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-01731

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the social justice secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the support available to families experiencing poverty, including as a result of rising energy costs, where a seriously ill child relies on life-sustaining equipment at home.

Question reference: S6W-11839

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce new legislation regarding prompt payment, and specifically in relation to construction companies being paid.

Question reference: S6W-12612

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to undertake a public information campaign to help veterans access any support that they are entitled to.

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government committed to securing improved opportunities for veterans, ensuring that those who have been willing to risk their lives in the service of the nation can access good jobs once their time in the military is over. These include more opportunities for veterans to work for the Scottish Government and a campaign working with the business community to help employers understand the benefits that veterans bring to the workforce, to help increase employment opportunities for veterans. This campaign will launch early next year.

In addition, this year the Scottish Government commissioned See Me to develop a public awareness campaign to tackle the stigma associated with veterans mental health and encourage veterans in Scotland to speak up about mental health and get help when they need it. The campaign, known as The Guard, launched in late November.

Question reference: S6W-12613

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent review it has undertaken of the support available to military early service leavers.

The previous Scottish Veterans Commissioner highlighted the importance of improving the transition process for Early Service Leavers in his Positive Futures reports on transition in Scotland.

Much of the transition process is reserved; however, we have taken action to support this where we can. Our refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan refocussed the extensive services and support that the Scottish Government and our partners provide to all veterans, including Early Service Leavers.

We have also more than doubled the amount of funding provided through the Scottish Veterans Fund from £200,000 per annum to £500,000 and have included projects which offer support to Early Service Leavers as a priority category that the fund supports. Last year, nearly £100,000 was awarded to projects specifically offering support to these veterans.

Question reference: S6W-12620

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to help sustain local swimming pools.

The Scottish Government places great importance on leisure facilities and recognises the significant challenges that are facing operators such as leisure trusts, particularly with swimming pools, as increased operational costs continues to put pressure on their operations.

I recently met with members of Community Leisure UK to discuss the issues facing the leisure and culture trusts in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has increased the local government funding by over £1 billion in 2022-23, a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent, despite a 5.2 per cent real terms reduction in the overall Scottish Budget. It is the responsibility of the individual local authorities to provide leisure facilities, including swimming pools, and local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own power and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial recourses available to them, including on swimming pools, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government will continue to make the case for the UK Government to do more to protect our public services.

Question reference: S6W-12618

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a strategic housing land availability assessment for Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to develop a strategic housing land availability assessment (SHLAA) for Scotland. SHLAA is part of the English planning system for housing, as expected by the English National Planning Policy Framework.

Scotland has its own planning policy and processes relating to housing. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) set out new processes for Local Development Plans (LDPs) and policy for new homes in Scotland.

Our Revised Draft NPF4, if approved by the Scottish Parliament, will expect deliverable land to be allocated to meet the 10 year Local Housing Land Requirement in locations that create quality places for people to live. In addition, areas that may be suitable for new homes beyond 10 years are also to be identified. LDP delivery programmes will be expected to establish a housing land pipeline for the Local Housing Land Requirement. The annual housing land audit will sit alongside the delivery programme and will monitor the delivery of housing land.

Draft LDP Guidance has been consulted on, and is in the process of being finalised. This will include further information on how NPF4 housing policy is implemented in LDPs. We will provide updated guidance on housing land audits to support NPF4 housing policy.

Question reference: S6W-12695

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings it (a) has assessed and (b) is due to assess for unsafe cladding through the Single Building Assessment pilot.

Question reference: S6W-12611

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the help available to veterans to access any support that they are entitled to.

This Scottish Government has consistently championed our Veterans being the first Devolved Administration in the UK to create a Veterans Ministerial portfolio and the first nation in the UK to establish a Veterans Commissioner.

In August, we published our refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan in which we reaffirmed our longstanding commitment to our veterans, taking stock of the extensive services and support that the Scottish Government and our partners provide. This was informed by a light-touch consultation with key stakeholders to review our original action plan, first published in 2020, to establish the extent to which our existing commitments remained valid and where there were opportunities to add more detail to these commitments or add new ones. We identified a number of new commitments and updated several existing ones which will help us to better deliver and expand our support to our veterans and their families.

Furthermore, on 8 November I provided the Scottish Government’s annual update to Parliament on its support for the veterans and Armed Forces community. This was accompanied by a published written report which details fully the achievements we have made this year in delivering the commitments we have made to veterans and their families.

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner (SVC) also published her annual assessment of the Scottish Government’s progress against the recommendations made by the Commissioners since 2015. The SVC published this year’s progress report on 16 November which demonstrated good progress against recommendations made since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-12609

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have indicated that they plan to delay the introduction of short-term lets regulations.

Question reference: S6W-12619

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 9 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP surgeries have closed in each year since 1999.

As at 1 st October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 th December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland ).

The Scottish Government does not hold figures for how many GP Practices have closed. However, the slight decrease in practice numbers shown in the report is largely driven by practice mergers and a trend towards larger practices with more GPs serving a larger number of patients.