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-05670

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to encourage Hunterston B and Dounreay to share knowledge and skills in nuclear decommissioning.

The Scottish Government is already engaging with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) regarding the decommissioning of the Hunterston B site and the sharing of the NDA’s extensive knowledge and skills across its estate, including the Dounreay site.

This follows on from the designation direction agreed by Scottish and UK Government Ministers, and laid last year at both the Scottish and UK Parliaments under the Energy Act 2004 (available on the link below). This direction facilitates the process of decommissioning and the eventual transfer of ownership of the site to the NDA once it has been defueled by its current owners, EDF Energy.

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-net-zero-energy-and-transport-committee/correspondence/2021/directions-to-the-nuclear-decommissioning-authority-hunterston-b-and-torness-sites

The Scottish Government will continue to support the process of decommissioning as it progresses.

Question reference: S6W-05666

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor the need to reconsider the inclusion of overprovision powers in the Short Term Lets Licensing Order.

We have committed to working with local authorities to review levels of short-term let activity in hotspot areas in summer 2023. This will assess how the actions we are taking are working and whether any further measures are required. This review will also seek to confirm that the wider sector is still healthy, and checking there are no unintended consequences.

In addition to the 2023 review, from 1 October 2022, licensing authorities must on a quarterly basis share the content of the public register of applications, in relation to short-term let licences only, with the Scottish Ministers in a format which enables analysis of the information. This will allow the Scottish Government to monitor trends at a national and local level.

Question reference: S6O-00613

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is progressing plans for carbon neutral islands.

Question reference: S6O-00531

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that healthcare services in rural areas are working for the people that they serve.

Question reference: S6O-00450

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the laying of NPF4, whether it can provide an updated timescale for the consultation on Phase 2 of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2.

Question reference: S6O-00417

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what review has been undertaken of heating the Parliament building, in light of the updated ventilation requirements.

Question reference: S6O-00372

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the anticipated timescale for the publication of the independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-00361

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider local government reform in relation to the redrawing of local authority areas, in light of the reported issues associated with new boundaries for the Highland Council area.

Question reference: S6O-00296

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support social housing providers in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S6W-02637

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will provide data, including any estimates, on the number of deaths related to COVID-19 that have occurred in home care settings since the start of the pandemic, and whether COPFS will consider investigating these deaths.

Certain categories of death require to be reported to the Procurator Fiscal. At the start of the Pandemic, my predecessor issued a direction that COVID-19 (or presumed COVID-19) deaths did not require to be reported to COPFS, unless there was another substantive reason for doing so. That position was kept under review and he made a statement to this Parliament on 13 May 2020 to advise that two categories of COVID-19 (or presumed COVID-19) deaths must be reported to COPFS - those in which the deceased might have contracted the virus in the course of their employment or occupation and those in which the deceased was resident in a care home when the virus was contracted.

In addition, deaths (or presumed deaths) from COVID-19 must be reported to the Crown if they fall within any of the other established categories of death which require to be reported. These include deaths where there is the possibility of fault by another or where the circumstances surrounding the death may cause public anxiety.

COPFS accordingly does not hold data on the number of deaths related to COVID-19 that have occurred in home care settings as not all will have been reported. In relation to those that have been reported, the extent of the investigation will be determined by the particular circumstances surrounding each death and matters are being kept under constant review.