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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-01341

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of Scottish-domiciled students attending Scottish universities.

Question reference: S6O-01345

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the National Planning Framework 4 will help to address vacant, derelict and abandoned buildings and land, including across Aberdeen city.

Question reference: S6O-01342

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had and has planned with the University of Dundee’s management team regarding the reported pensions dispute between the university and trade unions representing staff.

Question reference: S6O-01340

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had with residential outdoor education centres regarding the provision of bed spaces for 2023.

Question reference: S6O-01344

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee’s report on energy price rises.

Question reference: S6W-10347

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the length of time it has taken for applications to Redress Scotland to receive an outcome.

Since Scotland’s Redress Scheme was launched in December 2021, 1468 survivor applications and 88 next of kin applications have been received. All applications are reviewed within six weeks of receipt and this review identifies those requiring further information and those ready for verification prior to sending to Redress Scotland for determination.

189 redress applications have been passed to Redress Scotland for consideration and of those, 136 have had an initial determination made.

Each application varies in complexity, with survivors and applicants requiring differing levels of support to complete the application and a dependency on other organisations to complete the required verifications around care settings and any previous relevant payments made.

We recognise that, for some applicants, the process is taking longer than they expected. We continue to work with them, and partners, to look at ways to improve the scheme and remain committed to ensuring it continues to be swifter and less adversarial than taking court action.

Question reference: S6W-10761

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Registrar General will publish the annual report for 2021.

Question reference: S6W-10798

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 31 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it will take to ensure that the skills delivery landscape is set up to deliver the ambitions for skills in Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation, published in March 2022, sets out our ambitions for a skills and education system that meets the demands of an ever-changing economy and society, provides people with the skills they need at every stage of life to have rewarding careers, and encourages employers to invest in the skills they need to grow their businesses.

Key priority projects will support the commitments as set out in NSET to adapt the education and skills system to make it more agile and responsive to our economic needs and ambitions, support and incentivise people and their employers to invest in skills and training throughout their working lives; and expand Scotland’s available talent pool, at all skills levels, to give employers the skills pipeline they need to take advantage of opportunities.

To ensure that the skills system is optimised to deliver these ambitions, Ministers will initiate an independent review of the skills delivery landscape, focusing on the functions and remit of Skills Development Scotland, and its interface with – and role within – the wider skills delivery landscape.

The Review will be led by an independent advisor and will commence in September 2022, reporting to Ministers in Spring 2023. The Independent Advisor will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including the staff and Board of Skills Development Scotland, to inform their recommendations.

Ministers will provide further details of the remit for the Independent Advisor and the Terms of Reference for the Review in a statement to Parliament in due course.

Question reference: S6W-10182

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 31 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09495 by Tom Arthur on 12 July 2022, (a) on what date and (b) by which minister the City of Edinburgh Council’s proposed designation of the Edinburgh short-term let control area was approved; whether a decision had been passed for approval to the responsible minister on or before 12 July 2022, the date on which the answer to question S6W-09495 was issued, and whether it will provide an advisory timetable for the determination of any other proposed control areas.

The Scottish Ministers approved the City of Edinburgh Council’s proposed designation of the entirety of Edinburgh as a Short Term Control Area on 27 July 2022. A draft decision letter was provided to the Minister for Public Finance, Planning & Community Wealth by officials on 12 July 2022. Whilst there is no statutory timescale for the consideration of proposed short-term let control area designations, every effort is made to consider and determine such proposals as swiftly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-10211

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to change the law regarding the protection of seagulls, including in particular herring gulls.

The Scottish Government does not have any plans to change the law regarding the protection of gulls, including herring gulls.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides protection for all wild birds. NatureScot has responsibility for the issuing of General Licences under Section 16(1) of the Act, which authorise the killing and taking of certain wild birds including their eggs, for one or more of several reasons including public health and safety.

NatureScot held a consultation on General Licences between August and October 2019. Following this consultation, several species were removed from the 2020 General Licences, including herring, lesser black-backed and great black-backed gulls, either on the basis that there was insufficient evidence of the damage they caused; there are alternative non-lethal solutions; or there are conservation concerns over their population status. Where species have been removed from the General Licence, authorised persons are still able to apply to NatureScot for a specific licence to control them or undertake lethal control, including nest and egg destruction in some circumstances.

A UK seabird census, organised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, is currently being undertaken which includes an element that aims to estimate the populations of species that breed in urban environments. The final report, which is due to be published next year, will help inform future policy in dealing with urban gull populations.