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-18956

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that ChargePlace Scotland will be brought under private ownership, on what date it anticipates this will take place.

The Scottish Government has not made a decision to privatise charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third sectors and therefore are not all in public ownership. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

ChargePlace Scotland is a charge point management service paid for by the Scottish Government under a Framework Agreement to provide back-office, frontline call-handling and fault management functions on behalf of the charge point owners. The current contract to operate the back-office service runs until at least 2025.

Question reference: S6W-19105

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the full membership of the New Deal for Business Group, co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.

The New Deal for Business Group membership is now published on the Scottish Government Website ( Business: New Deal for Business Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Representation is across a range of business sectors, sizes and locations in both the Group’s membership as well as members and contributors to the five subgroup’s led by Scottish Government and Business. After June, the membership and frequency of the Group will be reviewed as we move to the implementation phase.

Question reference: S6W-18960

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to establish a dedicated space to address the role of Scotland in empire, colonialism and slavery, as recommended by the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums steering group.

I am carefully considering the Scottish Government’s response to the steering group’s recommendations, including the one which focused on establishing a new organisation to create a dedicated space to address the legacy of colonialism in Scotland. This is an important agenda and we will continue to seek ways of raising awareness of the role Scotland played in slavery and empire and how our museums and galleries can play their part in that.

Question reference: S6W-18173

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17666 and S6W-17670 by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023, whether it will provide a costing breakdown of the money that has been allocated so far in the current parliamentary session (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the total money made available to the fund.

A total of (a) £18.181 million has been allocated from the (b) £30 million demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term. The following table provides a breakdown of allocated funds between rural and island by local authority area.

Local Authority	Rural	Island
Argyll & Bute	0.000	4.196
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0.000	0.813
Dumfries and Galloway	0.408	0.000
Highland	4.214	1.712
Moray	1.443	0.000
Orkney	0.000	0.961
North Ayrshire	0.000	1.512
Perth & Kinross	0.384	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.737	0.000
Stirling	0.586	0.000
West Lothian	1.215	0.000
Total	8.987	9.194
This table includes provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and 2023-24 and could be subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-18172

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17666, S6W-17669 and S6W-17670 by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023, how much money has been allocated, in total, by the funds during the current parliamentary session, broken down by local authority.

A total of £18.181 million has been allocated from the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term, this includes spend of £9.088 million. The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area.

Local Authority	Allocated	Spend
Argyll & Bute	4.196	2.914
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0.813	0.709
Dumfries and Galloway	0.408	0.408
Highland	5.926	1.931
Moray	1.443	1.424
Orkney	0.961	0.846
North Ayrshire	1.512	0.000
Perth & Kinross	0.384	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.737	0.737
Stirling	0.586	0.000
West Lothian	1.215	0.119
Total	18.181	9.088
This table includes provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and 2023-24 and could be subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-18320

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17663 by Lorna Slater on 23 May 2023, whether it will provide an answer to the question that was asked about which (a) businesses and (b) trade associations have confirmed to the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity that their “number one concern” is uncertainty created specifically by the UK Government not issuing an exclusion to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020.

As set out in the response to S6W-17663, the Scottish Government and delivery partners such as Circularity Scotland, SEPA and Zero Waste Scotland continue to regularly engage directly with businesses to ensure all involved are ready for successful launch of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Any decision by an individual business or a specific trade association to make public their priorities is a matter for them. It is not appropriate for Scottish Government to do so.

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-18194

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14348 by Shona Robison on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide updated data for 2022-23.

The following table provides a breakdown of homes delivered in rural (mainland) and island areas through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund since 2016-17.

RIHF	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	Total Homes
Rural	2	21	1	35	16	41	36	152
Island	-	4	-	5	4	12	8	33
Total Homes	2	25	1	40	20	53	44	185
This table includes provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and could be subject to change. It also corrects six units in Highland previously noted as rural instead of island.

Question reference: S6W-18195

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14348 by Shona Robison on 31 January 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown, by local authority area, of the data for each year.

The following tables provide a breakdown of homes delivered in rural (mainland) and island areas through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund since 2016-17 by local authority area.

Local Authority - Rural	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	Total Homes
Angus	-	6	-	-	-	6	-	12
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	5	4	7	16
Highland	2	1	1	27	2	22	3	58
Moray	-	6	-	-	-	8	20	34
Perth and Kinross	-	8	-	-	8	-	-	16
Scottish Borders	-	-	-	8	-	1	6	15
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-		1	-	-	1
Total Homes	2	21	1	35	16	41	36	152

Local Authority - Island	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	Total Homes
Argyll and Bute	-	2	-	-	-	4	6	12
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	-	2	-	2	-	1	1	6
Highland	-	-	-	2	4	4	-	10
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	1	-	3	1	5
Total Homes	0	4	0	5	4	12	8	33
These tables include provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and could be subject to change. .

Question reference: S6W-18283

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has changed its target for the publication of the final version of its biodiversity strategy to 2045, along with the first delivery plan, since the draft strategy was published, and, if so, what the original target was.

Our original intention was to consult on the final draft biodiversity strategy and delivery plan in Spring 2023 with a view to publishing the final strategy and delivery plan in in Summer 2023. The time frame was put back by 3 months to allow key elements of the proposed Natural Environment Bill to be included in the consultation. The expanded consultation will be launched shortly with a view to final publication of the strategy and delivery plan later this year.

Question reference: S6O-02322

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations update, whether it will provide an update on superfast broadband roll-out in Orkney.

The investment of over £400 million that we are making through the R100 North contract is directly benefitting communities on the Orkney Islands. Building on the seven new subsea fibre optic cables connecting islands across Orkney concluded last year, with terrestrial build now underway to connect over 3,300 premises across the local authority area to full-fibre, Gigabit-capable connectivity.

Of course, mobile connectivity is just as vital as broadband connectivity for island communities, and the four masts we have delivered in Orkney through the S4GI programme will greatly extend 4G coverage and enable superfast connectivity for many.