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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: S6W-32517

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to increase school attendance, in light of its published figures that show a reduction in school attendance rates between 2020-21 and 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-32515

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve community flood defences, in light of reports that fewer than half of projects scheduled to be built by 2021 have been completed.

Question reference: S6W-32516

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to encourage increased use of public transport, in light of recently reported disruption, delays and staff shortages on the ScotRail network.

Question reference: S6W-32514

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding improving the service's Sunday timetable, in light of reports of disruption during the festive period.

Question reference: S6W-32029

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding whether a pedestrian crossing might be appropriate outside the Canongate entrance to improve the safety of the public, MSPs and staff who cross at this location.

There is a pedestrian crossing directly outside the Parliament’s public access to facilitate safe travel. The SPCB has not been asked to consider whether a second pedestrian crossing would be appropriate. The current information provided by the City of Edinburgh council is that Canongate is being considered for redevelopment as part of a wider consultation through the Councils’ Street allocation framework ‘Our Future Streets’. We anticipate that the SPCB will be approached as part of the consultation process to assess and consider proposals by City of Edinburgh Council when developed and provide comment as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-32028

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its position is on the flag flying policy indoors and outdoors on the parliamentary estate with respect to how and by whom decisions are made on (a) which are flown, (b) for how long they should be flown and (c) what grounds the appropriateness of the presence of any flag is assessed.

The SPCB has a policy covering the flying of flags on the flagpoles outside Holyrood - Flag-flying | Scottish Parliament Website. The policy sets out which flags are flown and how exceptional requests can be made to the SPCB for approval.

During official visits by external dignitaries, a flag can be displayed inside the building, usually in a meeting room or event space, for the duration of their visit.

Question reference: S6W-32091

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle loneliness over the Christmas season.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that loneliness is a public health issue that can be keenly felt during the Christmas season but impacts people all year round. To support the delivery of our Social Isolation and Loneliness Delivery Plan, we implemented the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund in March 2023. 53 projects are currently operational across Scotland, delivering projects within communities that provide opportunities for people to connect. At end of year one projects reached 11,293 individuals with a focus on priority groups most at risk of social isolation and loneliness. This funding will help organisations to create opportunities for people to connect with one another in our communities and are responding to local needs.

Question reference: S6W-31945

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the MV Glen Sannox to enter service, in light of reports that the vessel requires repairs to its anchor system.

Question reference: S6W-31944

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is providing any assistance to Ferguson Marine to find a permanent chief executive officer (CEO), in light of evidence given by the interim CEO of the shipyard to the Scottish Parliament's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 26 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-31948

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to freedom of information request FOI/202400436576, which shows that it was notified of 16 cyber attacks on public bodies in 2024, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to improve its cyber resilience.

Good cyber resilience is essential for delivering secure digital public services. Staying ahead of cyber criminals is an ongoing battle; as technologies evolve, so do their tactics. Public sector organisations are responsible for their own cyber resilience and security arrangements, and must continually adapt to these emerging threats. However, the Scottish Government does provide assistance to the public sector to strengthen their cyber resilience posture and address areas for improvement.

Through the implementation of The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland and the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework, supported by the new central function of the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, the Scottish Government works with the public sector to help them to put in place robust security standards, controls and governance, maintain and regularly test incident response plans, train staff and learn lessons from past incidents.

Specifically, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre plays a key role in coordinating effective multi-agency response to incidents which impact on the public sector. In September 2024, the Scottish Government published the SC3 Strategic Plan which sets out the strategic objectives for the next three years. SC3 is working with the sector to progress towards these objectives:

1. Create a data-driven operation that can track and evaluate actionable security metrics for every public sector organisation in Scotland.

2. Ensure that public sector organisations remain informed regarding current and emerging risks and threats so that they are equipped and prepared to manage them.

3. Reduce the prevalence and remediation timescales of exposed and exploitable vulnerabilities across the public sector.

4. Increase the level of preparedness for cyber incidents across the public sector, such that all organisations have current and well tested response plans and that major national cyber incident response processes are robust and effective.

5. Ensure that appropriate standards and good practices for cyber and information security are defined, reviewed, adopted, and adhered to across the public sector.