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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-26012

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of remedial works at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh regarding the spacing of cavity barriers.

There has been significant progress on proposals for work on the spacing of cavity barriers behind the cladding, since NHS Lothian was recommended to reduce the spacing with cavity barriers from 20 metre intervals to 10 metre intervals. The following is a summary the progress to date:

1. The works required the submission to and approval from City of Edinburgh Council’s Building Control Department. The application was submitted in April 2023 and approved in October 2023.

2. Following approval from Building Control, NHS Lothian and IHSL, the consortium that built and owns the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, have been in discussion about commercial terms for the works to be undertaken.

3. Further detail on the frequency and duration of works was provided by IHSL in February 2024. It is anticipated that, including pre-construction activities, the works will take in excess of one year to complete. An agreed start date will be finalised once commercial terms have been completed.

Question reference: S6W-26006

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the projects that were successful in the 2022 ScotWind leasing round, broken down by the stage that each project has achieved; in light of any modelling that it has undertaken regarding any rental income from these projects, on what date it expects to begin receiving any such income, and how much it expects to receive annually.

There are 20 ScotWind projects with seabed option agreements. The first 17 successful projects were announced by Crown Estate Scotland in April 2022. These were joined in October 2022 by three further projects, granted agreements through the Clearing process. To date, one ScotWind project, N1 - West of Orkney Wind Farm, has submitted an application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and associated marine licences under section 20 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and section 65 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. All other ScotWind projects are at the pre-application stage, with 6 environmental impact assessment scoping opinions issued by Scottish Ministers to date.

Crown Estate Scotland currently expects to see rental income of £4Million per Gigawatt per annum, based on 2024 prices. Rent is indexed against the Consumer Prices Index so this figure could change. The rent will go to Crown Estate Scotland once projects are operational. While it is too early to know when that will happen, it is generally 10 years from option award. The nature of project development means Crown Estate Scotland cannot be certain at this time what total capacity will ultimately get built.

Question reference: S6F-02952

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-26007

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the reported £700 million that it received in option fees through the 2022 ScotWind leasing round it spent in (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, and how much it projects that it will spend in (i) 2024-25, (ii) 2025-26, and (iii) 2026-27.

Crown Estate Scotland received £756 million in option fees from the initial ScotWind auctions in 2022-23. As set out in the 2022 Resource spending review, and subsequent budget publications, these funds were initially profiled to be drawn down by the Scottish Government over a three year period as follows:

2022-23 - £96 million

2023-24 - £310 million

2024-25 - £350 million

The final drawdown for 2022-23 was £96 million as planned. Drawdowns for 2023-24 and subsequent years are only finalised at the very end of March when the Scottish Government has more certainty over its financial position.

At the time of the 2024-25 Scottish Budget the planned drawdown for 2024-25 was decreased to £200 million reflecting the need to ensure sufficient funds were available to balance the 2023-24 financial position. Given the recent improvement to the 2023-24 position it is now likely that this will not be required in 2023-24 and therefore may be used to support future financial years.

Question reference: S6W-25952

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing (a) a system of licensing for professional dog walkers and (b) restrictions on the number of dogs that a person can walk at one time.

The Scottish Government consulted on proposals to licence animal care services, including commercial dog walking services from 4 July 2023 to 26 September 2023. The analysis of responses to this consultation was published on 16 February 2024 and is available at Licensing of activities involving animals: consultation response analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Consideration of the views expressed in response to the consultation is ongoing. The Scottish Government will confirm its proposed next steps, including how it intends to proceed in respect to commercial dog walking activities, in due course.

Question reference: S6W-25651

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25060 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 February 2024, in which sportscotland buildings the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was confirmed.

Question reference: S6W-25063

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the 10 universities that have been identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present in their buildings.

Question reference: S6W-25061

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the 37 schools that have been identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present in their buildings.

It is important that there is transparency around the schools where RAAC has been identified and the mitigations in place, and a list of the initial local authorities with confirmed cases of RAAC was published in a Scottish Government news release on 8 th September 2023. This news release is available here - Local authorities publish RAAC data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

However, it is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate, and all schools with RAAC should be available on relevant local authority websites.

We are currently aware that RAAC has been identified in 39 schools - including 4 ELC settings within primary schools - and 1 standalone ELC setting, across 18 local authorities. All 32 local authorities have completed assessments of their school estate.

Question reference: S6W-25062

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the six colleges that have been identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present in their buildings.

Question reference: S6F-02869

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.