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: S6W-05817

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05332 by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2022, what the timeframe is for publishing the report by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance activities.

Question reference: S6T-00443

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in response to reports of the Women’s Health Plan study finding that endometriosis clinical care is failing to meet the base level of care.

Question reference: S6W-05360

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when local stakeholders and members of the public will be invited to contribute to the development of its Islands Connectivity Plan, scheduled for publication in 2023, in light of reported concerns raised in the community about seasonal fares, freight capacity and the level of service that islanders currently receive on the Northern Isles route.

Question reference: S6W-05145

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10494 by Roseanna Cunningham on 15 August 2017, which of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works are (a) under construction and (b) at the planning or other stage of development, broken down by the (i) expected completion date, (ii) number of properties that will be protected and (iii) (A) initial forecast and (B) final expected cost of each.

Question reference: S6W-05146

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10494 by Roseanna Cunningham on 15 August 2017, which of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works have been removed from the list of proposed works since August 2017, broken down by the (a) number of properties that were expected to be protected, (b) reason for removal and (c) (i) initial forecast cost of and (ii) amount that was spent on each.

The only works that have been removed from the list of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works are those to the Greenock - Coves Burn which were to be taken forward by Inverclyde Council. The number of properties that were expected to be protected is not held by the Scottish Government, the removal was because the required work was carried out by Scottish Water, the initial forecast cost was £0.4m and the amount spent was £0.025m.

Question reference: S6W-05332

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03602 by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2021, whether it will publish the written report by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance activities.

Question reference: S6W-04988

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of its consultation report on short-term let licensing, how it has addressed the specific concerns raised by the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, as identified in Annex E of the report.

In developing proposals for the regulation of short-term lets, the Scottish Government has conducted three public consultations. Our most recent consultation closed on 13 August 2021, and we received 1,026 responses.

We carefully considered suggestions for changes to the legislation from working group members, and stakeholders responding to our third consultation, including the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers. The changes set out in the consultation report align with the policy objectives of ensuring all short-term lets comply with basic safety requirements, without undermining protections for guests, neighbours and local communities. These include significant and pragmatic changes in response to concerns from the tourism sector, such as the removal of overprovision and stronger guidance on fees.

Question reference: S6W-04987

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of its Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) on short-term let licensing, on what evidence it has based its assumption that “there is no reason why lenders and insurers should be unwilling to extend financial products to such a business, provided that they are satisfied that the business is being run in a safe way”, in light of the view that lenders base their support on the basis of turnover and profitability, as opposed to the safety of an activity.

At the heart of our licensing scheme is a set of mandatory standards which will help to protect the safety of guests and neighbours in short-term lets across Scotland. Provided an operator continues to comply with their licence conditions, which will often just be the mandatory safety conditions, their licence would normally be renewed. As the licensing scheme requires licence holders to comply with mandatory safety conditions, and they cannot continue to operate if they do not, it is reasonable to assume that lenders will have regard to this as part of their due diligence, alongside other considerations such as turnover and profitability.

Question reference: S6O-00596

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what considerations it will give in relation to its proposals for the scheduling of government business in the Chamber in order to take account of the various impacts of COVID-19 and Scotland's recovery from it.

Question reference: S6W-04728

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what basis it would gather evidence when considering whether proof of COVID-19 vaccine status is required for entry to cinemas.

We must make sure our decisions on all of the COVID protection measures are necessary, proportionate and targeted in delivering our four harms approach to alleviating the direct harms of COVID-19, the indirect health harms, and the social and economic harms. We continue to take and review decisions based on the latest evidence from clinical and scientific literature, from public opinion, and from international experience.

Our review process includes regular engagement with businesses about the protection measures which will help us to break the chains of transmission, and that is set out in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.