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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: S6T-00764

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that less than a quarter of nursing shifts have enough staff.

Question reference: S6W-08603

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

Question reference: S6W-08625

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08258 by Jenny Gilruth on 12 May 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the numbers of electrical vehicle charging points by local authority area.

The total charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network owned by Local Authorities and Commercial Businesses for 2021 can be viewed on The Scottish Transport statistics report, Chapter 13: Environment and Emissions.

The full breakdown of the ChargePlace Scotland, publicly available charge points by local authority area will be published onto the ChargePlace Scotland website by the 30 June 2022.

Question reference: S6W-08590

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to ease the reported delays within the justice system caused by continuous late-stage evidence disputations by the defence that force proceedings to be persistently rescheduled.

The Scottish Government recognises the adverse impact on victims, witnesses and on the accused of prolonged proceedings, and is supporting justice agencies to improve the management of cases to minimise unnecessary delays. For example, through its investment in the Recover, Renew and Transform Programme, justice agencies are delivering reforms to support early resolution of summary cases at the outset and to focus trial preparation in cases which cannot be resolved. This work builds on the introduction by the judiciary of Pre-Intermediate Diet Meetings (PIDM) in December 2020, a new procedure aimed at reducing the risk of late-stage rescheduling.

Question reference: S6W-08604

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07657 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 April 2022, how the Temporary Measures Agreement performance fee for Serco Caledonian Sleeper will be calculated.

Question reference: S6W-08826

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will provide a substantive answer to question S6W-04695, which received a holding response on 13 December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-08583

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the detailed maps of route options for the proposed Clyde Metro that have reportedly been presented as advice to ministers.

Detailed maps on Clyde Metro have not been produced or presented to Scottish Ministers. Indicative maps were presented to Scottish Ministers as part of discussions on STPR2 in the lead up to the publication of draft recommendations in January 2022. The level of assessment work undertaken to date is not sufficient to produce detailed route options for publication or consultation, but of course will be in the future.

Question reference: S6W-08579

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the number of board members needed for an organisation under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to specifically review the number of board members needed for an organisation under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. However, in our Programme for Government 2021-22, we have committed to review the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to consider how we can give local communities more of a say over the things that matter to them in their community. This will provide an opportunity to consider many aspects of the Act including the number of board members.

Question reference: S6W-08601

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on consultants for services relating to the ScotRail franchise in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Transport Scotland incurred costs associated with advisors for services associated with the Abellio ScotRail franchise for the period (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22 are as follows:-

Company	2020-21 £s	2021-22 £s
Atkins	200,077.50	106,224.58
MacRoberts	364,443.39	164,843.95
Bramble Hub	218,865.45	40,630.59
Ernst & Young	239,674.51	0.00
Total	1,023,060.85	311,699.12

These costs are associated with advisors providing services associated with Abellio ScotRail Franchise in relation to Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) Covid response and any other business as usual.

Question reference: S6W-08620

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it has made for the use of e-scooters on public roads in Scotland, and whether legislation will be required in order to regulate this.

E-scooters are currently illegal to use in any public spaces in Scotland but they are legal to sell and own, resulting in an increasing number in illegal use in Scotland.

E-scooters are covered by the same laws and regulations that apply to all motor vehicles. This means e-scooters need to meet the various requirements of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to use public roads lawfully (e.g. road tax, technical safety standards).

Whilst the use of powered transporters and decisions around their introduction and associated legislative changes are primarily a matter for the UK Government, additional legislation and associated guidance would be required for Scotland.

The Secretary of State for Transport wrote to me in April 2022 about his proposals for a new framework for micro-mobility in UKG’s forthcoming Transport Bill. We will fully participate in that and I expect UKG to seek the Scottish Parliament’s legislative consent in a timely manner, and respect the outcome of the Scottish Parliament’s decision on consent.

I am aware that DfT carried out trails in England to develop e-scooter regulatory framework.

The DfT had not factored into its trial programme the legislative changes that would be required in Scotland to allow trials to take place here. Consequently, the trials which took place in England could not be hosted by Scottish local authorities.

Currently, we have received no data from the trials in England. My officials will continue to push for sight of the data to gain a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of legalising e-scooters.