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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: S5W-27253

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the total cost of a licensing system for short-term lets to (a) owners of short-term lets and (b) local authorities.

We intend that local authorities will be able to charge a fee to cover the costs of administering the licensing scheme in their area. We will work with stakeholders as we develop the detail of the regulations for the licensing of short-term lets to prepare a full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), which will accurately reflect the costs to participants. The BRIA will accompany the draft regulations when they are laid at the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-27252

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its consultation on a regulatory framework for short-term lets, how many local authorities have requested the introduction of a licensing system.

Sixteen of Scotland’s local authorities responded to the consultation on a regulatory framework for short-term lets in Scotland. Fifteen of those sixteen noted agreement that there should be minimum safety standards for short-term lets, with most agreeing that this should apply to all short-term lets. The majority of local authorities responding supported some form of registration or licensing scheme.

Question reference: S5W-27257

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the total cost to local planning authorities of the introduction of short-term let control areas, as set out in Section 17 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.

Section 17 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 was inserted by a non-Government amendment at stage 3 of the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Bill.

At this stage no such assessment has been made. The Scottish Government is currently drafting proposals for regulations to implement the provisions of section 17 which will be subject to public consultation shortly. The supporting documents, including a draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, will be published as part of the consultation and open to comment.

Question reference: S5W-26991

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 22 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the current appointment status is for local authority building verification services in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh and (c) Stirling.

Glasgow and Stirling were appointed for a period of three years from 1 May 2019 and City of Edinburgh Council for two years from 1 May 2019, with a commitment to review after one year.

In all cases the appointment is dependent on the verifier meeting the verification Operating Framework 2017 and the verification Performance Framework 2017. This includes satisfying Scottish Ministers that the Authority is meeting, and continues to meet, performance measures. The extension to the one or three year appointment periods was subject to the authority submitting a Continuous Improvement Plan to Scottish Government by 31 May 2020.

Question reference: S5W-26990

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 22 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the performance of local authority building verification services.

An update is provided below on the national performance levels across Scotland. Performance has remained steady for building warrant applications turnaround times over 2017-18 and 2018-19. Scottish Government officials regularly monitor the performance of all local authorities through performance returns, and update the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on a regular basis. Where performance issues are identified tailored support is offered when required.

Key Performance Outcomes (KPO) - KPO1 Summary – Scotland

KPO1	First report issued	BW granted
(Target =)	(95% within 20 days)	(90% within 10 days of compliant details)
2019-20 (Q2)	84.55%	84.78%
2019-20 (Q1)	89.58%	83.47%
2018-19 (Q4)	90.36%	82.60%
2018-19 (Q3)	86.10%	78.31%
2018-19 (Q2)	82.51%	79.27%
2018-19 (Q1)	81.15%	80.02%
2017-18 (Q4)	82.53%	81.03%
2017-18 (Q3)	83.11%	72.73%

Question reference: S5W-26924

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the mandatory safety requirements of the new licensing scheme for short-term lets will include five-yearly electrical safety inspections.

Question reference: S5O-03992

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the outcome of the recent EU fisheries negotiations.

This year’s scientific advice was extremely challenging with significant cuts advised in 2020 for a number of important fish stocks. Despite this backdrop and the continued uncertainty around Brexit, the Scottish Government worked successfully to negotiate the best possible result for Scotland at the fisheries negotiations.

We achieved a number of outcomes that strike the best balance between opportunities for the fishing sector and ensuring sustainable fishing levels.

With quota reductions for a number of stocks there is no doubt that 2020 will be a challenging year for the fleet and dependent onshore sectors. We will continue to work with our stakeholders to manage these challenges and work towards sensible solutions.

Question reference: S5W-26359

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to the Scheme of Assistance programme in each year since its introduction, also broken down by housing tenure.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. Funding for the Scheme of Assistance is provided to local authorities through the Local Government settlement. Separate housing statistics published by the Scottish Government, based on annual statistical returns provided by local authorities, provides information by local authority on adaptations that have received grant funding through the Scheme of Assistance. The statistics collected do not include information on the housing tenure, although individual local authorities may keep records of the tenure of applications received for adaptations grant funding.

The Scheme of Assistance figures are published on the Housing Statistics section of the Scottish Government website at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/SoAtable

Note that the published Scheme of Assistance statistics are based on voluntary returns and in addition some of the local authority figures are based on estimated values for missing data. This includes estimates that have been made for East Lothian, for which figures for 2014-15 are based on 2013-14 data, and for Edinburgh, for which figures from 2015-16 onwards are the 2014-15 figures rolled forward.

The published Scheme of Assistance statistics on total amount of grant spent, as reported by local authorities for the financial years 2014-15 to 2018-19, are presented in following table.

Question reference: S5W-26358

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of waiting times across Scotland for people requiring occupational therapy-led home environment assessments.

The Scottish Government has not yet carried out any assessment of waiting times across Scotland for people requiring occupational therapy-led home environment assessments. Information on waits for assessment is currently collected at a local level, and Scottish Government officials are working with NHS Information Services Division to develop a national minimum dataset for Allied Health Professionals, including Occupational Therapists.

Question reference: S5O-03816

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the review of the BS 8414 test methodology for assessing the fire performance of external wall cladding systems will be published.