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-19420

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Police Scotland’s delivery of an online reporting system for dangerous driving.

Question reference: S6W-19423

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board last met, and what work is currently underway to progress commitments towards smart integrated ticketing across public transport in Scotland.

Secondary legislation on the establishment of The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB) came into force in May 2023 and as such recruitment for board members is now underway, with a proposal to undertake the inaugural meeting by the end of the year. The board will advise on a national technological standard for smart ticketing, to be used in ticketing schemes and to help improve the interoperability of smart ticketing in Scotland, setting the foundation for better integration. It will also advise Scottish Ministers on the strategic direction for smart ticketing to improve passenger’s experience and help boost use of sustainable public transport modes.

Additionally, via our £1.1m Smart Pay Grant Fund, we have supported bus operators to accept contactless payment so this is now available on around 98% of buses. We have also made ITSO smartcards interoperable so you only need one smartcard for various operators’ commercial smart tickets, as well as our own concessionary bus travel schemes, simplifying access to smart travel. We have commenced a feasibility study to consider the different ‘smart’ platforms that could be used for the national concessionary travel scheme, including mobile, contactless, and ’blended’ smart device solutions.

We are refreshing the 2018 Smart Delivery Strategy, which will outline the programme of work and strategy for the next 5-10 years for smart and integrated ticketing in Scotland. This is being informed by a public survey, which ran between March 2023 and May 2023, plus engagement with operators and local transport authorities.

Question reference: S6W-19504

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the publication of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy.

The Scottish Government has today published the new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, which is available at: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805251545 .

The Strategy sets out a refreshed approach to tackling litter and flytipping in order to protect and enhance Scotland’s environment, ensure safer and cleaner communities and contribute to a thriving circular economy for Scotland. It sets out how national and local government, business, third sector, communities and individuals can work together to support behaviour change, improve infrastructure and strengthen enforcement.

The strategy is accompanied by an action plan outlining priority activity for the first year of implementation. Actions for 2023-24 include measures to strengthen enforcement (including raising fixed penalty notices for flytipping to £500), support private landowners, improve data collection, engage communities and influence behaviours.

Actions will be reviewed and refreshed on an annual basis over the six-year lifespan of the Strategy to ensure these are adapted to suit a changing external environment and are informed by emerging insights and wider action to accelerate Scotland’s transition to a circular economy.

Question reference: S6W-19458

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has come to a decision on whether to provide the Scottish SPCA with additional powers to investigate wildlife crime, following the Scottish SPCA taskforce review.

I would like to thank the Scottish SPCA Taskforce for conducting the review and providing the final report. Following consideration of the report provided by the Scottish SPCA Taskforce, I can announce that I will be bringing forward provisions in the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2 to allow for a limited extension of the Scottish SPCA’s current powers to investigate wildlife crime.

The powers will allow the Scottish SPCA to in certain circumstances search, examine and seize evidence in connection with specified wildlife crime offences.

Our full proposals have been published on the Scottish Government webpages, which you can find here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835210468 , and I have written to the Parliament notifying them of the proposals. We will also be consulting with key stakeholders on the proposals over the summer.

Question reference: S6O-02455

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the pilot providing free bus travel to people seeking asylum in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-18726

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Transport Scotland’s evaluation work to assess the impact of the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme on young people.

Transport Scotland are undertaking an evaluation of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme to assess whether the scheme is working as expected in achieving its objectives and benefits, and to assess any potential impacts of the scheme on other policy aims and other modes of transport.

The Baseline Study was completed prior to the launch of the scheme and the Baseline Study report was published on Transport Scotland’s website in 2022.

Fieldwork for the 1 Year After Evaluation is currently underway. This includes an online survey for children, their families and young people. Over 7000 responses to the survey were received within the first two weeks. The final evaluation report is expected to be completed by end of summer 2023.

Question reference: S6F-02266

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will recommit to the leadership needed to tackle the climate emergency.

Question reference: S6W-18102

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full breakdown of its spend on Nature Networks from the Scottish Budget 2022-23.

In 2022-23, £200,000 was awarded to the Green Action Trust to support nature restoration and ecological connectivity across the Central Scotland Green Network.

In addition, our Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) helps to support ecological connectivity including through nature networks. Through the Edinburgh Process strand of the NRF in 2022-23, local authorities shared a direct allocation of £5 million to support nature restoration. During 2022-23 we awarded funding to 78 projects, totalling £12.9m worth of investments in nature. Details of projects funded to date from the competitive strand are available on NatureScot’s website at: https://www.nature.scot/funding-and-projects/scottish-government-nature-restoration-fund-nrf .

Question reference: S6W-17972

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05651 by Maree Todd on 20 January 2022, whether sportscotland has allocated funding to support the development of a tennis centre at Park of Keir for the financial year 2023-24.

sport scotland’s provisional allocation of up to £5m for the development of a potential tennis facility at Park of Keir remains in place.

However, at this stage,a full application for a tennis facility at Park of Keir has not been received. Any decision on whether to make a capital award and the appropriate level of any award will only be taken on completion of a full application (as outlined in response to S6W-05651 on 20 January 2022).

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-17939

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14072 by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on how many young people have now received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority area, based on the latest information available.

As of Sunday 30 April 2023, there were 619,900 cardholders under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. The following table shows the number of cardholders broken down to local authority level.

Total	619,900
Aberdeen City	26,659
Aberdeenshire	30,871
Angus Council	12,566
Argyll & Bute	7,211
City of Edinburgh	74,217
Clackmannanshire	3,901
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	1,958
Dumfries and Galloway	10,513
Dundee City	20,668
East Ayrshire	15,893
East Dunbartonshire	11,084
East Lothian	14,083
East Renfrewshire	12,491
Falkirk	12,189
Fife	50,825
Glasgow City	66,539
Highland	18,243
Inverclyde	11,302
Midlothian	11,486
Moray	9,047
North Ayrshire	18,962
North Lanarkshire	41,658
Orkney Islands	1,756
Perth & Kinross	15,313
Renfrewshire	20,384
Scottish Borders	10,445
Shetland Islands	2,754
South Ayrshire	10,069
South Lanarkshire	36,492
Stirling	9,020
West Dunbartonshire	11,795
West Lothian	19,506

Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.