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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-26070

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of interventions that have been implemented in Scotland's two Investment Zones to date.

The Scottish and UK Governments are collaborating with the Regional Economic Partnerships for the Glasgow City Region and the North East of Scotland, as they develop compelling and complementary propositions for Scotland’s two Investment Zones. The proposals are still in development, but once finalised they will provide detail of sector, geography, and chosen interventions. We expect to have more information when that process completes.

Question reference: S6W-26069

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what metrics will be used to evaluate Investment Zones, and how often progress will be monitored.

The Scottish Government is working collaboratively with the UK Government to establish a monitoring and evaluation framework to cover the Investment Zones in Scotland.

The information and metrics included within the framework will be determined by the detailed proposals provided by the Regional Economic Partnerships in Glasgow City and North East Region. The proposals are currently in progress, but will focus on the overall policy goals including innovation and fair work, and will link to the outcomes set out in the Investment Zones Technical Document , published on 8 December 2023.

Question reference: S6O-03221

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to grow Scotland's creative industries.

Question reference: S6W-25869

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the impact in Scotland, whether it will make representations to the UK Government to ensure that investment to support the manufacture of wind turbine jackets is included within the scope of the Green Industries Growth Accelerator.

We are liaising with the UK Government on its plans for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to ensure that infrastructure and supply chain for offshore wind are supported via the fund. We are keen to collaborate with the UK Government to ensure GIGA funding is allocated in a way which complements and aligns with Scotland’s energy transition, including our up to £500 million strategic investment over the next five years to help anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland. Through the novel work or our Strategic Investment Model, Scotland is well positioned to ensure the ongoing collaboration between governments and industry identifies key shared priorities to unlock infrastructure investment needed to build a thriving renewables industry for Scotland. We expect more details from the UK Government in due course.

Question reference: S6W-25866

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support renewables manufacturing in Scotland for those sites not within designated green ports or investment zones.

Our strategic investment of up to £500 million over the next five years will help stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of our world-leading offshore wind sector. We are kick-starting our commitment to anchor our offshore wind supply-chain in Scotland with investment of £67 million next financial year. We are committed to maximising the public benefits of our renewables revolution.

It is vital that industries in Scotland have a fair opportunity to access funding under the UK Government's Green Industries Growth Accelerator. The Scottish Government is engaging with the UK Government to help ensure GIGA delivers for Scotland's businesses and communities.

Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation also sets out our ambition for Scotland to continue to take global leadership in the design, development and operationalisation within the renewables sector.

Our Making Scotland’s Future (MSF) programme helps ensure a coherent and focused approach to the provision of support to the manufacturing sector.

Centred within the MSF lies the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) which represents investment of £75 million from the Scottish Government and its agencies. NMIS works with industry to unlock productivity gains, develop new products and processes, and has a mission to make Scotland a global leader in advanced, sustainable manufacturing.

Question reference: S6W-25868

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is giving consideration to ensuring regional balance across the successful investment proposals progressed through the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council's (SOWEC) Strategic Investment Model.

As the world’s largest commercial round for floating offshore wind, ScotWind puts Scotland at the forefront of offshore wind development globally.

The Strategic Investment Model (SIM) is coordinated by offshore wind developers, the Scottish Government, enterprise agencies and Crown Estate Scotland. Each SIM project is considered in terms of its relevance to developing the offshore wind sector in Scotland.

In October the First Minister announced strategic investment of up to £500 million over the next five years to help stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of our world-leading offshore wind sector.

ScotWind provides an exciting opportunity to create thousands of good Scottish jobs and we want to ensure a just transition that takes our existing skilled workforce and supply chain with us. That is why we are kick-starting our commitment to anchor our offshore wind supply-chain in Scotland with investment of £67 million next financial year.

We are committed to maximising the public benefits of our renewables revolution and we will explore all options open to us to do so.

Question reference: S6W-25867

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the next cohort of investment proposals in the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council's (SOWEC) Strategic Investment Model will be announced.

The Strategic Investment Model (SIM) is a novel industry-led approach for the offshore wind sector in Scotland.

On 20 February 2024 SIM group published details of 32 of the 38 projects that have successfully completed stage one of the SIM selection process and three projects have been invited to move to Stage 2 of the process.

The SIM group is continuing to collaborate to identify key, shared priorities but has not yet agreed a timescale for an announcement regarding a further cohort of proposals.

Question reference: S6W-25313

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government from where the £12.8 million "emerging and planned underspend" in the Lifelong Learning and Skills budget came, as outlined in the 2023-24 Spring Budget Revision.

The £12.8 million of savings outlined in the 2023-24 Spring Budget Revision and published on 1 Feb 2024 was based on expected and planned underspend across various Lifelong Learning and Skills(LLS) budget lines.

These include a mix of demand led activities and some strategic funds such as student support, where demand was lower than originally forecast, skills programmes including the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, Community Learning and Development and International Activity. Due to the demand led nature of some of the elements, further details will be available after the end of the financial year.

Question reference: S6W-25344

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to the Scottish Growth Scheme, and, of that funding, how much has been allocated to businesses, in each year since the scheme was established.

The Scottish Government has committed £97 million (over the 10 year period to 31st March 2029) to the Scottish Growth Scheme which was established in December 2018 and operational during financial year 2019-20. In the 4 year period to 31st March 2023 the Scottish Growth Scheme has invested £66.8 million in businesses as follows:

2019-20 = £13 million

2020-21 = £21.3 million

2021-22 = £17.5 million

2022-23 = £15 million

Question reference: S6W-25312

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government from where the release of £6.2 million from the Lifelong Learning and Skills budget to support other Scottish Government priorities came, as outlined in the 2023-24 Autumn Budget Revision.

The published 2023-24 Autumn Budget Revision at the link below shares that this funding came from the release of emerging/planned underspends from Lifelong Learning and Skills to support other SG priorities. Autumn Budget Revision 2023 to 2024: supporting document - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
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Further detail on this was confirmed in the Deputy First Minister’s letter to the Finance and Public Administration committee (FPAC) available at this link: Letter from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance to the Convener of 21 November 2023 (parliament.scot)

Annex A confirms that the £6.2 million is in respect of a reduction in grant spend on Higher Education International Activity.