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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2250 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-31205

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Carnegie UK’s Life in the UK 2024: Scotland report, which found that collective wellbeing scores in 2024 remain largely unchanged from those reported in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-31204

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take in light of Carnegie UK research, which shows that people on lower incomes and disabled people have much lower wellbeing than the average person in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30752

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 8 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in the Lothian region have been identified as having flammable cladding.

Only a Single Building Assessment meeting the Scottish Standards can identify what cladding if any a building has and further identify whether the cladding is unsafe.

There are 107 entries in the pilot phase of the Cladding Remediation Programme. Entries may comprise a single block or building or a development or part of a development consisting of multiple blocks or buildings. Regional data is proactively published on gov.scot.

Developers homeowners or other organisations may have commissioned assessments without informing the Scottish Government, Therefore the true number may be higher and could increase as further information becomes available.

To respect the privacy of residents and homeowners we do not disclose the names of individual buildings or developments. The total entries in the pilot phase is 107, of which 69 entries are in Edinburgh and the Lothian region.

Extract from Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Region	Total
City of Edinburgh	62
East Lothian	5
Midlothian	1
West Lothian	1
Total Edinburgh & Lothian	69

Question reference: S6W-30754

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessments have been undertaken to determine the cost of cladding remediation across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has been actively assessing the issue of cladding on high-rise buildings across the country. As part of its commitment to ensuring the safety of residents, several steps have been taken to determine the scale and cost of cladding remediation.

1.Building Safety Assessments: A nationwide review of high-rise buildings has been conducted to identify those with potentially unsafe cladding. This includes a comprehensive inventory of buildings affected by materials such as Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) and other types of cladding.

2.Financial Impact Analysis: The Scottish Government has commissioned detailed financial assessments to estimate the overall cost of remediation efforts. This process involves consultation with local authorities, housing associations, and private sector stakeholders to gather data on the number of affected buildings and the potential costs of necessary remedial work.

3.Pilot Project and Funding Allocations: The pilot project has been initiated to address cladding issues, and these have provided initial data on the costs associated with removing and replacing unsafe cladding. Additionally, funding schemes such as the Single Building Assessment Programme have been introduced to support building owners in conducting safety assessments and implementing remediation where necessary.

4.Collaboration with the UK Government: As part of a broader UK-wide effort, the Scottish Government continues to liaise with the UK Government on financial support mechanisms, including potential contributions from developers and building product manufacturers responsible for defective cladding.

We are committed to providing funding to safeguard homeowners and residents by addressing the risk to human life that is (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by a building’s external wall cladding system.

The cumulative spend of the programme to date is £9.0m. Spend of £0.5m was incurred in quarter one 2024-25 to support programme delivery works.

Question reference: S6W-30795

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12859 by Jenny Gilruth on 20 December 2022, what further progress has been made regarding the reform of the Traffic Regulation Orders system.

There are currently no imminent plans to make any further amendments to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) system, following the amended Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) regulations which were introduced in November 2021.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders including the local authority sector, Police Scotland and business and active travel representatives to understand any issues that arise from the various road order processes.

Question reference: S6W-30751

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on cladding remediation, broken down by local authority.

Information on the level of spend by the Cladding Remediation Programme is proactively published and broken down by local authority.

Latest published data shows the aggregated spend by local authorities on single building assessments, fire risk measures and remediation is just over £9m to the end of quarter one 2024-25; spend is updated quarterly, the next update will be proactively published in quarter three 2024-25. Single Building Assessment programme: spending information (gov.scot).

Question reference: S6W-30753

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in the Lothian region have been identified as requiring cladding remediation.

Question reference: S6W-30650

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for ministerial decisions to be made after being provided with a report or recommendation from the Energy Consents Unit.

Question reference: S6W-30651

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what timescale the Scottish Ministers follow for the consideration of all planning applications that they receive.

Scottish Ministers have an initial 28-day period from when an application is notified to them to consider whether to call it in or clear it back to the authority. This can be extended should Ministers require more time to consider the matter. Ministers can also recall an appeal for their own determination and do so in exceptional circumstances.

When an application is called in or an appeal recalled, Ministers aim to issue decisions on cases within 2 – 3 months of receiving the independent Reporter’s report from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division. These are targets, not statutory deadlines, and these timescales can sometimes increase where there are more complex issues involved.

Question reference: S6W-30265

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to achieve the goal of a 20% reduction in car kilometres travelled by 2030.

The Scottish Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament on 18 April 2024 that we will publish, by autumn, the updated route map for reduction in car use by 20%, including a timeline for demand management.

We have always been clear that reaching our target of a 20% reduction in use will require a broad combination of interventions, including infrastructure, incentives and disincentives. The updated route map, produced in partnership with CoSLA, will be published in due course.