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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-30355

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29171 by Kaukab Stewart on 3 September 2024, how it plans to monitor the use of inclusive communication guidance, tools and resources and the impact of powers under Regulation 11 of the Scottish Specific Duties on listed public authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of accountability and seeks to ensure that it is built into everything that we do. Regarding monitoring arrangements, the responsibility for oversight of compliance with the Equality Act 2010, including compliance with the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 including Regulation 11, rests with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which has issued guidance on how the Regulations should be applied in practice.

Question reference: S6O-03871

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S6O-03839

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work on inclusive communication.

Question reference: S6W-29611

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on issuing pupils with free laptops and digital devices, and what evaluation it has carried out of the impact of this policy on the educational performance of the pupils who have received these devices.

Question reference: S6W-29693

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its reported cessation of all “non-essential” advertising for the remainder of the financial year, what advertising it considers to be “essential”.

Question reference: S6W-29612

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it has allocated to and (b) has been spent by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, and whether its commitment to invest £500 million in the fund by the end of the current parliamentary session remains its position.

The Scottish Government remains committed to investing £500m in Whole Family Wellbeing to improve holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time.

Since 2022 over £110m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) was invested by the Scottish Government to deliver a transformational change in holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The funding was distributed as follows:

•£96m provided for Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) (Element 1) to build local service capacity for change and to transform family support services.

•£1.6m National Support for Local Delivery(Element 2), includes a package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation. This part of the funding also supports the wider evaluation and research work for WFWF.

•£13.1m for taking a cross Scottish Government approach to system change(Element 3) which is supporting 12 projects across Scottish Government policy areas to help progress the aims of the Programme.

Question reference: S6W-29546

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out its working definition of austerity.

Austerity measures are those which take forward a definite policy of reducing public spending on programmes and activity irrespective of the impact on the outcomes of those programmes and activity.

For example, the Labour UK Government’s severe restriction on the Winter Fuel Payment, and its consequent impact of reducing the budget for these programmes in Scotland by up to £160m, is a clear implementation of Westminster austerity.

This has followed Scotland long being subject to the austerity policies of the Conservative UK Government. In the face of this, the Scottish Government has stepped in to support people and services where it has been needed most – on social security, health, public sector pay, and public services – and has used all levers at its disposal to do so and mitigate the impact of Westminster austerity in Scotland. This includes an around £1.5 billion in 2024-25 from Scotland’s progressive Income Tax policy.

The new Labour UK Government’s commitment to the same debt rule as the previous government was always going to entail a similar fiscal constraint, and the UK Government is now pursuing policies that appear to be a continuation of Conservative austerity. Further spending cuts and austerity by the new UK Government will impact on the funding available for the budget here in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-02092

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Commonwealth Games potentially being hosted in Glasgow in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-29171

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 3 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work on inclusive communication, following the closure of its consultation on a Scottish Specific Duty on inclusive communication.

I issued a letter to stakeholders providing an update on the Scottish Government’s work on inclusive communication on 14 August 2024. Due to restrictions in relation to legislative competence, the decision has been made to enhance public authorities' inclusive communication through guidance, tools, and training.

A scoping exercise will identify existing resources and gaps, with new materials to be developed in collaboration with partners and informed by lived experience of using diverse communication tools and approaches. Ministerial powers will be used to require public authorities to consider inclusive communication when fulfilling their equality duties, ensuring more consistent practices.

Question reference: S6W-28800

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the feasibility study conducted by (a) Aberdeen and (b) Glasgow airport on establishing a multi-modal hydrogen innovation hub to be published, and what it expects the next steps in this process will be.

In May 2023, Glasgow Airport Ltd. were awarded a grant of £150,000 from the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme (HIS) to test the feasibility of a hydrogen production, storage and distribution hub at Glasgow Airport. Work on the project, which involves a consortium of partners based in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, began in summer 2023.

It is anticipated that final reports from this and other HIS projects will be published by the end of 2024.

The project did not involve Aberdeen Airport. However, the Scottish Government has helped to fund the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub, a strategic programme that aims to accelerate the hydrogen economy in the city, with an initial focus on the use of hydrogen for road transport. The outputs from the study will help to build the evidence base to help support other hydrogen hubs to develop in Scotland.

Separately, hydrogen production and potential demand across Scotland’s geography is explored in reports, such as ‘Hydrogen demand in Scotland: a mapping of industrial and transport applications’ which can be found at: Research, evaluation and insight | Scottish Enterprise (scottish-enterprise.com) and a detailed report focussing specifically on the distillery sector which can be found at Research, evaluation and insight | Scottish Enterprise (scottish-enterprise.com)