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 3409 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-29543

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan.

The route from Glasgow to Barrhead was electrified in December 2023. Electrification from Glasgow to East Kilbride is due to complete in December 2025. Plans to decarbonise the Fife Circle and Borders are in development.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27663 on 3 June 2024. 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-29541

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the electrification of Intercity passenger routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness to be complete.

The Scottish Government is committed to decarbonising its passenger rail network and is continuing with the rolling programme of electrification as funding permits.

This is set out in Transport Scotland’s Decarbonisation Action Plan, which is planned as a dynamic document, with a refresh of the Plan underway. The refresh will examine the electrification programme, informed by progress with rolling stock procurement.

Question reference: S6W-29408

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when data beyond 2021-22 will be made available on the Scottish Energy Statistics Hub.

The Scottish Energy Statistics Hub is an interactive tool which compiles data from over 70 different sources with different time lags for each data source. The Hub currently contains data beyond 2021-22, such as renewable electricity projects within the planning system in Scotland which is available up to and including the first quarter of 2024.

Due to technical issues there is currently a delay in updating statistics on the Hub. However, key energy statistics are published on the Scottish Government website.

Question reference: S6O-03734

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to explore the feasibility of an islands scholarship to support higher education students studying in Scotland’s islands.

Question reference: S6W-29278

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many air weapon licence applications made since 1 November 2016 have been (a) received, (b) processed, (c) approved and (d) rejected.

Air Weapons licensing statistics are published by Police Scotland annually. Most recent statistics were published in August 2024 .

A table has been provided below noting the number of Air Weapons Licence applications made since 1 November 2016 including the numbers (a) received, (b) processed, (c) granted and (d) refused.

Total Number of Air Weapon Licence Applications

	Received	Processed	Approved/ Granted	Rejected/ Refused
2016-2017	11224	11224	11097	127
2017-2018	10103	10103	10003	100
2018-2019	3185	3185	3105	80
2019-2020	3098	3098	3063	35
2020-2021	4881	4881	4854	27
2021-2022	3961	3961	3914	47
2022-2023	1515	1515	1498	17
2023-2024	1419	1419	1391	28
Total	39386	39386	38925	461

Question reference: S6O-03660

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of its Green Industrial Strategy and its commitment to leverage up to £500 million over the next five years for Scotland's offshore wind supply chain.

Question reference: S6W-28620

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on (a) its engagement with the UK Government regarding the banning of plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries and (b) action it is taking to reduce the volume of waste exported from Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that we are able to manage more of our own waste within Scotland both for environmental and economic aims. As part of this, Scottish Government officials and Defra continue to engage regularly on matters regarding international waste exports, a reserved policy area. We are currently seeking confirmation from the new UK Government on its priorities for waste exports policy and continue to encourage Defra to build on work already undertaken to ban the export of plastic waste to non-OECD-countries, and will work closely with them on the development of this.

Through our Circular Economy and Waste Route Map consultation, we are actively progressing actions that we can take under devolved powers to boost Scotland's ability domestically to manage its waste and provide greater incentives for domestic reprocessing. This includes new co-designed recycling standards and consulting on a statutory duty on local authorities and others to report on the final destinations of collected material to increase transparency and strengthen public confidence in recycling services. We have also committed to publish a report on Scotland’s existing and planned domestic reprocessing infrastructure. This builds upon existing measures like extended producer responsibility schemes, and the £63 million-worth of investments made via the Recycling Improvement Fund to improve the quality and quantity of recycling collected.

Question reference: S6W-28231

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 9 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many fatal accident inquiries it expects the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to complete in 2024.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry is concluded when the presiding Sheriff issues their Determination. COPFS has limited control over the timescale for commencing and concluding a FAI after the First Notice has been lodged.

It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the number of death investigations where COPFS expects to conclude its enquiries and initiate FAI proceedings in 2024, particularly in relation to discretionary FAIs. There are a number of factors which affect timescales, such as the need to await the outcome of investigations by reporting agencies and to consider expert evidence or reports from other agencies.

The Head of SFIU writes to all Sheriffs Principal on a quarterly basis to ensure future FAI business is factored into the court programme as efficiently as possible.

Question reference: S6W-28230

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 9 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many fatal accident inquiries are currently outstanding.

As of 19 June 2024, there are scheduled court dates for 45 Fatal Accident Inquiries where proceedings have been initiated (relating to 26 mandatory and 19 discretionary FAIs). There are also a further 14 Inquiries in which evidence has been concluded and the issuing of the Sheriff’s Determination is awaited. In addition, COPFS has 219 death investigations where FAI proceedings have not yet commenced or where court dates have not yet been fixed. Of these, 213 relate to ongoing investigations where a mandatory FAI requires to be held and 6 to investigations where I have instructed that a discretionary FAI is to be held.

These figures do not include cases where enquiries are ongoing and where a decision on the holding of a discretionary FAI will be taken at the conclusion of the investigation.

Before commencing an FAI, COPFS requires to conduct a thorough examination of the whole circumstances surrounding a death. There are often a number of complex factors to take into account including the need to await and consider expert evidence or reports from other agencies, such as the Health and Safety Executive, The National Health Service, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish Prison Service, the Office of the Rail Regulator and many others. It can often take several years for these agencies to produce their reports to COPFS.

COPFS understands the impact that the delay in holding an FAI can have on bereaved families and is committed to working in partnership with all other agencies involved in death investigation to reduce the length of time it takes to initiate and conclude FAI’s.

Question reference: S6W-28144

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on expected timescales for its Heat transition: public engagement strategic framework, which was published on 13 December 2023.

The Framework sets out a longer-term approach on how we will engage with homeowners, tenants and landlords over the next decade. In addition, we have outlined a number of shorter-term actions over the next three years to help build a strong foundation of public awareness. As follows:

? Continued and expanded marketing and communications activity.

? Exploring options for extending the reach of platforms like the Greener Homes Network so that people can share experiences and learn from each other.

? Streamlining customer journeys and ensuring people and organisations know where and how to access advice and support available.

We have committed to undertake a review and evaluate the impact of the strategic framework during 2026.