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-04741

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent to date on external recruitment in relation to the nationalisation of ScotRail, and what it estimates the ongoing spend on external recruitment will be in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S6W-04740

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to attract new workers to the ScotRail franchise.

Question reference: S6W-04742

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the total cost will be of the ScotRail nationalisation rebrand, and whether this rebrand will be completed by a contractor or undertaken by ScotRail or the Scottish Government.

The only branding that will be required to be changed as part of bringing ScotRail services within the public sector under Scottish Government control is that of franchisee identifying stickers i.e. the small stickers on train doors and stations - “This service is operated by Abellio ScotRail”. It is anticipated that these will be changed through routine maintenance activities with no material additional cost to the taxpayer.

Question reference: S6O-00498

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, A Vision for Scotland's Railways, produced for Scotland's rail unions.

Question reference: S6F-00526

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 December 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the Union Connectivity Review.

Question reference: S6W-03778

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the guidance for international school and educational visits, which was due to be reviewed at the end of August 2021, in order to bring it in line with the current framework for international travel.

Question reference: S6O-00291

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-03432

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02205 by Michael Matheson on 8 September 2021, when it will publish details of the projects that it will fund from the £33 billion National Infrastructure Mission, and for what reason Annex D (Major Projects and Programmes for reporting to Public Audit and Post Legislative Scrutiny Committee) of the document, A National Mission with Local Impact: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26, lists less than £15 billion worth of projects.

The National Infrastructure Mission includes all capital investment made by the Scottish Government, including that which is aimed at boosting supply chains and promoting private sector investment in our infrastructure and wider economy.

The Capital Spending Review, published on 04 February, sets out the total funding available to support the National Infrastructure Mission: £33,461 million over 5 years. A breakdown of this investment is provided in Table 3 on page 17/18. Table 4 of the Capital Spending Review shows the allocations made to individual portfolios and Annex A shows level 2 and level 3 budget allocations, by portfolio, across the same period.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) lists in the Theme Chapters on pages 32 to 43 a breakdown of the main areas of investment by Scottish Government and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies – with a value of around £23.5 billion of capital investment. In addition, a value of £3 billion has been assumed for projects which are expected to be revenue funded. These two figures together are the basis of the £26 billion of investment cited in the Ministerial Foreword of the IIP.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan Pipeline, set out in Annex D, includes only a subset of the projects and programmes from the IIP total. Projects with a capital value of £5 million and Programmes with a £20 million value are included in this subset. As new projects and programmes are developed, they can be added to the pipeline when they are suitably ready, and consequently reported to the Parliament’s Public Audit Committee. This approach is explained on page 29 of the IIP.

Question reference: S6W-03218

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it will provide bus operators, to help them offer more competitive wages and retain staff, in light of reports that they are losing drivers to the HGV industry.

Since June 2020 the Scottish Government has made up to £210 million in additional financial support available to enable bus operators to continue to run services during the pandemic. It is for individual operators to lead dialogue with trade unions and to determine pay arrangements with their employees. Scottish Government funding is provided on a not for profit basis and any pay increases for staff would need to be funded by bus operators through efficiencies or any reserves they may have accrued prior to the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-03222

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it has made to ensure that bus operators in rural areas have access to charging infrastructure before the 2023 deadline for decarbonisation,

The Scottish Government has established the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, comprised of leaders from the bus operating, bus manufacturing, energy and finance sectors, including representation from rural bus operators. The Taskforce has explored energy infrastructure in depth and actions now being undertaken by the Taskforce include production of a “How To” guide for bus operators about working with the electricity sector to plan for and install the necessary charging infrastructure. The Taskforce has also discussed the suitability of hydrogen fuel-cell buses for rural bus services, and the challenges and opportunities associated with hydrogen refuelling stations. The Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund is currently available to bidders and is designed to encourage collaborative and consortium bids, with support of up to 75% of the cost of battery-electric charging infrastructure, and up to 85% of the cost of hydrogen fuel-cell charging infrastructure.