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-05895

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 8 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to businesses in Stirling through business support schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our interim experimental summary of COVID-19 business support funding paid by local authority between November 2020 and June 2021 shows businesses in Stirling have received approximately £36.4m in direct business support.

Prior to November 2020, an additional £24.7m was administered by Stirling Council to businesses in Stirling through the October Circuit breaker, Newly Self-employed Hardship Fund, Bed and Breakfast hardship fund, Small Business Grant Scheme and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grant Scheme. A further £4m was provided through the Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Fund. This brings the total provided to £65.1m, however it is important to note this does not cover all funding to date and as such the overall figure for business in Stirling will be higher. Further detail of funding is available on the Scottish Government website:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support funding interim experimental statistics - by local authority and scheme from November 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

o Coronavirus (COVID-19) - business support funding: statistics (circuit breaker) – 29 January 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

o Coronavirus (COVID-19): hardship and resilience funds statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support fund grant statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-05892

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to Stirling Council for road maintenance in each year since 2017.

The vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on road maintenance, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

It is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities.

Question reference: S6W-05894

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has made available to Stirling Council for the introduction of electric vehicle charging points in each year since 2017.

The Scottish Government has provided over £3.2 million of grant funding directly to Stirling Council since 2017 to enable procurement of zero emission charging and refuelling infrastructure. The following table provides the detail of funding awarded to Stirling Council in each year from 2017.

Local Authority/FY	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Stirling Council	£60,000.00	£689,500.00	£890,000.00	£846,000.00	£714,633.00

Question reference: S6W-05904

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Forthside green heating network project cost; when work was completed, and what its position is on the impact on Stirling of the project.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project cost £5,124,000. The Scottish Government provided £2,005,331 through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The work was completed in August 2019.

The district heating network serves a number of buildings in Stirling, including St. Modan’s High School, Forthbank Stadium and Conference Facilities, the Peak Leisure Centre, the Robertson Trust Barracks Development, Jubilee House (owned by Volunteer Scotland) and Moray House.

The project brings several benefits to Stirling, including:

a 10% savings to end users compared to their heating costs using traditional boilers;
reduction in associated operational costs, including servicing and boiler replacement;
income generation to Stirling Council over 40 years;
wider community benefits include local job creation, upskilling and regeneration of the local area.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project has scope for expansion, including to future proposed development at the Public Sector Innovation Hub and Heritage Hub.

Question reference: S6W-05899

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much investment it has made into active travel initiatives in Stirling since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-05901

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) affordable and (b) social rent homes have been (i) acquired and (ii) built in Stirling since 2017, and how much funding it provided for this purpose.

The following table details affordable unit completions in Stirling since 1 st April 2017 to 30 th September 2021 by (i) new build and (ii) off the shelf.

	Financial Year					Total Homes
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22*
New Build	53	82	10	49	35	229
Off the Shelf	18	16	63	182	11	290
Rehabilitation	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total Homes	71	98	73	231	46	519
* up to end of September (Q2)

The Scottish Government publishes annual Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) Outturn Reports. These Outturn Reports provide details of completed housing units by tenure and contain details of all Resource Planning Assumptions by local authority area, as well as actual outturn expenditure. You can access the Outturn Reports for 2017-18 to 2020-21 from this link - More homes: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This web page also includes a link to the published Resource Planning Assumptions for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-05898

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting Stirling’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2025.

Officials have met with the Stirling bid team to offer support with connections and building relationships with relevant partners – whilst recognising the need to maintain an even-handed approach. Additionally, officials are working closely with VisitScotland and Creative Scotland who both sit on the Working and Steering Groups for the Stirling City of Culture 2025 and have been providing input and comment to the content of the bid proposal. The bid itself references the development work undertaken by the Stirling Place Partnership, SceneStirling, which is jointly funded by Creative Scotland and Stirling Council. The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland fund organisations who are involved in the bid, including Sistema Scotland and the MacRobert Theatre.

Question reference: S6W-05893

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been built or refurbished since 2017, or are in the planning stage, in the Stirling local authority area.

Statistics on the number of schools that have been built or substantially refurbished since 2017 are available in tables 7.1 and 7.2 of the School Estate Statistics Supplementary Data, available here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/school-education-statistics/#schoolestatesstatistics .

Information on schools with confirmed investment plans is included in table 8 of the same publication. In 2021 there was one school in Stirling - Aberfoyle Primary School - with confirmed investment plans. Additionally, Callander Primary School is due to receive funding under phase 2 of the Scottish Government's Learning Estate Investment Programme.

Question reference: S6O-00668

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to address the reported labour shortages.

Question reference: S6O-00622

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide financial support and advice to people facing hardship and debt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs of living.

We know households are facing financial pressures and have urged the UK Government to take action, particularly on spiralling energy costs. Our £41 million Winter Support Fund is helping people meet rising living costs and we also doubled the December payment of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement which supported 91,000 unpaid carers. Our Scottish Child Payment will also double in April. We are providing £7.4 million this year to support free debt advice, including additional funding for increased demand. I would also encourage people to access our new Money Support Scotland website for debt and money advice and adverts promoting the site are running now.