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-23020

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22357 by Gillian Martin on 2 November 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of how the funding will be allocated.

Our recent announcement of up to £500 million in commercial and grant investment will support market certainty, helping to create a highly productive, competitive economy, providing thousands of new jobs, embedding innovation and boosting skills. We are working closely with our partners in the Enterprise Agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank to develop an approach that will allow us to respond at pace to market needs.

Decisions on spending for 2024-25 and future years are subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6O-02817

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to review property factor legislation.

Question reference: S6W-22848

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Auditor General’s reported observation that the Scottish Government will no longer be able to deliver all of its planned infrastructure investment or double its maintenance budget, what assessment it has made of any impact that this will have on the Lothians region.

The Scottish Government welcomed the briefing from Audit Scotland and remains firmly committed to infrastructure investment as a key factor in securing inclusive economic growth and delivering high-quality public services. The UK Government did not inflation-proof their Capital budget which has resulted in the Scottish Government facing a 7.0% real-terms fall in our Barnett funding over the medium-term. This has significantly impacted our ability to deliver all our capital infrastructure commitments.

We have been consistently open about the challenges facing the Capital budget and tough decisions will need to be taken at the 2024-25 Budget to ensure we remain fiscally sustainable. Therefore, we committed to refreshing the multi-year capital spending envelopes up to 2026-27 and resetting the infrastructure project pipeline, alongside the 2024-25 Budget. To achieve this, Scottish Ministers are focused on targeting the available capital funding to deliver the right mix of infrastructure that will deliver value-for-money and contribute to the three core missions set out in the Policy Prospectus: tacking poverty and protecting people from harm; a fair, green and growing economy; and the provision of high-quality public services across the whole of Scotland. In taking decisions, the full impact of investment against national outcomes will be considered, including geographical need. Any decisions regarding the reprioritisation of capital spending will be presented to Parliament in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22688

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it applies when prioritising the capital funding allocation for the building of new health infrastructure.

NHS Boards are allocated approximately £150 million of formula capital funding which is used to maintain their estate and refresh and replace their equipment base.

The remainder of the portfolio’s capital allocation is mainly directed towards delivering the capital projects that were included in the Scottish Government’s five year Infrastructure Investment Plan which was published in February 2021.

Question reference: S6W-22568

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential impact of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill on the Scottish Government's international development work.

Question reference: S6W-22557

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) which ministers have been issued a ministerial mobile phone since the ministerial reshuffle in March 2023.

Following the appointment of the First Minister and formation of government in March 2023, 12 Ministers accepted a government issued mobile device. Please see the following list.

Minister	Ministerial Role
Angela Constance MSP	Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Jenny Gilruth MSP	Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Siobhian Brown MSP	Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Natalie Don MSP	Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise
Richard Lochhead MSP	Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade
Fiona Hyslop MSP	Minister for Transport
Emma Roddick MSP	Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees
Graeme Dey MSP	Minister for Higher Education and Further Education (Min for Veterans)
Gillian Martin MSP	Minister for Energy and the Environment
Joe Fitzpatrick MSP	Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning
Jenni Minto MSP	Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health
Paul McLennan MSP	Minister for Housing

Question reference: S6W-22639

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many (a) public sector buildings, (b) privately-owned homes and (c) housing association homes have double glazing that was installed before 2002.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. The SHCS records double glazing for occupied dwellings, however this is recorded as installed pre or post 2003, when higher requirements for double glazing were introduced. The SHCS does not record data on all public sector buildings, just Local Authority owned homes, therefore complete information requested is not available in this form.

The most recent estimates of households with double glazing installed pre 2003 broken down by privately owned, local authority and housing association is presented in the table below.

Table 1: Number of households with pre 2003 double glazing in 2019

Tenure	Total number with pre 2003 double glazing	Percent of all dwellings in tenure with pre 2003 double glazing	Total dwellings in tenure
Privately owned	551,000	36%	1,550,000
Housing Association	83,000	31%	266,000
Local Authority owned	157,000	43%	367,000

Notes

1. Source Scottish House Condition Survey 2019.

2. The SHCS is a sample survey and therefore all figures are estimates which lie at the midpoint of a confidence interval which depends primarily on sample size. A statistical tool for calculating 95% confidence intervals around these estimates can be found at Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We will shortly consult on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill. This will include proposals to set a minimum energy efficiency standard for homes in Scotland - ensuring they are better insulated and driving down emissions to meet our targets.

Question reference: S6W-22534

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it first received a copy of the document, Redesign of Eye Services in NHS Lothian including Re Provision of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.

Question reference: S6W-22528

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much energy is currently generated in Scotland from community and locally owned sources.

There is an estimated 908 MW of community and locally owned renewable energy capacity operational in Scotland, as of the most recent annual update in December 2022. This represents 45% of our target of 2 GW capacity of community and locally owned renewable energy by 2030.

In the Onshore Wind Sector Deal, the Scottish Government and onshore wind sector have jointly committed to develop approaches to support and encourage community shared ownership models, and will publish a framework on this by the end of 2024.

Question reference: S6W-22527

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many groups are currently being supported by the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, broken down by local authority area.

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) supports communities across Scotland to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition. CARES has advised over 1,000 organisations, offered funding of over £61 million to over 800 projects, and helped support the installation of 58.6 MW of renewable energy.

311 organisations are currently progressing live projects through CARES. A breakdown by local authority area is provided in the following table.

These figures relate to the date when CARES funding was offered, and so do not necessarily correlate to when the funding is drawn down or spent by organisations.

Local Authority areas	No of Organisations supported
Aberdeen City	10
Aberdeenshire	18
Angus	3
Argyll and Bute	25
Clackmannanshire	2
Dumfries & Galloway	18
Dundee City	8
East Ayrshire	14
East Dunbartonshire	1
East Lothian	5
East Renfrewshire	2
Edinburgh City	14
Falkirk	3
Fife	15
Glasgow City	13
Highland	43
Inverclyde	1
Midlothian	3
Moray	14
North Ayrshire	9
North Lanarkshire	6
Orkney Islands	11
Perth & Kinross	10
Renfrewshire	2
Scottish Borders	18
Shetland Islands	9
South Ayrshire	7
South Lanarkshire	9
Stirling	6
West Dunbartonshire	1
West Lothian	3
Western Isles	8
Grand Total	311