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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: S6W-07159

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a public register of all businesses operating within Scottish freeports will be published.

The Green Freeport governance body will need to maintain a record of all the businesses operating, or applying to operate, within the tax site. That record must be kept up-to-date, contain information about the beneficial owner of the business, and be readily accessible to law enforcement agencies, including HMRC and the National Crime Agency.

We are discussing the issue of publication of information by the Green Freeport governance bodies with the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-07005

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential disruption caused by storms, what consideration it is giving to undergrounding electrical cables in areas that are at low risk of storm surge or flooding but are vulnerable to damage from high winds.

Resilience of the Electricity Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

Both BEIS and Ofgem have published their post-incident reviews/interim reports on Storm Arwen. The UK Government interim report on Storm Arwen review considers the issue of underground cables on p.10 and Ofgems Review into the networks’ response to Storm Arwen – Interim Report on page 16.

The Scottish Government contributed to both these reviews and will carefully consider the findings to understand where improvements could be made. We will continue to track progress against these recommendations.

We will also continue to press the UK Government, industry and the regulator for assurance that increased resilience of the electricity networks in Scotland is a priority.

Question reference: S6W-06828

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children were on foster home waiting lists in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-06652

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30436 by Michael Matheson on 27 July 2020, whether it remains committed to the memorandum of understanding that it signed with Heathrow Airport, and what further consideration it has given to withdrawing from it, in light of the reported comments in October 2021 of Lord Deben, the chair of the Climate Change Committee, that “there is not any space for airport expansion”.

Question reference: S6O-00893

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of calls from Audit Scotland to establish a clear plan to increase transparency around spending on drug and alcohol services.

I welcome Audit Scotland’s review into drug and alcohol services and their recommendations. We agree that more can be done to improve the accessibility and transparency of funding and how it is used.

Currently information on funding allocation is available through various publications including published budgets and I also report to Parliament regularly outlining our progress and funding decisions. We have also recently agreed on eight recommendations with COSLA to implement the Partnership Delivery Framework which underpins the governance of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships, this includes a recommendation requiring Health and Social Care Partnership Chief Finance Officers to be represented at the ADP and provide assurance regarding funding for alcohol and drug services including clear financial reporting. In addition, Public Health Scotland have been tasked with introducing new monitoring to track both the number of and investment in residential rehab placements by ADPs.

Question reference: S6O-00919

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to demonstrate the viability of apprentice programmes as an alternative to a university education, in light of a UCAS report published in 2021 reportedly showing that young people are advised against apprenticeships.

Question reference: S6O-00923

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what assessment it has made of GP numbers and surgery provision in the north east.

Question reference: S6O-00924

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is making the streets safer for women and girls.

Question reference: S6O-00922

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding matching Ukrainian refugees with households in Scotland that have registered under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Question reference: S6O-00920

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current levels of unmet need and staff vacancies in social care.