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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-32093

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support Police Scotland and small local businesses in tackling retail crime over the Christmas season.

Question reference: S6W-32090

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the lifting of the two-child benefit cap to come into force.

Question reference: S6W-32089

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards securing the redevelopment of Ardrossan Harbour.

Question reference: S6W-31193

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will consider to protect social housing tenants from disproportionate energy price increases arising from a reported lack of regulation for district heating systems.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering clean heat and improved energy efficiency whilst ensuring foremost that tenants are not negatively impacted by the costs of this clean heat transition.

Regulation of consumer protection remains a reserved matter, and Ofgem will be the future regulator of consumer protection for heat networks. In November, the UK Government and Ofgem jointly published a consultation on consumer protection proposals that would require heat networks to meet new consumer standards similar to those that already apply to gas and electricity customers. We welcome these standards as the major step needed to protect consumers, and are working with UK Government to help inform them.

Consumer Scotland will carry out consumer advocacy and advice services for Scottish Heat Network consumers from April 2025 ahead of the implementation of the regulatory framework, anticipated in January 2026.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) may also be able to procure fuel for their heat networks, such as natural gas, through public sector utility frameworks, which could result in lower fuel costs for tenants.

Question reference: S6W-31472

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its role on the steering group that maintains the Port Marine Safety Code, how it can improve the safety and wellbeing of maritime workers, in light of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's report into the deaths of two tugboat sailors on the Clyde in February 2023, identifying 14 safety issues leading to their deaths.

Question reference: S6W-31538

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its correspondence with Peel Ports regarding the potential introduction of a conservancy charge for small leisure vessels on the Clyde estuary.

Question reference: S6W-31920

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans it has to improve the resilience, accessibility and usability of the Parliament's IT systems, including its website, Wi-Fi and internal portals.

Improving the resilience of the Parliament’s IT systems is an ongoing endeavour. This includes a regular maintenance schedule of software updates on network hardware and end user devices. Hardware refreshes balance the risk of old components failing against cost and exercises to look at the design of the network and configuration of end user devices are commonplace to ensure that we are in the best place for the future and have resilience built into any solution.

Question reference: S6W-31319

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) cost and (b) viability analysis it has made into installing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities at Troon harbour.

During the period where Troon will temporarily be used to support the Arran service, LNG bunkering will be carried out by HGV tankers directly to the vessel. It is to be noted that an LNG facility is included as a permanent solution as part of the Ardrossan Harbour project, and that costs and technical requirements for permanent works should they require to be undertaken at Troon would be expected to be comparable to this.

Question reference: S6W-31473

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the Post Office's reported announcement that it plans to close 115 local post offices across the UK, including nine branches in Scotland.

Post offices are a lifeline to local communities throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government is therefore disappointed that Post Office Ltd is considering closing its directly funded branches as part of a strategic review. We understand there are a range of options being considered to reduce central costs and that no final decision has yet been made.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Post Office Ltd and makes regular representations on behalf of the people of Scotland in relation to the importance of the post office network, particularly for those in our rural and island communities.

While the Scottish Government has no functions on postal policy, there are already regular discussions with UK Government on post and postal issues, and we will continue to press the UK Government to make decisions which benefit consumers in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31474

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce temporary additional capacity to the west coast ferry network, in light of the retirement of the MV Hebridean Isles.