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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-24444

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed introduction of a non-domestic rates public health supplement on retailers, as set out in its Budget for 2024-25, whether this supplement will come on top of, or instead of, any higher property rate that may be levied on a retail property.

Question reference: S6W-24181

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the £66.9 million investment in offshore wind, announced in its Budget 2024-25, will be delivered; what the investment priorities will be, and what the (a) timeline and (b) process will be for releasing the funds.

We are initiating our commitment of up to £500 million to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland with investment of £67 million in 2024-2025.

This commercial and grant investment will stimulate and support private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of our world-leading offshore wind sector.

We have worked with public sector partners to develop a framework which will achieve strategic alignment of public sector investment in offshore renewables supply chain and infrastructure development.

This very much aligns with the approach taken by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) in developing the Strategic Investment Model (SIM) to move from project-led to sector level investment that better supports growth in port and supply chain capacity and capability.

We will continue to collaborate with public sector partners and engage with industry and other partners as we finalise our approach and we will provide an update in due course.

Our strategic investment will support market certainty, create new jobs, embed innovation, and boost skills to foster a competitive economy, underscoring our determination to maximise the economic benefits from Scotland’s offshore wind potential.

Question reference: S6W-24109

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timetable for the publication of its Green Industrial Strategy, as set out in its Programme for Government 2023-24.

The global transition to net zero offers enormous economic opportunities for Scotland. We have strengths and potential in sectors ranging from offshore wind, hydrogen, and advanced manufacturing to data and finance. Across the country, Scottish firms have the chance to sell to the world and create good, well-paid jobs as part of a fair, green and growing economy.

Our Green Industrial Strategy will set out how the Scottish Government will help businesses and investors realise the opportunities from the global transition to net zero. We will set out our strategy in the summer.

Question reference: S6O-02877

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in implementing the recommendations made by the New Deal for Business Group on reforming non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S6W-23075

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it reportedly refused proposals by (a) the Scottish Building Apprenticeship and Training Council, (b) the Scottish Painting and Decorating Apprenticeship Council and (c) Unite the Union to use Professional Development Awards to alleviate the backlog in construction apprentices who have completed most of their SVA units and portfolio work but remain uncertified.

The challenges experienced by construction apprentices completing their apprenticeships continue to be closely monitored. The backlog of those who started in 2017 and 2018 has largely been cleared due to considerable support from all stakeholders. Scottish Government continues to work with agencies and industry to improve the rate of completion for the 2019 cohort, while maintaining the quality and integrity of the apprenticeships.

As Minister for Higher and Further Education I have chaired multiple roundtables with key stakeholders and industry partners and have stressed the need for practical solutions to resolve this backlog as quickly as possible, while ensuring no detriment to the apprentices.

I welcome practical and feasible solutions to help address this situation but we have to ensure that those solutions do not have any unintended consequences for the learners.

Question reference: S6T-01660

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the public sector workforce reductions predicted by the finance secretary on Sunday.

Question reference: S6O-02801

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-22702

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed in each year since it has been established, broken down by sector.

This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under BiB No 64673.

Data relating to colleges and the Open University in Scotland is based on bimonthly returns to the Scottish Funding Council from institutions delivering the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and should therefore be considered as an informal indication of how the Fund has been spent.

Data relating to AY 2022-23 is provisional as 2022-23 delivery is due to be completed at the end of December 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22703

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund was spent on training in 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-22705

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed in each year since it was established by private sector organisations that contribute to the UK Apprenticeship Levy.

Data on employer type was not collected during the first year of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) which was academic year 2017-2018. Information on Levy Paying employer spend on the first four years of the Fund is available in the FWDF evaluation report which was published in January 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-flexible-workforce-development-fund-fwdf/ .

Based on the information provided by our delivery partners, the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the level of FWDF accessed by private sector organisations in the academic years 2018-2023 was:

2018-2019 - £7 million.
2019-2020 - £6.7 million.
2020-2021 - £8.3 million.
2021-2022 - £9.1 million.
2022-2023 - part year as delivery continues to end of December 2023 - £7.1 million.