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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: S6O-00934

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported ongoing shortage of social housing since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-07157

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to create a register of beneficial ownership for firms involved in Scottish freeports to help prevent the freeports from becoming hubs for money laundering and illicit trade.

The governance body of a Green Freeport, which will need to be approved by the Scottish and UK Governments, will be required to maintain a record of all businesses operating, or applying to operate, within the tax site. That record must be kept up-to-date, contain information about the beneficial owner of the business, and be readily accessible to law enforcement agencies, including HMRC and the National Crime Agency. Law enforcement will use this information to carry out checks on the businesses and their beneficial owners before businesses are authorised to operate within the tax site.

Question reference: S6W-07159

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a public register of all businesses operating within Scottish freeports will be published.

The Green Freeport governance body will need to maintain a record of all the businesses operating, or applying to operate, within the tax site. That record must be kept up-to-date, contain information about the beneficial owner of the business, and be readily accessible to law enforcement agencies, including HMRC and the National Crime Agency.

We are discussing the issue of publication of information by the Green Freeport governance bodies with the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-07158

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being put in place to prevent Scottish freeports from being used as hubs for money laundering and illicit trade.

The applicant prospectus states that Green Freeport operators must adhere to the OECD Code of Conduct for Clean Free Trade Zones – and the specific anti-illicit trade and security measures therein. In addition they must meet the current obligations set out in the UK’s Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. Furthermore, operators of Green Freeports will be responsible for the security of the customs site. As part of this, they will be required to be authorised as a customs site operator and meet requirements set out by HMRC.

The Green Freeport governance body will be required to actively manage security risks across physical, personnel, and cyber domains, and to work with the Scottish Government, HMRC, Border Force, the National Crime Agency, Home Office and other relevant agencies and government departments to conduct an annual audit of the security measures in place and any breaches.

As part of the application process, applicants will be asked to set out what steps they will take to ensure that the customs sites and tax sites in their proposed Green Freeport will be secure against illicit activity, including organised criminal activity, money laundering, smuggling and people trafficking. Applicants that do not show adequate consideration of steps to prevent illicit activity will not be considered for Green Freeport status.

Question reference: S6W-06996

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last spoke to the owners of the BiFab manufacturing yard.

Question reference: S6W-07010

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it undertakes regular reviews of local authorities and the additional support for learning that they provide for children with additional support needs.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) requires education authorities to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. We support local authorities through the provision of statutory guidance to inform policy and practice, including guidance to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Education Scotland works in partnership with the Scottish Government, ELC, schools and local authorities to improve the outcomes and educational experiences for all learners, including those who require additional support through a range of activities. These include:

Support and challenge from Education Scotland Inclusion Wellbeing and Equality Officers through the national and regional focus.
Information, guidance, professional learning and reflective opportunities which include a focus on additional support needs and inclusion.
The HM Inspection model of education which provides support and challenge to promote improvement for all learners through the fulfilment of statutory duties, inclusion and equality.

In addition, we published our joint response to the independently chaired review of implementation of additional support for learning in October 2020. Angela Morgan’s report sets a clear direction in how we can continue to build on progress in this area. The joint action plan sets out the measures we will take to implement her recommendations.

We published an updated action and progress report on 1 November 202. The action plan and governance arrangements for this work are available from: Additional support for learning action plan: progress report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An updated action plan will be published in Spring 2022.

Question reference: S6W-07011

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) co-ordinated support plans, (b) individualised educational programmes and (c) child's plans are in place in each local authority area for children with additional support needs.

Question reference: S6W-06912

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many older people who are in relative or absolute poverty it estimates have applied for schemes such as Warmer Homes Scotland and similar government schemes in order to make it through this winter and afford basic needs such as heating and food.

Eligibility for Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) does not operate on an “application” basis, but on proxies which are used as an indication of the likelihood of the household living in or being at risk of fuel poverty.

Eligible callers to Home Energy Scotland, looking for advice or help are referred to WHS. Both the householder and the property must meet the qualifying criteria to receive assistance from Warmer Homes Scotland.

A total of 1,467 referrals to WHS during the period 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022 were made from those who were 60 years and above.

Monitoring information for other winter support schemes will become available at the end of the current financial year and we intend to publish that information once available.

Question reference: S6W-06909

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many older people it estimates are currently living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty.

Question reference: S6W-06911

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many older people who are in relative or absolute poverty have raised concerns with it regarding not being able to afford both heating and food this winter, and what information it has on how many such older people have raised such concerns to stakeholder organisations.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many older people who are in relative or absolute poverty have raised concerns about not being able to afford both heating and food this winter. The sources of information below provides indicators of levels of poverty; and engagement with stakeholder organisations.

Poverty and food insecurity

One indicator of levels of poverty and food insecurity is the latest Family Resources Survey (FRS). The most recent information available for 2019/20 showed that food insecurity rates for Scotland reflected those of the UK as a whole, and that the rate of food insecurity was lower for people over 65. Both the FRS and the 2020 Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) indicated rates of between 1% and 3% for over 65s, compared to 8% overall.

According to the FRS, around a quarter of people in both relative and absolute poverty were experiencing low, or very low food security. The relative poverty rate after housing costs for pensioners was 14% in 2017-20, or 150,000 pensioners each year - consistently below that for working-age adults (19%).

Fuel poverty

Data from the Scottish Government’s national Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) scheme provides an indicator for those at risk of fuel poverty. The scheme is designed to help those living in or at risk of fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties. Eligibility for the scheme is based on “proxies”, including certain benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which are an indication of the likelihood of the household living in or being at risk of fuel poverty.

Referrals to WHS during the period 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022 are as follows.

Age	Number
50-60	498
66-74	753
75 and over	714

The Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, is designed to help those living in fuel poverty or at risk of fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties.

More than £166 million has been invested through the scheme since its launch in September 2015 helping over 25,000 households throughout Scotland. Warmer Homes Scotland has an increased budget of £50 million for 2021-2022.

Engagement with stakeholder organisations

Citizens Advice Scotland, deliver a Money Talk Team income maximisation service. Between November 20 and October 21, CAS provided advice on Warmer Homes/fuel poverty/switching supplier/services and schemes to reduce energy costs to 646 older people.

Age Scotland have reported a noticeable number of these types of calls to their National Helpline including challenges on affording energy bills and other essentials such as food in the last few months (although the way they are recorded does not fall neatly into the categories requested).