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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-28490

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills held, between 1 April and 22 May 2024, to discuss its action plan on behaviour in schools, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.

Question reference: S6W-28477

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discretion exists for bus service operators to charge booking fees to passengers making journeys under concessionary travel schemes.

Question reference: S6W-28485

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish its response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment.

Question reference: S6W-28480

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with teaching organisations regarding increasing the timetabling of computing science at Higher level, and what the outcomes were of any such discussions.

Question reference: S6W-28494

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether fire safety is assessed when considering whether to consent to grid-scale battery energy storage system projects in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-28489

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills held, between 1 April and 22 May 2024, to discuss its guidance on mobile phones in schools, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.

Question reference: S6W-28362

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there should be trade union representation on the board of Qualifications Scotland.

The Education (Scotland) Bill, introduced by the Scottish Parliament on 4 June, sets out the provisions for Board membership of Qualifications Scotland to include one or more member who has relevant knowledge of the interests of employees within Qualifications Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that there is an effective staff voice within the formal governance structures of Qualifications Scotland. As the Bill progresses in Parliament, there will be opportunities to consider the detail of this aspect, as part of the organisational design work. Further engagement will take place with SQA staff and the recognised unions on this matter.

Question reference: S6W-28369

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to (a) ensure equal access to community assets for and (b) address the current lack of access faced by organisations serving black and minority ethnic and migrant communities, in light of the important role that a stable venue can play in enabling such groups to effectively provide services.

The Scottish Government introduced asset transfer legislation as part of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. This landmark policy is the first of its kind in the UK and since its enactment on 23 January 2017 there has been more than 225 successful asset transfers agreed using these powers.

We are committed to ensuring that all our communities can access community assets, and are working with our partners to make sure our most vulnerable communities can access the assets they require to deliver important services and develop their own economies, wellbeing, and environments.

Our work with the Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) and the Barmulloch Community Development Company in Glasgow established a central hub which has supported 11 marginalised groups engage with the asset transfer process including the Bangla Centre, Spingburn, who were able to progress their asset transfer ambitions by accessing this targeted support.

As part of the current review of the Community Empowerment Act we have asked our partners and their networks to help us better understand the experiences of those involved in taking on community assets, including seeking the views of underrepresented groups.

We maintain a vision for a Scotland where all people – including black and minority ethnic communities, and migrants – have equal access to wealth, opportunities, and power.

Question reference: S6W-28394

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a Natural Environment Bill with statutory targets for nature recovery.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to protecting and effectively managing 30% of Scotland’s land and seas for nature by 2030, halting the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and restoring and regenerating it by 2045, and we continue to pursue a wide range of actions to deliver this commitment.

The Scottish Government’s future legislative programme will be set out as part of the upcoming Programme for Government in due course.

Question reference: S6W-28238

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been distributed to projects from the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund in each local authority area in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme, linked to Scottish Landfill Tax. Contributions are provided directly by landfill operators to Approved Bodies, which are then responsible for awarding funding to projects throughout Scotland. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regulates the fund on behalf of Revenue Scotland, which has overall responsibility for it.

SEPA reports that £28,011,069 was distributed to community projects from the SLCF over the five-year period from 2019 to 2023. The following table breaks this down by local authority area.

Local Authority Area	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Aberdeen City	£17,622.00	£38,400.00	£0.00	£500.00	£50,000.00
Aberdeenshire	£191,231.00	£186,247.49	£397,258.83	£227,462.59	£478,971.75
Angus	£53,073.00	£56,469.51	£28,566.72	£108,403.00	£53,442.00
Argyll and Bute	£164,430.00	£224,378.00	£211,050.26	£214,542.32	£114,000.00
Clackmannanshire	£49,941.00	£35,137.00	£82,253.00	£90,825.00	£31,392.27
Dumfries and Galloway	£175,558.80	£46,670.48	£80,736.00	£86,936.08	£56,000.00
Dundee	£50,000.00	£61,669.00	£0.00	£30,000.00	£198,480.56
East Ayrshire	£181,297.50	£524,443.00	£134,088.00	£39,955.00	£217,076.71
East Dunbartonshire	£13,466.00	£0.00	£6,336.00	£20,000.00	£0.00
East Lothian	£65,687.00	£31,322.00	£118,756.82	£73,873.00	£49,875.00
East Renfrewshire	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£15,000.00	£25,000.00
Edinburgh (city of)	£94,119.00	£53,148.74	£20,000.00	£114,312.00	£14,332.00
Falkirk	£449,805.75	£134,200.00	£364,091.00	£294,945.60	£572,354.00
Fife	£1,221,451.43	£876,978.52	£1,099,825.39	£864,590.13	£785,606.06
Glasgow	£567,525.24	£276,213.04	£180,980.00	£597,477.20	£1,052,507.86
Highland	£427,945.43	£291,772.15	£456,228.06	£238,308.99	£222,182.05
Inverclyde	£0.00	£23,000.00	£106,000.00	£42,614.00	£60,430.00
Midlothian	£182,673.93	£70,434.00	£226,137.00	£164,013.80	£87,319.90
Moray	£267,300.59	£57,850.00	£153,946.56	£133,695.00	£299,400.00
North Ayrshire	£356,257.00	£734,617.00	£224,929.00	£39,579.40	£231,216.00
North Lanarkshire	£319,927.01	£215,000.00	£422,225.03	£143,108.00	£261,446.84
Orkney Islands	£27,109.00	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£10,504.93
Perth and Kinross	£180,639.00	£174,557.00	£182,785.00	£117,339.48	£106,403.00
Renfrewshire	£96,500.00	£24,000.00	£26,250.00	£29,868.00	£89,555.89
Scottish Borders	£297,130.00	£270,556.00	£75,715.00	£21,500.00	£79,922.00
Shetland Islands	£54,851.00	£0.00	£19,502.00	£0.00	£0.00
South Ayrshire	£122,695.05	£7,820.00	£81,718.50	£45,000.00	£27,220.00
South Lanarkshire	£229,611.56	£220,192.40	£346,471.49	£329,874.81	£328,245.00
Stirling	£64,013.97	£98,126.00	£264,508.00	£133,785.00	£182,859.28
West Dunbartonshire	£125,000.00	£92,477.29	£131,121.60	£69,700.00	£104,481.00
West Lothian	£170,939.01	£234,352.90	£200,434.80	£180,127.80	£492,908.90
Na h-Eileanan an lar	£75,635.97	£56,147.20	£99,857.14	£31,899.55	£77,314.10