Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 47721 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-11104

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Transport on 8 September 2022 on the Future of Scottish Ferries, what definition of a “period of prolonged disruption” it will use to convene meetings of the proposed ferries resilience group.

Question reference: S6W-11106

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the private ferry companies that have expressed an interest in bidding for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract on each occasion that it was put out to tender.

Information on the organisations that were invited to tender for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract on each occasion that it was put to tender is already in the public domain and is below

For CHFS1 tender in 2005 - Three organisations (Western Ferries, Caledonian MacBrayne and V-Ships) completed and returned a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire by the closing date of 15 December 2005.

For CHFS2 tender in 2016 - CalMac Ferries Limited and Serco Caledonian Ferries Limited both passed the pre-qualification stage of the process and were invited to submit tenders.

Question reference: S6W-11317

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11200

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of recent (a) meetings, (b) telephone calls and (c) other communications it has had with COSLA to discuss funding support for Ukrainian refugees.

Question reference: S6W-11199

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of recent (a) meetings, (b) telephone calls and (c) other communications it has had with COSLA to discuss housing need and availability for Ukrainian refugees.

Question reference: S6W-11185

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10419 by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022, whether it will provide the information requested and provide a list of the meetings held by the board, and which ministers attended each meeting, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

The programme board overseeing delivery of the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste by 2025 is chaired by senior Scottish Government officials and comprises representatives from SEPA, Cosla, Solace and Zero Waste Scotland. Scottish Ministers do not attend meetings of the board, though are regularly updated on its progress.

The programme board has met five times since its inception, on the following dates: 17 March 2021, 08 July 2021, 05 November 2021, 01 June 2022 and 06 September 2022.

Question reference: S6W-11043

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it made of the time required to complete the public consultation phase of the (a) draft National Islands Plan, (b) recommendations from Project Neptune and (c) procurement of the next Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract.

Engaging effectively with people and stakeholder organisations is a key part of our public engagement and we always seek to follow Public Guidance for Consultation.

The consultation process for the National Islands Plan and Islands Communities Impact Assessments was led by the Scottish Government’s Islands Team and was designed to encourage island communities to help shape the polices that were published on 27 December 2019 in the National Islands Plan.

The member will know that Angus Campbell, Chair of the Ferries Community Board, has agreed to lead the work on stakeholder engagement for Project Neptune. I look forward to meeting Mr Campbell next week to discuss a timescale for the engagement required.

Question reference: S6W-11035

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons its Rural Entrepreneur Fund (a) has not yet been introduced, in light of its inclusion in the Programme for Government 2021-22 and (b) is not included in its Programme for Government 2022-23.

The Rural Entrepreneur Fund was a 2021-22 Programme for Government (PfG) commitment to invest £20 million over the lifetime of the current parliament.

In light of the challenging financial environment, we need to prioritise our investments to ensure that they are deliverable, impactful and affordable. Consequently, there has been no money made available for Rural Entrepreneur Fund to date.

Our PfG 2022-23 prioritises support for households, businesses and public services. Following the UK Government’s Emergency Budget we will carry out a budget review to assess opportunities to redirect additional resources to those most in need.

Question reference: S6W-11011

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there is (a) sufficient flexibility in the interpretation of and (b) a need to clarify or revise the policy and objectives for the delivery of water services for the current regulatory period to ensure they are consistent with delivering levels of water charges for 2022-23 and beyond that are considered by Scottish Ministers to be affordable, in light of the current high levels of inflation.

Ministers’ charging policies and Objectives for the water industry are clearly set out in the key framework documents that can be found on the Scottish Government’s website. Current circumstances facing the industry, indeed the country at large, are undoubtedly challenging and the Scottish Government will maintain regular dialogue with Scottish Water to support the continued delivery of all of Ministers’ Objectives over the current regulatory period. The affordability of charges is a matter for Scottish Water’s Board to consider alongside the requirement to meet its other statutory obligations. WICS has no powers to require a particular outcome in the charge setting process beyond setting the charge caps which are established to protect customers.

Question reference: S6W-11000

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the new flood risk management works funded by SEPA for the period 2022-2027, including the local authority areas in which the works are taking place.

SEPA, as required by the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, prepared Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) for the period 2022-2028. These were approved by Scottish Ministers and published in January 2022. The FRMPs have been developed to ensure all efforts to reduce flood risk are coordinated. The Plans outline the long term ambition by setting objectives and identifying actions for areas most at flood risk. The Local Flood Risk Management Plans, which are complementary to the FRMPS and prepared by local authorities, are due to be published by December 2022. They will provide more detail on how the actions set out in the flood risk management plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered.

There are multiple organisations responsible for flood risk management and the Plans focus their efforts to where the risk of flooding and benefits of actions are greatest. SEPA do not undertake or fund flood risk management works themselves. Funding is provided either by the organisation undertaking the work, such as the local authority, or by the Scottish Government. In recognition of the importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has provided, since 2008, a total of £42 million a year through the General Capital Grant to local authorities to allow them to invest in flood protection schemes. In addition the 2020 Programme for Government committed an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament for flood risk management actions.