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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-27466

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise last met Children's Hearings Scotland, and what was discussed.

I met with the Chair and Chief Executive/National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) on March 21, 2024 and discussed a range of issues relating to the operation of the tribunal element of the children’s hearings system, including matters related to the functions of the National Convener namely children’s panel capacity and CHS plans for the retention, recruitment and training of children’s panel volunteers.

Question reference: S6W-27381

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and (b) her officials have had with (i) Lothian Buses and (ii) the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the reinstatement of service 69, which was originally withdrawn in 2020.

Lothian Buses provided an update on service 69 to Transport Scotland officials in 2022, noting they had no plans to reinstate the service at that time. Most bus services across Scotland operate in an open de-regulated market and have done so since the 1980s. Scottish Ministers do not have the power to intervene directly in the provision of local services. This is solely a matter for individual bus operators who use their own commercial judgement on service routes, frequencies, and vehicle types.

Lothian Buses is owned by the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. However, it is operated and managed as an arms-length commercial operation by a board of directors. It would remain a matter for the local authority to determine whether there is a social need for a bus service that is not being provided commercially. Local authorities can subsidise these at their discretion.

Question reference: S6W-27610

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to respond to the recommendations of the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee.

Question reference: S6W-27382

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18553 by Emma Roddick on 14 June 2023, whether it has since received the initial findings, and whether it will publish these in due course.

The archival analysis element of the research is underway and the report is currently being drafted. We anticipate receiving the report from this work towards the end of summer 2024. The contract for the qualitative research was tendered twice but no compliant bids were received.

We intend to publish the report from the archival analysis in due course, and will work to ensure those who wish to provide feedback and share their experiences will be able to do so. We will then consider next steps thereafter.

Question reference: S6W-27380

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has offered (a) ScotRail, (b) Transport for Edinburgh and (c) bus operators any additional support to ensure that all people travelling to and from the upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh can do so without any concerns for capacity issues on public transport.

Question reference: S6W-27379

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and (b) her officials have had with (i) ScotRail, (ii) Transport for Edinburgh and (c) bus operators regarding preparations for the upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh.

Transport Scotland Officials, along with relevant transport stakeholders, routinely take part in the multi-agency Events Planning and Operations Group (EPOG) dealing with Events. EPOG is run by the City of Edinburgh Council as the lead planning authority in respect of events within Edinburgh, such as Taylor Swift.

Through the EPOG discussions, enhanced transport arrangements have been put into place across Lothian Buses, Edinburgh Trams and ScotRail services, to meet the increased demands expected at the Taylor Swift concerts.

Question reference: S6O-03460

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the impact of the updated fiscal framework.

Question reference: S6W-27279

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of any impact on bridge infrastructure of the increased weight payload of electric vehicles, in light of the forthcoming 2030 deadline for prohibiting the sale of new combustion engine cars.

Question reference: S6W-27276

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations in relation to (a) public safety and (b) transport are being taken for the upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh, in light of the anticipated demographic of the audience being primarily younger women.

The Taylor Swift concerts are wholly commercial events and the Scottish Government has no locus for involvement. It is the responsibility of the City of Edinburgh Council as the relevant licensing authority to oversee events of this nature, including ensuring compliance by the organisers with the appropriate public safety regulations.

Like with similar major events, security arrangements including the deployment of officers is an operational decision for Police Scotland.

Enhanced transport arrangements have been put into place across Lothian Buses, Edinburgh Trams and ScotRail services to meet the increase in demand expected over the weekend. This includes adding later trains on numerous routes and providing additional carriages on existing rail services to manage the demand. There will be enhanced staffing plans and additional British Transport Police (BTP) officers in place at key locations, as well as on board trains to ensure a safe environment for passengers traveling to and from the event.

Question reference: S6W-27277

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the work to upgrade existing fibre broadband connections to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections across Scotland; what the projected timeline is for this upgrade work; what steps are being taken to ensure that people can benefit from this work, in light of reports of some landlords not allowing permission for their property to be connected to FTTP networks, and how it can ensure that the pricing of FTTP broadband remains affordable, in light of the roll-out receiving public funding.

The latest update to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report shows that full fibre coverage across Scotland now currently stands at 58%, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points – around 138,000 premises – over the previous three months. This means that over 1.57 million homes and businesses in Scotland can now access a full fibre broadband service.

While most of this full fibre deployment has been delivered commercially, the over-£600 million that the Scottish Government is investing in the Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that homes and businesses in some of Scotland’s harder-to-reach communities are also benefitting from future-proofed full fibre digital connectivity.

Where it is not possible for an operator to reach agreement with landlords, they can seek to have one imposed by the courts. The UK Government has recently reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make this process easier and we are working with operators to understand any issues, so that we can press the UK Government if further reform is needed.

While the Scottish Government is funding build through the R100 contracts, it is doing so through a gap funding model, whereby it is subsidising our delivery partner, Openreach, to extend its own commercial network across Scotland. As you will know, all regulation and legislative competence in the area of telecommunications is wholly reserved to UK Ministers and the UK Parliament under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. As such, the Scottish Government has no mechanism for intervening on any commercial decisions a telecoms operator chooses to make, such as how much they charge for installation, services etc. Responsibility for commercial matters of this nature ultimately rests solely with Ofcom in its capacity as the UK’s telecoms regulator.