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 1486 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-20690

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether an impact assessment of proposals to introduce a charge on single-use cups will be carried out before the end of 2023.

Question reference: S6W-20691

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20139 by Jenni Minto on 15 August 2023, whether it will provide an update on the composition and activity of the task group considering indoor air quality, as outlined in the report, Cleaner Air for Scotland 2.

Question reference: S6W-20696

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) calls have been made to the Dumb Dumpers hotline and (b) prosecutions for fly-tipping have resulted from calls made to the hotline, in each year since it was launched.

The Dumb Dumpers Hotline, which closed earlier this year, was one of a number of ways for members of the public to report flytipping, The following table shows the number of reports made through the Dumb Dumpers Hotline only.

Year*	Calls	Time Period
2017	446	August - December
2018	1321	Full year
2019	1311	Full year
2020	494	March - October
2021	Unable to obtain figures**	N/A
2022	889	Full Year
2023	256	Until March 2023 when service closed

*The hotline was established in 2004 but the cyber-attack on SEPA has limited capability to source the data for the years preceding 2017 and has led to only partial data sets being available for certain years from 2017 onwards.

**The Cyber-attack on SEPA in December 2020 led to ZWS taking over dissemination of Dump Dumper reports during 2021 so no data for this time period is available.

There is no process to connect flytipping prosecutions to the reporting route. This is because a single incident could be reported multiple times to both Dumb Dumpers and the relevant local authority.

Question reference: S6W-20140

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much targeted funding for sustainable textiles projects it has budgeted (a) for 2023-24 and (b) beyond 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-20371

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of identity theft have been reported over the past year, and what action it is taking to help prevent further incidents.

Identity theft is a form of fraud and prosecuted under the general offence of fraud. As such, specific information is not routinely collected on identity theft. However, in 2018-19, a one-off detailed analysis of crimes of dishonesty was carried out by the Scottish Government and this revealed that identity theft type cases accounted for about 6% of total fraud, with most cases of identity theft being cyber-enabled.

6. Tables - Recorded crime in Scotland: 2018-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In addition, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey found 1.1% of adults experienced identity theft in 2019/20. These are the most recently published statistics as the survey was suspended due to COVID, and resumed in November 2021 with next results due to be published later this year.

Identity theft can be a traumatic experience for those who experience it. It should be reported to Police Scotland as well as the relevant financial institutions that have been affected.

Police Scotland raise awareness of the importance of trying to reduce incidents of identity theft through comprehensive advice on their website. In particular, the website includes information about common ways in which criminals seek to acquire personal information about a person with a view to using this information fraudulently. This advice also includes signs to look for in case a person's identity has been stolen to be used for fraudulent purposes and what to do if a person considers they have been a victim of identity theft. We support the steps being taken by Police Scotland in helping advise people how best to protect themselves from identity theft.

Identity theft - Police Scotland

Financial institutions also provide helpful information to customers about how best to avoid falling foul of being a victim of identity theft with advice focused on what steps to take to help protect personal information as if criminals find it more difficult to access personal information, then this reduces the chances of identity theft taking place.

Question reference: S6W-20138

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many illicit (a) e-cigarettes and (b) vapes have been seized in Scotland in the past three years, broken down by year and local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-20139

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out into indoor air quality in public buildings, and what plans it has to carry out any further such research.

The Scottish Government COVID-19 Adaptations Expert Group have highlighted that there is a lack of information on ventilation performance and subsequent indoor air quality for existing buildings.

We are considering advice from the expert group to address this gap, including exploring the feasibility of a national ventilation performance survey for public sector buildings.

In Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 (CAFS) the Scottish Government committed to identifying what, if any, actions might best be undertaken at a Scottish level to address the issues associated with indoor air pollution, by 2026.

Question reference: S6W-20141

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding whether constrained availability of lithium carbonate could affect its commitment to phase out the need for new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2030.

The decarbonisation of transport is expected to- continue to increase demand for electric vehicles (EVs), and therefore EV batteries. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of critical minerals for electric vehicle batteries however, it is expected that the majority of vehicle batteries will be imported, with battery manufacturing currently concentrated in China, Korea and Japan.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from chemicals to end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland. This research suggests that in the next decade other chemistries and technologies are expected to supersede lithium battery technologies.

More recently the Scottish Government commissioned further research with Zero Waste Scotland to identify what practical actions Scotland could take to encourage and benefit from a circular economy - encouraging the reuse, remanufacturing and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This research will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-19947

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 3 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Zero Waste Scotland report, Circular Steel in Scotland: Current landscape and opportunities.

Question reference: S6W-19946

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 3 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Zero Waste Scotland report, Circular Steel in Scotland: Current landscape and opportunities, stating that implementing a domestic steel value chain would "likely require strategic decisions at a governmental level", what timeframe it is working to in order to make such decisions.

I welcome the Circular Steel in Scotland: Current landscape and opportunities report published by Zero Waste Scotland, which will inform ongoing policy development including the Energy Just Transition plan.

The report can be accessed via: -

https://cdn.zerowastescotland.org.uk/managed-downloads/mf-qwstm9se-1688475468d

While the report is clear that there is a significant opportunity in Scotland for circular steel, it requires substantial private sector investment . The report also recognises that some potentially impactful interventions lie within the UK Government’s reserved range of powers, including currency, energy (most aspects), product standards, employment law, trade and foreign affairs.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the growth of this sector, and we are encouraging interested companies to seek advice and support from their local Enterprise Agency.