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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-04979

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for grant assistance to deliver affordable housing above Affordable Housing Investment Benchmark level have been required to be withdrawn and resubmitted due to (a) contract offers having expired and (b) costs having increased since the initial application was submitted, in each quarter since Q1 2016.

Question reference: S6W-04800

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the scope will be of the forthcoming review of snaring.

A statutory review as required by section 11F of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is currently underway which will be complete early in 2022.

We are also currently developing the scope for a wider review of aspects of snaring including the question of a ban. Details of this review will be announced in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to upholding the highest standards of animal welfare and we shall, of course, engage widely with stakeholders as part of this work.

Question reference: S6W-04799

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the sectoral Just Transition plan for the nuclear sector will be produced, and what role (a) the workforce, (b) its unions and (c) local communities will have in this.

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, to be published next year, will provide a roadmap for the future of Scotland’s energy system. We will co-design this Plan with the workers, businesses and communities most impacted by the net zero transition, including those within or associated with the nuclear energy industry. Workers, unions and the communities they are part of have always been at the heart of a just transition and will continue to be so. Together, we must provide certainty for those affected as we set out how the economic and social impacts of Scotland’s changing energy system will be managed.

We will outline the sequencing for specific Just Transition Plans in the new year, and as part of that, will explore if there are any sub-sectors of the energy system that would benefit from a standalone Plan.

Question reference: S6W-04855

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many days were spent at sea on operational duties by the Marine Protection Vessels (a) Minna, (b) Jura and (c) Hirta in each year between 2018 and 2020, broken down by whether they were (i) within and (ii) outside the six nautical mile limit.

The number of days spent at sea for the Marine Protection Vessels is as follows:

	Number of Days at Sea
Vessel	2018	2019	2020
MPV JURA	285	322	299
MPV HIRTA	297	318	305
MPV MINNA	296	320	264

We are unable to separate patrol days between inside and outside inshore waters (inshore waters are generally considered to be the area covered by 6 miles from the baseline), as we do not record them in this way.

MPV Minna is an inshore/offshore vessel that generally focuses on territorial waters (0-12 nautical miles) while MPV Hirta and MPV Jura are offshore patrol vessels which spend the majority of their time patrolling territorial waters and offshore areas, apart from when transiting to patrol areas or where there is specific tasking to patrol inshore waters.

Question reference: S6W-04831

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on course to meet its interim child poverty targets for 2023-24.

The latest annual data available, published in March 2020, estimates that 24% of children lived in relative poverty, after housing costs, in Scotland in the period 2017-20.

These statistics predate the impact of Covid-19 on the financial security of families and the removal of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits. Data covering the first year of the Covid pandemic (2018-21) will be published by the end of March 2021.

We recognise the challenge faced in reaching the interim child poverty targets for 2023-24, that is why we have declared a national mission to tackle child poverty and have committed concrete action including the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment from April 2022.

The Scottish Government will publish the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2022, setting out a range of actions which will put us on a critical path to the targets set.

Question reference: S6O-00555

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a timeframe for the implementation of the Scottish dog control database.

The Scottish Dog Control Database Order 2021 comes into force on 31 December 2021 and provides for the establishment of the database.

Technical development of the database will be complete by 31 December; January and the first half of February 2022 will involve security testing of the database, and for users of the database to receive training.

From mid-February 2022, it is planned the database will be available as a live operational database.

Question reference: S6O-00584

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that opportunities for retraining in green skills are available to workers currently employed in the oil and gas sector, to enable them to assist in reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions.

Question reference: S6O-00585

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of applications received from local authorities was, as part of the £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6O-00587

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how its plans to bring ScotRail into public ownership are progressing.

Question reference: S6O-00582

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its priorities are for Scotland’s railways in 2022.