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-17555

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the additional £10 million funding for the Fuel Insecurity Fund will be allocated.

As the First Minister recently announced, the Fuel Insecurity Fund’s budget for 2023/24 has increased from £20 million to £30 million. The Fund has been allocated as follows:

£9 million to enable Advice Direct Scotland to administer Home Heating Support Fund grants to those struggling with the rapid increase in gas, electricity and oil prices;
£8.5 million for the Fuel Bank Foundation to rapidly support more than 85,000 households, including those with prepayment meters and at risk of imminent self-disconnection;
£7.25 million to enable the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to provide more than 55,000 households across Scotland with advice, support with bills and energy-saving items;
£5 million for one-to-one mentoring for households to be provided by a new funding partner, The Wise Group, as part of a longer-term approach to tackling poverty and its causes;£250,000 for Energy Action Scotland to support both an uplift to their core staff costs and opportunity for expanded roles to aid our longer-term approach to tackling fuel poverty.

Question reference: S6W-17568

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many new roles will be required to successfully operate the Deposit Return Scheme and, of those, how many have already been filled.

Question reference: S6W-17484

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the minutes of any meeting(s) that the First Minister and Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity had with stakeholders regarding the proposed Deposit Return Scheme on 20 April 2023.

The Scottish Government understands that details of the Deposit Return Scheme are matters of public interest and should be properly scrutinised and debated in parliament. We are committed to transparency and openness in our administration of the Deposit Return Scheme, and going forward we aim to proactively publish on a monthly basis key information such as notes of meetings, letters, and other information which will help people understand how decisions are made.

This commitment to publish information must be balanced against the continued need to protect peoples personal data, and meet our commitments to protecting commercially confidential information. This is in line with the General Data Protection Regulation, Environmental Information Regulations, and other legal obligations.

Question reference: S6O-02243

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Court of Session's ruling that a so-called nil cap for sexual entertainment venues under provisions in the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 is unlawful.

Question reference: S6W-17396

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the First Minister had with the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity between 29 March and 19 April 2023, and on what dates these meetings occurred.

Question reference: S6W-17554

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15113 by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023, whether it has any plans to improve the data collection required so that the information requested can be collected and published.

The information on number of households supported by our delivery partners through the Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) for 2023-24, has been built into our grant offer letters and will be monitored and captured through regular engagement and dialogue with partners across the year, with subsequent end year evaluation reports next year.

FIF partner 2022-23 evaluation reports are due to be received by end of June.

Question reference: S6W-17392

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its new Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S6W-17556

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what impact the Fuel Insecurity Fund has had in reducing fuel poverty.

As part of the tripling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund, announced by the First Minister this year, an assessment of impact to date on Fuel Poverty Act 2019 statutory targets is being considered by officials to inform next steps and advice to Ministers. This is part of a wider long-term holistic and sustainable approach to addressing poverty, and investment in change.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) has been and continues to be a direct lifeline for tens of thousands of households, providing emergency short-term crisis support to those at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Since being established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, a total of £33.595 million in support has been distributed from the FIF through our third sector delivery partners.

Our Tackling Fuel Poverty strategy sets out the actions towards meeting our statutory targets as set out in the Fuel Poverty Act 2019. We are presently consulting with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel in respect of next steps with our strategy.

Official statistics on fuel poverty in Scotland are published as part of the annual Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS). However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the most recent available figures relate to 2019, and so predate the establishment of the FIF. The SHCS for 2021 is due to be published on 30 May.

Question reference: S6W-17553

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13913 by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2023, whether it has considered requiring this data to be collected in future years.

We do not require our Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) delivery partners to collect data regarding the physical condition of dwellings, unless this is considered relevant to an individual’s application. This is because, as in previous years, the overarching goal that we set for FIF delivery partners is to provide support to households who are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely.

FIF payments are provided on the basis of an holistic assessment of individual circumstances to ascertain their need for emergency support towards the cost of their energy. In some cases issues with damp or mould may be raised as part of this assessment, but they are unlikely to be core factors in determining whether a household should receive assistance.

The annual Scottish House Condition Survey includes information on issues affecting the physical condition of people’s homes, such as damp and mould. The results of the 2021 survey are due to be published on 30 May.

Question reference: S6W-17398

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister received advice from Circularity Scotland prior to his announcement regarding the delay to the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme.