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 48207 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-01374

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it was last in contact with Shetland Islands Council and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-01373

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to improve the reliability and resilience of Scotland’s ferry network.

Question reference: S6O-01377

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its most recent communication with the UK Government has been regarding the impact of energy costs on the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6O-01378

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will give an update on the work to upgrade Ardrossan Harbour.

Question reference: S6W-10497

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the terms of reference are for its Women in Enterprise Review, and when the review is scheduled to be published.

Responding to a recognised gender gap in business participation, Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy commissioned Ana Stewart, entrepreneur and investor, to deliver an independent Review on widening access to entrepreneurship for women.

The Stewart Review, due to publish later in the year, will identify the root causes of the continuing under-representation of women in enterprise and propose specific actions required to address the needs of female-led businesses in Scotland.

The expected themes of the review are to include, but not be limited to:

Access to Finance
Networks, mentoring and role models
Advice and Support
Education

The response of the Scottish Government to the Review will be mindful of existing activity and align with NSET recommendations on transforming the Scottish economy through widening business participation under the Entrepreneurial People and Culture programme.

Question reference: S6W-10245

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Home Owners’ Support Fund, what the average processing time has been for (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications in each of the last six years, and how many applications in each of the last six years took (i) less than one year (ii) one to two years (iii) two to three years and (iv) more than three years to process.

The Scottish Government does not collect data in relation to the turnaround of unsuccessful applications. The following table shows the average processing time in months for successful applications during each of the last six years.

Year	Average Processing Time (Months)
2016-17	5
2017-18	6
2018-19	9
2019-20	11
2020-21	15
2021-22	20

The Home Owners Support Fund is a voluntary scheme and the full co-operation and participation of applicants, social landlords, lenders, solicitors and surveyors is necessary for the smooth and efficient delivery of the scheme. The pandemic made it more difficult to progress cases, particularly as social landlords were unable to visit properties for repairs assessments.

The following table shows the number of successful applications and the timescales, during each of the last six years.

	Number of Successful Applications Processed in
Year	< 1 Year	1-2 years	2-3	> 3 years
2016-17	65	0	0	0
2017-18	39	0	0	0
2018-19	29	3	0	0
2019-20	21	7	0	0
2020-21	1	7	0	0
2021-22	0	6	3	0

Question reference: S6W-10180

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what the total amount has been of any performance payments given to executive level staff at CalMac Ferries Ltd, broken down by each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-10243

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) enquiries about and (b) applications for the Home Owners' Support Fund it has received in each of the last six years, broken down by the (i) Mortgage to Rent and (ii) Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes, and, of those applications that were received, how many were (A) successful and (B) ineligible.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on enquiries relating to the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF). The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) schemes are delivered as part of the HOSF programme. Each application is assessed on a case by case basis to determine which scheme best meets the applicant’s needs. During the last six years there have been no cases eligible for MTSE, due to the circumstances of applicants not meeting the eligibility criteria, in particular applicants with complex debts.

The following table shows the number of applications received during each of the last six years, the number of applications successfully completed and the number of cases closed due to ineligibility. Mortgage to Rent is a voluntary scheme and participation from applicants, lenders, trustees and social landlords is required for a case to succeed.

Mortgage to Rent Applications*
Year	Received	Successful	Ineligible
2016-17	113	65	20
2017-18	91	39	17
2018-19	106	32	30
2019-20	79	28	16
2020-21	20	8	7
2021-22	36	9	10

*Figures for received, successful and ineligible do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

We have received significantly fewer applications during the last two financial years. Regulations were introduced by the Scottish Government that protected homeowners in financial difficulty from repossession at the height of the pandemic. n addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and mortgage lenders also put in place temporary measures to assist homeowners facing difficulties in managing their mortgage repayments. From March 2020 to March 2021, mortgage lenders offered payment deferrals of up to six months and whilst those temporary measures have now expired, the FCA continues to work with lenders to help improve and strengthen arrears management and mortgage lenders must demonstrate that they have done everything required to make repossession a matter of last resort.

Question reference: S6W-10237

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08749 by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022, what modelling it is undertaking to establish (a) the likely number of future applications to the fund and (b) any risk of homelessness among mortgage payers, in light of the Bank of England increasing the base rate to 1.75% and reports that inflation could reach 13% by October 2022.

The Scottish Government monitors trends in arrears and repossessions data published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and UK Finance which is collated in the quarterly Scottish Housing Market Review Scottish housing market reviews - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Home Owners Support Fund is a last resort scheme aimed at properties at the lowest 20% of the housing market. Applicants must have either mortgage arrears or have an interest only mortgage that has reached the end of its term and have no appropriate option to either repay the loan or to re-mortgage. There are a range of protections, advice and support services already in place for homeowners and not all of those affected by the current cost of living crisis will apply to the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-09385

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been carried out through the National Improvement Framework regarding the allocation of money from pupil equity funding to Police Scotland for police officers in schools.

This information does not fall within the scope of data gathered through the National Improvement Framework. The 11 key NIF measures assess progress towards closing the attainment gap using indicators from pre-school to school leavers. These are supplemented by 15 sub-measures that reflect the key stages of the learner journey and the breadth of issues that can impact on attainment. Together these provide a wide range of measures covering school leaver attainment and literacy and numeracy but also other, broader, measures such as health and wellbeing, school attendance rates and school leaver destinations.