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: S6O-01549

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is tackling antisocial behaviour, including on the railway network.

Question reference: S6O-01533

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported reduction in the number of childminders working in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01483

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role the autumn/winter COVID-19 booster vaccination programme will play in its Covid Recovery Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-11304

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what dialogue it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact on Scotland of the decision to send the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount to electricity accounts instead of gas accounts.

The majority of Scottish domestic consumers have contracts with energy suppliers for their electricity consumption and are therefore automatically eligible to receive support through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Thousands of households across the country that are off the gas grid and rely on electric heating, heating oil, LPG and other alternative fuels would miss out on this support if it were delivered through gas accounts instead of electricity accounts. This would also be true for the equivalent support for alternative fuel users introduced through the Energy Price Guarantee.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government on ways to ensure that all consumers receive at least the equivalent to the £400 support delivered through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

Question reference: S6O-01436

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the Competition and Markets Authority regarding the impact on Scotland of its investigation into the variation of prices across the UK in relation to the supply of road fuel.

Question reference: S6O-01321

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the British Medical Association regarding the impact in Scotland of its guidance advising GPs to consider reducing their pensionable pay or retiring early due to changes in inflation and the way these are used in calculations around GP pensions that reportedly leaves them liable for significant tax charges.

Question reference: S6O-01314

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact of rising fuel prices on workers in Scotland who rely on their own transport to carry out their job.

We know that the cost-of-living crisis is having a huge impact on individuals and families across the country, and we continue to have conversations across the range of challenges faced. We are using our regular engagement with the UK Government to ask that more sustainable support is provided to those in greatest need, given that most of the levers currently remain reserved. Just last week my colleague Ms Forbes raised cost-of-living with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and urged the UK Government to do more to address the root cause of increasing fuel costs. We will continue to press the UK Government to use all of the powers and fiscal headroom at their disposal to address the cost-of-living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-08703

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing mandatory braille labelling on food products.

The majority of food law which applies in Scotland stems from European Union legislation and after an extensive process to ensure that it remains operational after the UK’s departure from the EU, the detail of the requirements remains in place.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has responsibility for the policies surrounding food labelling in Scotland and are currently working closely with policy officials across GB in the day to day business in this respect.

While there is no timescale at present, in due course, the food labelling legislation will be subject to review, which is likely to be a significant task and will need to be informed by EU developments on food information. During the review process consideration will be given to which areas and policy approaches are appropriate for Scotland and in a GB context this will also include England and Wales. Policy considerations are expected to include mandatory braille labelling and/or how the use of barcoded food information and new technology could help in this area.

Question reference: S6F-01167

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is regarding the impact on Scotland to the energy profits levy, commonly referred to as a windfall tax, on the oil and gas sector to help support families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-08541

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in relation to the Clyde 2020 Action Plan.

The Clyde 2020 Action Plan was published in April 2015, following the Clyde 2020 summit in 2014 and subsequent workshops. The Action Plan identified 13 objectives (under 5 high-level objectives), with accompanying actions under each objective. Of these, 2 have been completed, 2 have been partially completed, 5 are still underway and 4 have not yet been completed.

There are many pieces of ongoing research related to the work of Clyde 2020 and Marine Scotland undertakes ongoing survey work of relevance to the Clyde 2020 Action Plan. Research gaps identified by the Research Advisory Group have been incorporated into research priorities within PhDs and by organisations around the Clyde. A full list of related research and science projects currently underway or completed can be provided by Clyde 2020.

The significant expertise of members of Clyde 2020 has been utilised in the process of developing a draft regional marine plan for the Clyde marine region.

The Clyde 2020 initiative is currently considering its remit moving forward. As a sub-group of the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership, the partnership are drafting a proposal on how Clyde 2020 will evolve, contribute and support the Clyde marine planning process. It is anticipated that the Clyde 2020 group will play an important role in the future governance of the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership.