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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: S6F-01389

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that police officer numbers dropped to 16,610 at the end of June, below Police Scotland’s “full officer establishment” of 17,234.

Question reference: S6F-01384

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister how the recent fall in the value of sterling will affect the finances of the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6F-01377

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01376

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-00893

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the UK Government's fiscal statement last week.

Question reference: S6T-00876

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote participation in Scotland’s Climate Week 2022, which runs from 26 September to 2 October.

Question reference: S6W-10786

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to deliver a (a) gradual and (b) flexible reintroduction of non-domestic rates to enable businesses to concentrate their resources on business re-growth.

Decisions on non-domestic rates, including the poundage and any reliefs, are generally considered in the context of the Scottish Budget in line with other government priorities.

The Scottish Budget 2022-23 maintains a competitive non-domestic rates regime, delivering the lowest poundage in the UK for the fourth year in a row as well as a generous package of reliefs which are forecast to be worth £801 million.

Question reference: S6W-10732

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how the scale of landholdings affects the ability of land managers to effectively manage deer populations in connection with its consultation, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation.

Deer management is currently carried out across land holdings of varying size from 10Ha to over 10,000Ha. The extent of the deer management and any required collaboration is more dependent on the species and land type rather than any minimum size. For ‘territorial’ species such as roe deer the scale of management will often be at the individual farm unit; whereas for open hill red deer, that range across multiple large properties, the management scale expands to Deer Management Groups that cover many thousands of hectares.

The Code of Practice on Deer Management prescribes to everybody who owns or manages wild deer on someone else’s land (irrespective of the size of that land holding), how they should deliver sustainable deer management. A review of compliance with the Deer Code published 2019 concluded that where it was relevant to them, a majority of owner-occupiers, across varying land holdings, had undertaken actions to meet each of the themes outlined in the Deer Code. NatureScot, in their role as Scotland’s deer authority, work with a range of partners, including the Association of Deer Management Groups, local deer management groups and individual land managers to develop effective planning and deliver deer management across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10784

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Ukrainian refugees are being hosted by hotels in the City of Edinburgh Council area.

We are working closely with local authorities and with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and doing all we can to speed up the matching process and increase the numbers of displaced people moving into host accommodation.

On 22 September, the Scottish Government published its first summary of the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visa schemes, including data on the number of displaced people in welcome accommodation: Key points - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-10819

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce emergency legislation to address the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government recognises the huge pressures the cost of living crisis is placing on households, particularly on those who rent their home. That is why we have committed to protecting tenants by freezing rents and imposing a moratorium on evictions – at least until 31 March. Our intention is also to take action to prevent immediate rent increases.

We are working at pace to agree expedited processes to deliver any legislation necessary to achieve this with the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government, to ensure these crucial changes are brought about as soon as possible. We will engage with stakeholders and others, as we develop the emergency Bill.

We are taking urgent action to protect tenants in Scotland, well ahead of rest of UK. Our PfG announcements for emergency legislation, is part of our ambitious reform programme for the New Deal for Tenants.

The amendment put forward by Labour back in June was not workable and would have been at much higher risk of legal challenge. We have taken the time needed to ensure that the legislation we bring forward to freeze rents and introduce a moratorium on eviction is legally robust and will ensure tenants are protected.

Our emergency legislation must, by definition, be temporary. But given the huge uncertainty as to what the next 6 months holds, we intend to review very carefully whether and how any measures might be extended; and how what we do now paves the way for longer term reform – which we have already committed to.

A Housing Bill in the year ahead will give new and strengthened rights to tenants, improve affordability, and deliver key policies relating to short term lets and the prevention of homelessness.

Meanwhile, in Wales, the one part of the UK where Labour could actually act as the Scottish Government is acting, we see very little sign of the ambition we have outlined this week or indeed of the ambition to reform renting as we have in Scotland over the last 10 years.