As the 2019 Act requires the Scottish Government to formally consult with the panel on the strategy, we are presently working with them to seek their views in relation to appropriate next steps. The panel are also working collaboratively with the Poverty and Inequality Commission to inform advice for Scottish Ministers.

We are committed to tackling fuel poverty – not least by delivering on our Fuel Poverty and Heat in Buildings Strategies, which will help make homes warmer, greener and cheaper to run. We will invest at least £1.8 billion over the course of this parliament to insulate and install modern climate-friendly heating in homes and other buildings. This year alone (2022-23) we have allocated £336 million to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures including £119m targeted at fuel poor households. Our Warmer Homes Scotland fuel poverty scheme has its highest ever annual budget of £55 million, with recently revised eligibility criteria making a further 110,000 households eligible for support across Scotland. In addition, the Programme for Government commits us to using our Emergency Budget Review to double the value of our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million, to ensure support continues to be available to people affected by rising energy costs who may be unable to afford their fuel bills this winter. Also subject to the emergency budget review, we will be investing an additional £5 million in Discretionary Housing Payments and allowing local authorities flexibility to use them to help with energy costs as well as rent payments.

Question reference: S6W-11323

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has met since its creation, and whether a summary of the discussions and action points from these meetings has been published by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-11324

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the final report of the Green Heat Finance Taskforce will be published.

Question reference: S6W-11303

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-10436 and S6W-10437 by Shona Robison on 21 September 2022, and in light of the Report to Aberdeenshire Council’s Business Services’ Licensing Sub-Committee of 2 September 2022 under item six, paragraph 3.8.1, whether it can confirm that licensing officers from Aberdeenshire Council told the Scottish Government that it would not be possible to establish the short-term lets licensing scheme by 1 October 2022; and what its response is to the comment in the report regarding this deadline that “other Scottish Licensing Authorities are in the same position as Aberdeenshire Council”.

In the lead up to the commencement of short-term let licensing on 1 October 2022, we spoke to local authorities about their readiness to implement licensing schemes. This included regular group meetings and individual discussions.

A small number of local authorities informed us that their elected members would not meet to ratify their draft short-term let policies until after 1 October 2022. In these cases local authorities have ensured their websites have information about their licensing scheme including the draft policy, draft application forms, and an email address to submit enquiries to.