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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: S6W-17970

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the (a) other UK administrations, (b) Health and Safety Executive and (c) stakeholders regarding alternatives to Asulox as a bracken control measure going forward.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with counterparts from other UK administrations and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the UK regulator, on general pesticide policy and specific points of interest. Sustainable methods for the control of bracken and the 2023 application for the Emergency Authorisation of Asulox has been regularly discussed at these meetings.

Stakeholders have the opportunity to raise and discuss pesticide issues, including bracken control, at the quarterly Pesticide Stakeholder Group meeting with Scottish Government officials. I regularly attend these meetings and bracken control has been discussed. The Scottish Government also continues to listen to views presented by the Bracken Control Group (BCG), and other stakeholders, on appropriate methods for the future control of bracken.

Question reference: S6W-17964

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that it considers the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to be the only measure of progress on widening access to further education, and, if so, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is currently the national measure of progress on widening access to higher education. This was recommended by the Commission on Widening Access in its final report, A Blueprint for Fairness, in 2016, and Ministers committed to adopting the recommendations in full. We recognise that there may be other suitable measures to work alongside SIMD, which is why Scottish Government officials are chairing an Access Data Short-Life Working Group to investigate this.

Question reference: S6W-17862

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on increasing Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) expenditure to £1.75 billion by 2025, as outlined in its strategy for innovation, and what additional funding it has put in place to support this aim.

Provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) expenditure estimate for Scotland in 2021 was £3.12bn. Note that the ONS has recently changed their measurement of BERD. The BERD statistics methodology has been improved to better capture data from smaller businesses, which has led to significant uplift revisions to BERD expenditure estimates. More work is required to further quality assure the new methodology and we will continue to work with the ONS on that. The Scottish Government and its agencies invested an additional £45m to support the increase of BERD between 2018 and 2021.

Question reference: S6W-17897

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17395 by Shona Robison on 5 May 2023, how progress on its commitments will be reported to parliamentary committees.

Ministers are content to provide any updates on progress which parliamentary committees would find helpful as part of their normal ongoing engagement on progress within their portfolios.

As previously set out by the First minister, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the people of Scotland have the information they need to hold the Government to account for delivery of the three missions and will report routinely, regularly and transparently on performance against the aims and outcomes set out in the policy prospectus. This reporting will include an annual progress report which will be brought to the attention of relevant committees once published.

Question reference: S6W-17895

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many NHS dentists require patients to pay a deposit before registering with them.

Question reference: S6W-17899

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which ministers granted approval for the four settlement agreement cases that exceeded the £95,000 cap, as referenced in its annual report on the use of settlement agreements, April 2021 to March 2022.

All four settlement cases were dealt with in accordance with the procedure set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Business cases for the proposed settlements were submitted to the relevant Cabinet Secretary at that time: Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Shirley Anne-Somerville) and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeanne Freeman). The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy (Kate Forbes) was also sighted on all cases.

Question reference: S6W-17873

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a regional breakdown of collaborations enabled by the Interface programme, also broken down by the estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) for each project.

Since August 2005, when Interface was established, it has played a role in facilitating 3,410 collaborative projects with 2,144 unique businesses. Between August 2018 and April 2023, Interface brokered 1,528 collaborations with universities, research institutes and colleges in Scotland. The regional breakdown of collaborative projects is 331 for Highlands and Islands, 353 for Glasgow City Region, 107 for South of Scotland, 359 for Edinburgh and the Lothians, 90 for Central and 288 for the North East. In 2021, an independent evaluation of Interface activity showed that the contribution to the Scottish economy from research and development projects between businesses and academics enabled by Interface was £88.9m GVA (gross value added) supporting 1,595 jobs, with expectations to reach £222.3m GVA and 3,193 jobs.

Question reference: S6W-17962

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what recent steps it has taken to support public libraries.

The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) with annual funding of £665,000. SLIC provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector.

This includes £450,000 for the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) and is on top of the Scottish Government’s general revenue funding to local authorities. PLIF, which has been awarded annually since 2006, is administered by SLIC on behalf of the Scottish Government, and supports creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-17912

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it commenced work to discover an accurate statistic for Scotland's offshore wind potential as a percentage of Europe's generation, following its previously stated erroneous figure of 25%; when it expects to publish this figure, and, if it is the case that it has established a preliminary conclusion regarding this figure, whether it will state what that is.

Question reference: S6W-17938

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14071 by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on how many journeys have been completed by young people using a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, based on the latest information available.