Chamber and committees

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: S6O-01818

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with NHS Shetland to address waiting times for NHS dentistry and orthodontic treatment.

Question reference: S6W-13780

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding its work on the Digital Identity Scotland (DIS) Programme.

The Scottish Government is delivering a digital identity service which aims to improve people’s access to digital public services by providing them with a safe, secure, easy and reusable way to prove who they are or that they are eligible for a public service. We are working in partnership with Disclosure Scotland to launch a private Beta (a live trial involving the first applicants to access the service) early this year. This will include:

The ScotAccount secure sign on which will enable users to use one account to securely log in to a variety of public services, using an email address, password, and two-factor authentication codes via text message.

The Verify Your Identity feature, which people can use to confirm their identity to a public service, using official documents (initially a passport, UK driving licence, or UK biometric residence permit).

Following the private Beta launch, further developments planned for later this year will include adding other methods for two-factor authentication and identity verification; and work to add an attribute store, which will provide users with a choice to reuse verified personal information to apply for other services.

Question reference: S6W-13560

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the UK Government and (b) mobile network operators about improving the resilience of mobile network mast infrastructure in Scotland in order to support the continuation of vital communication links during power outages and other major incidents.

The security and resilience of the UK’s telecommunications network is reserved to the UK Parliament.

The Scottish Government works closely with UK Government, industry, Ofcom and other Devolved Administrations through the Electronic Communications – Resilience and Response Group (EC-RRG), which helps to plan for and respond to disruptive events.

Scottish Government officials also regularly engage with individual telecoms operators around disruptive events, such as Storm Arwen and the recent subsea cable break impacting Shetland, to help coordinate response and debriefs.

Our £28.75 million investment via the Scottish 4G Infill Programme is delivering new mobile infrastructure in 55 locations, which is improving 4G coverage and strengthening resilience of networks serving rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6W-12743

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Serco NorthLink Ferries booking system will open for bookings for dates beyond 31 March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-13195

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the energy sector regarding the creation of a local tariff for Shetland to help any households that are currently facing fuel poverty.

Energy pricing and the powers to create local tariffs are reserved to the UK Government. However, we will continue to engage with BEIS about its Energy Price Guarantee review for April 2024 and the consideration of social tariffs for domestic consumers, especially for those in or at risk of fuel poverty.

The First Minister has also chaired two energy summits since August. These have discussed the impact of UK Government measures in response to the energy crisis and agreed that these should be more support targeted towards vulnerable households and businesses, including those living in rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-13196

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the energy sector regarding the creation of local tariffs to provide cheaper energy to (a) households and (b) businesses to help people in areas across Scotland with high levels of fuel poverty.

Question reference: S6W-12765

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the target timescale is for making payments under the Low Carbon Transport Business Loan scheme, and what (a) number and (b) percentage of payments have met this target, in each of the last three years.

The Low Carbon Transport Loan, launched in 2011, provides interest free loans to help households and businesses purchase electric vehicles. Since its launch, the scheme has invested over £176 million, helped purchase 6,148 low emission vehicles, and saved over 113,000 tonnes of CO2. The LCTL has several distinct streams, including the domestic, business and taxi loan streams.

The Energy Saving Trust deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan on behalf of the Scottish Government. The target for processing submitted claims containing all requisite information is within 10 working days.

The following table shows the percentage of payments made to businesses within 10 working days of all the necessary information being submitted by the applicant. Despite the challenges posed by COVID, for the vast majority of cases falling outside of the target, payments have only been delayed by 1 or 2 days.

	TOTAL	In target	Out of target	% out of target	% in target
19-20	168	147	16	10%	90%
20-21	245	206	39	16%	84%
21-22	253	143	81	32%	68%
22-23*	57	51	6	11%	89%

*as at December 2022

Question reference: S6W-12401

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the encashment of the monthly prepayment meter vouchers provided under the Energy Bills Support Scheme, what support can be provided to any people in rural and island areas in Scotland who find that their vouchers have diminished in value due to the costs incurred by travelling to the nearest PayPoint outlet.

While the Scottish Government recognises that many people in rural and island communities already experience higher costs of living compared to those living in more central areas, the roll out of the Energy Bills Support Scheme is a matter for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government recently doubled our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million through the Emergency Budget Review, with local referral partners including Home Energy Scotland, the Fuel Bank Foundation, Advice Direct Scotland and Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. We also recently provided £1.2m of additional funding to boost advice services across Scotland.

I would urge consumers who are struggling with their energy bills to contact Energy Advice Scotland on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot.

Question reference: S6W-12403

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the encashment of the monthly prepayment meter vouchers provided under the Energy Bills Support Scheme, whether it is aware that some systems only allow for top-up of prepayment meters in £5 increments, and, if so, what its position is on this matter regarding any impact on people in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-12400

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the encashment of the monthly prepayment meter vouchers provided under the Energy Bills Support Scheme, what discussions it is having with the UK Government and energy suppliers regarding the impact in Scotland of the reported issue that some systems only allow for top-up of prepayment meters in £5 increments.

Energy suppliers and advice services operating in Scotland have advised us in the course of our regular engagement that electric prepayment meters have a minimum top up amount of £5. The maximum credit a traditional (non-smart) prepayment meter can hold is £255, which is also the maximum value that can be placed on a top-up key.

Gas prepayment meters have a minimum top up amount of £1 and gas meters can generally hold up to £999 credit. Unless the top-up key is already full at the moment when a customer tries to redeem the voucher, there should be no reason that they are unable to top up.

I would urge any affected consumers to contact their supplier or otherwise call Energy Advice Scotland on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot for assistance in resolving the problem.