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 48958 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-11954

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conclude its review of the second Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.

Question reference: S6W-11949

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11240 by Michael Matheson on 18 October 2022, whether it has considered how Scotland’s steel industry will need to change as offshore wind construction increases.

We wish to see a sustainable future for the Scottish steel sector, building on the long and proud heritage of steelwork in Scotland. We can see real opportunities for the steel sector in the move to a net zero economy, with Zero Waste Scotland commissioning a series of reports looking at the circular opportunities for the energy transition in Scotland to help inform efforts in this area.

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential. That is why we asked Crown Estate Scotland to introduce the Supply Chain Development Statement as part of the ScotWind leasing round to demonstrate how serious the Scottish Government is about holding developers to account if they do not honour their supply chain commitments and create green jobs.

Question reference: S6W-11897

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in allocating the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund, and (a) how much and (b) what percentage of the available funding has been allocated to the Ayrshire Local Action Group to cover staffing and resourcing costs in connection with the distribution of the Fund.

Question reference: S6W-12056

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is in favour of increasing the length of future Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contracts beyond eight years.

Question reference: S6W-12031

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports that Ayrshire Local Action Group is carrying out unspecified "technical checks" in relation to applications to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23 that are separate to determining whether organisations are eligible to apply to the Fund, and, if this is the case, what information it holds on any such "technical checks", including what (a) they involved and (b) the outcomes were, including whether they resulted in an otherwise eligible organisation being excluded from applying to the Fund.

The Ayrshire LAG and South Ayrshire Council Internal Audit have approved and undertaken technical checks on all projects applying for funding. Guidance on these checks is in the public domain.

https://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/media/5979/ARIA-Fund-Applicant-Guidance/pdf/ARIA_Fund_22

Only those projects that meet the technical checks progress for consideration by the Local Action Group. Of the twenty seven organisation that applied, seventeen of those progressed to the technical check stage, sixteen of which proceeded to assessment stage.

Question reference: S6W-12054

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what power it has to extend the current Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract after its conclusion in September 2024; if it has the power, whether it plans to do so, and, if so, for how long.

Question reference: S6W-11898

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local authorities should be considered as potentially suitable recipients of the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding that has been allocated to each local authority area, and what is the definition of local authority core funding that is used to assess eligibility for the Fund.

A Local Authority cannot apply alone for funding. This funding is not intended to replace core/statutory duties of Local Authorities. Local Authorities may however allocate funding to facilitate the commissioning of recruitment, upskilling and the rebuilding of the Local Action Group (LAG) but are not direct recipients of the funding.

Funding is allocated to Local Action Groups rather than single Local Authorities areas. Local Authority area spend is ongoing and unavailable at present. The LAG allocation breakdown is provided in the following table;

LAG Area	Allocation £
Aberdeenshire North & South	£924,990,00
Angus	£288,469.00
Argyll & Islands	£618,889.00
Ayrshire	£533,604.00
Cairngorms	£281,606.00
Dumfries and Galloway	£665,492.00
Fife	£279,306.00
Forth Valley and Lomond	£213,746.00
Greater Renfrewshire	£115,520.00
Highland	£1,069,878.00
Kelvin Valley and Falkirk	£140,600.00
Lanarkshire	£282,826.00
Moray	£292,405.00
Orkney	£188,330.00
Outer Hebrides	£255,806.00
Rural Perth and Kinross	£447,098.00
Scottish Borders	£487,275.00
Shetland	£188,538.00
Tyne Esk	£204,382.00
West Lothian	£151,240.00
TOTALS	£7,630,000.00

Question reference: S6W-11900

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, what the process was for selecting members of the Ayrshire Local Action Group (LAG); whether any Ayrshire LAG members and the organisations that they represent are eligible to apply to the Fund, and what potential conflict of interest procedures are in place, and what percentage of the overall Fund was available at the outset for distribution to Ayrshire LAG members.

Local Action Group (LAG) Membership has continued with the LEADER membership that was based on a skills matrix. Plans to recruit new LAG members through a procurement process are planned. Representation will be drawn from the public sector, businesses/third sector and community interests.

LAG members may be representatives of wider rural bodies or applying on behalf of organisations they represent. LAG members are not permitted to participate in any decision making process where they have a conflict of interest. This is a standing item on the agenda for the LAG.

There is no allocation of funding to individual LAG members since decisions are taken as a collective LAG.

Question reference: S6W-11901

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire LEADER programme (2014-2020), whether any analysis, by local authority area, has been carried out of the distribution of funding; what organisations were successful in securing funding, and what impact analysis has been carried out of the outcomes secured by each successful project, such as in reducing inequalities and supporting community wealth-building.

Within the Ayrshire LEADER 2014-2020 Programme there were 90 projects (61 organisations) supported over the funding period. Project awards were as follows:

34 projects funded in East Ayrshire with £1,836,762;
14 projects funded in North Ayrshire with £808,123;
40 projects funded in South Ayrshire with £1,205,832; and
2 pan-Ayrshire projects funded in North Ayrshire with £227,919.

Just over half were Community projects (56%), with the remainder split between Farm Diversification (20%) and Small and Medium sized enterprises.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation by the James Hutton Institute. Additionally, outcome evaluations by each of the 21 Local Development Strategies were required as part of closure of the 2014-2020 LEADER Programme.

Question reference: S6W-12046

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered allocating more funding to Scottish Water so that projects to prevent and tackle flooding and heavy rainfall can be prioritised.

Scottish Water is subject to a statutory charge-setting environment for each regulatory period under which the industry’s independent economic regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) determines the overarching financial limits for Scottish Water based on the lowest overall reasonable cost of achieving Minister’s Objectives for the industry in the relevant regulatory period (2021-27), including the amount of lending required. Decisions on priorities for investment, including in relation to sewer flooding, are taken with reference to the Ministerial Objectives and the process set out in Scottish Water’s Investment Planning and Prioritisation Framework. While the majority of capital available for investment derives from customer charges, the Principles of Charging set by the Scottish Ministers for the period confirm that Scottish Government will also lend Scottish Water up to a maximum of £1.03 billion to support investment decisions.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the serious impacts that sewer flooding can have on homes and businesses and the need for action to tackle the issue. In this regard I would highlight the launch of Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Routemap in December 2021. This plan, backed with significant investment of close to half a billion pounds, aims to deliver a range of improvements across the sewer network including to reduce incidences of sewer flooding and help Scottish Water to respond more quickly when incidents do occur. The Routemap is available on Scottish Water’s website and the first annual report on progress is expected to be published by 21 December 2022.