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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-00419

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many accidental house fires there have been in each of the last five years in the Mid Scotland and Fife parliamentary region; how many were caused by electricity, and what steps it is taking to reduce the number of such fires.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) publishes statistics on accidental dwelling fires, broken down by local authority, however this data is not broken down into specific causes. These statistics are available on SFRS’s website, and can be found at this link http://www.firescotland.gov.uk/about-us/fire-and-rescue-statistics.aspx

The SFRS has a statutory duty to promote fire safety across Scotland. In the Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2016, Scottish Ministers require SFRS to contribute fully to improving the safety and well-being of Scotland’s communities and to ensure that there is a clear process for working with partners to identify the risks faced by communities and individuals so that activity can be targeted using a risk-based approach.

The SFRS considers how best to reduce dwelling fires, including those caused by electricity, what the focus of its preventative action will be, and with which partner organisations it will work to achieve this.

In addition to a programme of fire safety awareness campaigns and community safety engagement events, the SFRS carried out 69,227 Home Fire Safety Visits in 2019-20. The SFRS website also carries safety information for householders on a range of issues, including home appliances and electrical safety.

Question reference: S6W-00595

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the COVID-19 legislation in place.

Amending Regulations were made to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 today.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to provide a person designated by a Local Authority with a power of entry to enforce restrictions relating to stadia and events. .

The Regulations also reduce the required distances to be maintained between persons in Hampden Park, Glasgow and the Glasgow Green Event Zone during the UEFA EURO 2020 Championship period.

The Regulations have been published at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2021/238/contents/made

Question reference: S6W-00608

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-00205

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric charging points ChargePlace Scotland has installed in each year since 2012-13.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency and improving air quality in our cities. To help incentivise this shift, the Scottish Government have invested over £45 million in Scotland’s own electric vehicle charging network, ChargePlace Scotland, which has steadily grown since 2012 with the highest number of installs being recorded in 2020 for both private and publicly owned charge points.

The ChargePlace Scotland network currently hosts 2080 electric vehicle charge points, which includes 335 charge points that are not available for public use but will support the blue light services, fleets and depot charging.

Year	Total	Public	Private
2013	122	122	0
2014	129	129	0
2015	277	277	0
2016	107	107	0
2017	170	170	0
2018	118	118	0
2019	321	267	54
2020	556	371	185
2021	280	184	96
	2080	1745	335

Question reference: S6W-00256

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated costs are for structural repair works to the M8 Woodside Viaducts in Glasgow.

Transport Scotland are preparing robust estimates for the all the works involved with the repairs to the viaduct. However, the current estimate for the propping to enable the M8 restrictions to be removed and facilitate the repair works is £33.36million. This estimate, and the delivery programme, is being refined to ensure value for money as detailed design progresses. Costs for the subsequent concrete repair works to the supports will be provided by Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, Amey, when the extent of the repair works and repair method is agreed.

Question reference: S6W-00236

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many delays to ferry services operated by CalMac have been caused by mechanical complications in the last five years.

The number of times a mechanical problem has resulted in a delay to ferry services operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd between October 2016 to March 2021 is detailed in the following table.

Period	Scheduled Sailings	No. of Sailings Delayed	% of sailings delayed
Contract Year 1 Oct 2016 – Sept 2017	156,820	213	0.14
Contract Year 2 Oct 2017 – Sept 2018	163,892	198	0.12
Contract Year 3 Oct 2018 – Sept 2019	164,161	249	0.15
Contract Year 4 Oct 2019 – Sept 2020	119,651	272	0.23
Contract Year 5 Oct 2020 – March 2021	68,966	86	0.12
TOTAL	673,490	1,018	0.15

Question reference: S6W-00260

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to assembling half of all new trains procured for the domestic railway network within Scotland, equivalent to the commitment made by the Welsh Government.

Firstly, as means of clarification the Welsh Government did not commit to 50 percent of its fleet being assembled in Wales prior to its procurement. Both the Welsh and Scottish Governments must comply with relevant procurement law.

The procurement strategy for new rolling stock, to be produced by the wholly owned Scottish Government company named ScotRail Trains Limited, will be subject to approval by Transport Scotland. Through that process, the Scottish Government will seek to maximise opportunities for the involvement of the local supply chain.

Transport Scotland has already undertaken informal market testing with manufacturers to ensure the importance of local input is clear and any procurement will restate this. The current Class 314 conversion project at Bo’ness is focussed on developing a local supply chain which will support the need for diesel train replacement by zero emissions fleets.

Question reference: S6W-00305

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of cases of infection is being used as a criterion to assess the threat of COVID-19, when it is disassociated from the number of hospital admittances and the number of deaths caused by COVID-19.

The coronavirus outbreak remains a real and sustained threat to human life in Scotland as well as to social and economic well-being. The Scottish Government has always relied on a range of indicators and criteria, combined with clinical advice and local intelligence about the state of epidemic, to construct a full, reliable, and robust picture of the threat posed by COVID-19 across the four harms.

On 14 May, we published Coronavirus (COVID-19) protective measures: indicators and data which sets out the indicators to assess the threat of Covid-19, and inform when and how we introduce, adapt, or ease protective measures. This includes core indicators, measuring both community transmission and healthcare capacity at a local level, and secondary indicators which provide critical information on viral concentration, prevalence and incidence of COVID-19 cases, testing (including access), vaccination, mortality, and hospitalisations at any given local level.

The scale and extent of our successful vaccination programme is enabling us to consider how we can respond to the virus moving forward. We are growing increasingly confident that vaccination is helping break the link between case numbers and hospitalisation and death. However, currently the evidence base remains insufficient, especially in light of the Delta variant, which we are currently attempting to better understand. That is why it is still important to keep cases as low as possible, to reduce the chances of transmission and new variants developing.

Question reference: S6W-00414

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide additional resources to local authorities to help fulfil the Scottish National Party manifesto pledge that “we will increase the school uniform grant to at least £120 in primary school and £150 in secondary school” and, if not, what proportion of the funding required to meet this commitment it will ask local authorities to contribute.

Question reference: S6W-00412

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had or plans with COSLA regarding fulfilling the Scottish National Party manifesto pledge that “we will increase the school uniform grant to at least £120 in primary school and £150 in secondary school”.