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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: S5W-24997

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its Recruitment and Retention Plan, which was announced in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan in December 2018.

Later today, the Scottish Government will publish its A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Scottish Government Recruitment and Retention Plan for Disabled People 2019 . The document has been given to SPICe and is available at BIB 60934.

This plan sets out the actions the government will take as an employer to support more disabled people into work in Scottish Government and to enable existing disabled employees to thrive and succeed at work.

The plan sets to achieve four key outcomes;

That we become an employer of choice for disabled people, with strong representation of disabled people at all levels of our workforce.
That we have an inclusive and supportive culture where disabled people can be themselves at work.
That our policies and practices work well, and work well together, to enable disabled people to thrive at work.
That we create accessible workplaces where everyone can thrive at work.

The plan reaches across government, across all grades, and includes commitments covering a range of areas from HR policies to learning and development and building an inclusive culture.

The Plan’s aim is that over the next 7 years, on average 25% of successful candidates will be disabled people. This aims to ensure we are on track to fulfil our ambition to be representative of the people of Scotland by 2025.

Question reference: S5O-03484

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support can be given to the City of Edinburgh Council to manage traffic congestion across the city, especially during periods where visitor numbers dramatically increase.

Question reference: S5O-03399

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any action being taken to ensure that the Edinburgh festivals do not experience the same difficulties as last year regarding complex visa rules faced by some artists.

Question reference: S5O-03356

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the oversubscription of primary schools in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S5O-03271

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the UK Government’s immigration policy is having on the Edinburgh festivals.

The Scottish Government has longstanding concerns around how readily artists and performers can come to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festivals, and the problems that delays visa processes and indeed refusals that are overturned on appeals and after a late stage can cause festival organisers of all sizes.

The internationalism of the Edinburgh Festivals programme is at the heart of the city’s continuing appeal as the world’s leading festival city and we intend to continue to spread the message that we remain open. For artists and wider cultural exchange.

Question reference: S5F-03362

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the creation of 500 highly-skilled tech jobs in Edinburgh by Lloyds Banking Group.

Question reference: S5W-23234

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making towards the commitments contained in Scotland’s Energy Strategy, which was published in December 2017.

Yesterday the Scottish Government published three important documents – setting out our progress since publishing Scotland’s Energy Strategy, the actions that we have taken and those which we will be focusing on during the coming months. These included the publication on 15 May 2019 of the Annual Energy Statement 2019, which will be the first in a series of annual publications, alongside our Annual Compendium of Scottish Energy Statistics. These are to be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-energy-statement-2019/

In parallel, on the same date, we also published our “Energy Consumer Action Plan: Putting Consumers at The Heart of Scotland’s Energy Transition”. The action plan – backed by £500,000 of Scottish Government funding – sets out actions to increase consumer understanding and confidence, and develop and test innovative approaches to protecting and empowering consumers. This includes a commitment to establish an independent Energy Consumers Commission for Scotland to give consumers in Scotland a more powerful voice in Scottish and GB energy policy. The action plan can be viewed at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-consumer-action-plan-putting-consumers-heart-scotlands-energy-transition/

Together, these documents represent an authoritative summary of Scotland’s energy policy and progress – as well as demonstrating clear action on our part to prioritise the role, involvement and interests of consumers as we continue to decarbonise the whole energy system in order to help tackle the climate emergency. In short, they underline our commitment to ensuring that the people of Scotland benefit from the transition to a carbon neutral economy.

Question reference: S5W-22907

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to boost Scotland’s export performance.

Question reference: S5W-22504

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in the food and drink sector since 2008.

Since 2008 the Scottish Government has directly invested over £125m in grant funding to support capital expenditure in the food and drink sector through the Food Processing Marketing and Cooperation grant scheme, the European Fisheries Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

The Scottish Government also continues to support the food and drink sector through the £10m Ambition 2030 food and drink industry strategy which is funded until March 2020. Indeed it is estimated that direct investment and support to the food and drink industry in Scotland from the public sector across a range of areas including skills, education, research, industry development, standards and capital investment equates to approximately £100 million per annum. This support provides benefit to businesses throughout the supply chain including farmers, fishermen, manufacturers, retailers, restaurants and foodservice providers.

Question reference: S5W-22503

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government in what ways it has invested in restaurant and mobile food service growth since 2008.