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: S5W-22834

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 10 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides for trades people who have difficulty in paying for their Construction Skills Certification Scheme accreditation card.

Skills Development Scotland provides support for individuals to undertake Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Training which is necessary to obtain the CSCS accreditation card. This support is offered either through Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks, which in some cases offer a CSCS accreditation card as part of the framework; or through support from Training Providers who, depending on the individuals needs and the accreditation card they require, offer support to obtain a card.

Question reference: S5O-03253

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is satisfied that everything possible is being done to aid the recovery of Sauchiehall Street following the Glasgow School of Art fire.

Question reference: S5W-22887

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what conditions are attached to the £30 million that has been provided by the Building Scotland Fund to the property group, Sigma.

The £30m is a commercial loan between Scottish Ministers, via the Building Scotland Fund, and a Sigma Capital Group company. Key aspects of its design are that:

The loan is a revolving credit facility.
The loan is interest-bearing and repayable on commercial terms.
The completed properties will be used for private rent and professionally managed by Sigma.
The finance will help deliver up to 1,800 new homes for private rent across Scotland.
Scottish Government has the appropriate financial and commercial controls to ensure that these homes are delivered in line with the terms of the agreement.

Further details are considered commercially confidential and I am therefore unable to provide additional information on the individual terms of this agreement.

Question reference: S5W-22901

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what recent meetings it has had with (a) SPT and (b) the ScotRail Alliance regarding the use of smart ticketing.

The Scottish Government's National Transport Agency, Transport Scotland, has regular meetings with SPT and Abellio ScotRail regarding the use of smart ticketing.

Transport Scotland officials are working with SPT and Abellio ScotRail to deliver smartcard interoperability between bus, rail and subway, with weekly technical meetings in place to oversee this. In addition more strategic meetings have been held with SPT (February 2019) to ascertain areas of potential collaboration to improve smart ticketing services, and the last meeting with Abellio ScotRail was held this month to discuss ScotRail's smart ticketing Programme.

Question reference: S5W-22900

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the use of smart ticketing across public transport, and what progress is being made with this.

Transport Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government, is undertaking a portfolio of projects to enhance Scotland’s smart services and deliver on the vision that ‘all journeys on Scotland’s public transport network can be made using some form of smart ticketing or payment’.

There has been significant progress on smart ticketing - rail, subway, tram and 99% of bus operators are now smart enabled. Annually over half a billion journeys are made on Scotland’s public transport network, and over a third of these journeys are now made using smart ticketing or payment technology. Current projects include work to expand the successful Dundee ABC smart integrated bus to bus ticketing scheme to include North East Fife; working with transport operators, public bodies and local authorities to enhance smartcard interoperability across all modes; and delivery of a £1.1m Smart Pay Grant Fund to support bus operators with improving their equipment to accept contactless payment.

Marketing projects undertaken in partnership with transport operators, local authorities, Young Scot and Regional Transport Partnerships also aim to promote smart ticketing services to the public, such as the joint Stagecoach, ScotRail and Transport Scotland ‘Fife in the Fast Lane’ campaign last winter to mark the reopening of the Forth Road Bridge as a public transport corridor, as well as supporting ScotRail and Young Scot with their own recent smartcard marketing activity.

Question reference: S5W-22755

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service regarding reports that the 140-day target date from full committal for criminal trials to begin is being breached.

Question reference: S5W-22639

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the UK Government to discuss HS2 and its impact on Scotland; what the outcome was, and how many meetings there have been since 2007.

Officials of the Scottish Government last met their UK Government counterparts on 10 April 2019 as part of a regular set of meetings at which they discussed infrastructure options for high speed rail to improve speed, capacity, connectivity and resilience on rail routes between England and Scotland. Since 2007 there have been 102 meetings between the two governments either at ministerial or official level.

Question reference: S5W-22641

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the West Coast Main Line and reducing travel time from Scotland to London.

Scottish and UK governments have discussed and identified a number of infrastructure enhancement options, including high-speed rail and signalling optimisation, to improve resilience, capacity and line-speed on the West Coast Main Line to reduce journey times between Scotland and London. Transport Scotland officials meet regularly with DfT officials to discuss issues of interest, and to convey the Scottish Government’s aspirations for cross-border rail services.

Question reference: S5W-22361

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 18 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of the impact that Ofgem’s targeted charging review will have on investment and innovation in onsite flexible generation in order to support a future flexible energy system.

The Scottish Government response to Ofgem’s Targeted Charging Review consultation pointed out that certain groups of consumers, particularly those whose consumption is lower, would, under Ofgem’s proposals, pay more than they do today in order to prevent them from paying an increasingly higher share of the costs in the long term.

This group could contain users with onsite flexible generation, which, under the current charging framework, can be used to minimise the level of electricity drawn from the grid, and, in turn, the contribution made to wider network costs. The Scottish Government has suggested to Ofgem that more should be done to segment these groups, and to better understand the short term impact on low and vulnerable users particularly.

While we support Ofgem’s aim to ensure a fair distribution of costs, we also wish to avoid reforms that would discourage or decrease investment in renewable energy and the development of a more flexible energy system.

Question reference: S5W-22362

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 18 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Ofgem regarding the timing of the regulator's targeted charging review on investment in renewables, energy efficiency, innovation and onsite generation for businesses.

My officials and I engage regularly with Ofgem to discuss a range of matters, including the effect of its Targeted Charging Review and other regulatory processes and consultations on consumers and investors.

We recognise the uncertainty that the Targeted Charging Review is currently creating, particularly when set alongside other Ofgem reviews, such as its review of forward looking charges.

We shall continue to engage with Ofgem at official and ministerial level on these matters, and will respond to any concerns raised with us by Scotland’s consumers or, indeed, other stakeholders in Scotland.