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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: S6O-01609

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consult MSP staff trade unions before deciding on uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the 2023-24 financial year.

Question reference: S6O-01608

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what guidance is available to MSPs regarding undertaking party political activity on the parliamentary estate.

Question reference: S6O-01605

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions have taken place to consider providing cross-party groups with access to broadcasting services in committee rooms.

Question reference: S6O-01610

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will reject the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and Average Weekly Earnings average of 4.2% for uprating the Staff Cost Provision in the financial year 2023-24.

Question reference: S6O-01571

Asked by: James Dornan, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the success of this year’s COP27 conference in building upon the commitments made at COP26 held in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-11578

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the (a) consumer benefits, (b) eligibility criteria and (c) longevity of delivery of the Warmer Homes Scotland programme, and how this compares in each respect to the UK Government's Home Upgrade Grant (i) Phase One and (ii) Phase Two.

(a) Warmer Homes Scotland Customers save £230 on average on their annual fuel bills. In the period from April – September 2022, Warmer Homes Scotland Customers saw an average SAP increase of 6.7, with 5402 heating and energy efficiency measures installed in 2503 households.

(b) Warmer Homes Scotland is a national scheme which primarily targets support at owner occupied households. A range of proxies which indicate that a household are in or likely to be in fuel poverty are used as eligibility criteria to target support at those who need it the most. The eligibility criteria has recently been widened to allow a further 100,000 more households to become eligible.

(c) The current contract for Warmer Homes Scotland ends on 30th June 2023, and the procurement process is currently underway for a successor scheme which is due to begin on 3rd July 2023. The successor scheme will run for a minimum of 5 years, the contract includes the option to extend a further 2 years which would see the programme run until July 2030.

(a) (i) The consumer benefits for Phase One of the Home Upgrade Grant have not yet been published. However in the period from March – August 2022, 155 heating and energy efficiency measures were installed in 121 households. This data can be found here . (ii) The consumer benefits for Phase Two of HUG have not yet been released.

(b) (i)/(ii) The Home Upgrade Grant is delivered by Local Authorities who will set out their own individual eligibility criteria within parameters.

Question reference: S6W-11577

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent reported announcement by the President of the United States of America regarding pardoning people convicted federally of "simple possession" of cannabis, whether it plans to consider the possibility of taking similar action for people convicted in Scotland.

The Scottish Government takes a public health approach to drug use and believe that the current UK drug legislation is rooted in an outdated view that drug use is a criminal justice matter. That is why I was pleased when the Lord Advocate decided that an extension of the Recorded Police Warning Guidelines to include possession offences for Class A drugs was appropriate. Police officers in Scotland may now choose to issue a Recorded Police Warning for simple possession offences for all classes of drugs.

However, as you are aware the subject matter of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is reserved. Accordingly the Scottish Government is limited in what it could do in this domain, and could not bring forward legislation to pardon those convicted of an offence under that Act. If these powers were to come to Scotland in the future, we would be open to exploring this further alongside amending the legislation to better fit with the realities and evolving nature of Scotland’s drug deaths challenge.

Question reference: S6W-12147

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects the phase-out of oil and gas production and use to be complete.

Offshore oil and gas licensing is reserved to UK Government. Scottish Government is clear the world cannot extract fossil fuels indefinitely, if we are to reach the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Instead, we must accelerate development of renewable sources of energy, providing new jobs, and enabling a faster transition from oil and gas.

We are conducting analysis to better understand Scotland’s energy requirements as we transition to net zero, ensuring an approach that supports and protects our energy security and our highly skilled workforce whilst meeting our climate obligations. We will publish our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan later this year.

Question reference: S6W-12077

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations or individuals will be eligible to access the Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund.

That will be for our Local Authority partners to decide.

The £1.4 million Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund was developed acknowledging islands are uniquely exposed to the current cost crisis.

In line with due process, the joint Scottish Government/COSLA Settlement Distribution Group will make recommendations on the allocation mechanism for the funding at their next meeting on 15 November. COSLA Leaders will be asked to give their final sign-off on 25 November.

As soon as possible after that date we will be in a position to share further information. However, we can share that we will allow as much flexibility to Local Authorities as possible and support them to complement existing or new measures where appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-12079

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund will be available.