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-19551

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 9 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked Skills Development Scotland to consider widening the range of courses eligible for modern apprenticeship funding.

Apprenticeships in Scotland are demand-led, and our apprenticeship system aims to be as responsive to industry demand as it can be. Any new Modern Apprenticeship (MA) frameworks created would be as a result of sufficient demand from employers for a new MA and a clear indication that an MA is the right training route. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) work with industry to assess the level of demand and can support the development of new apprenticeship frameworks where required.

Question reference: S6W-19550

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 9 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Skills Development Scotland regarding removing or changing the time limit in place on accessing funding for modern apprenticeships to allow an individual to begin a modern apprenticeship at any point in their career.

Question reference: S6W-19554

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 9 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding any lessons that could be learned in Scotland of the recent decision by the Welsh Government to remove the age cap on accessing funding for modern apprenticeships.

Question reference: S6W-20031

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available for homeowners or landlords of properties that have heat pumps installed, and who want to maximise the decarbonisation of their properties and decrease their energy bills by installing solar PV and battery storage systems.

The Scottish Government provides funding to both homeowners and landlords of properties through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme and the Private Rented Sector Landlord (PRS) Loan Scheme respectively.

For homeowners who already have a heat pump installed in their property, the HES Grant and Loan Scheme currently offers up to £6,000 (£4,750 interest free loan and £1,250 grant) funding for solar PV and up to £6,000 (£4,750 interest free loan and £1,250 grant) for battery storage as part of a package.

For landlords who already have a heat pump installed in their property, the PRS Loan Scheme offers funding of up to £5,000 loan for solar PV and up to £6,000 for battery storage. Loans to landlords with five or fewer properties are interest free whereas loans to landlords with six or more properties in their portfolio will attract an interest rate of 2.5%APR.

Question reference: S6W-19262

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of public adherence to its recommendation that people continue to wear a face covering in indoor public places and on public transport.

At the start of the pandemic Scottish Government set up opinion polling research to help understand knowledge, attitudes and claimed behaviour in relation to coronavirus, and motivations and barriers to adopting desired behaviours.

This ran weekly from end of March 2020 to June 2021 when it moved to fortnightly and then approximately monthly from April 2022. The public opinion research company YouGov carried out fieldwork on their online omnibus, with a sample each wave of c.1,000 adults 18+ representative of the online population of Scotland.

Questions were included at various times on the perceived importance of a number of protective behaviours (including face coverings) and how well people felt they were doing these to allow us to monitor these measures over time.

COVID-specific polling ended at the end of March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-18433

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, published by the Office for National Statistics, which reportedly shows that the annual rental percentage change in Scotland continues to surpass that in England and Wales.

The latest Experimental Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) were published on 24 May 2023, available at Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) . There are methodological limitations with the Scotland level results being presented given the influence of the restrictions on in-tenancy rent increases introduced through the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection)(Scotland) Act 2022 which has been in force since 28 October 2022. Users of the results are advised to bear this in mind when interpreting the estimates for Scotland and comparing with other UK countries. The following cautionary text is included in this ONS publication:

“The rise in annual rental price inflation for Scotland since this (Cost of Living Tenants Protection Scotland) bill was passed will largely reflect increasing rental prices from new lets as they continue to feed into the Scotland IPHRP stock measure. There are also compositional differences between the Scotland rental data and Scotland's rental sector. Measures for Scotland are mainly based on advertised rental data, along with assumptions on average periods between rent price increases, so changes in rents for existing tenants are largely estimated. The IPHRP methodology assumes that rental price remains constant for up to 14 months if updated rental data for that property is not available. The Cost of Living (Tenants Protection) Scotland Bill could lead to an increase in the average length of time that rental price remains unchanged. If the average time between rental price changes is above the assumed 14 months, then IPHRP methodology will present higher estimates of rising rental costs in the overall market in Scotland. This is because only a small proportion of the sample is based on updated rental data from existing lets, and replacement data will be predominantly based on uncapped newly advertised rents. Users are advised to bear this in mind when interpreting the estimates for Scotland and comparing with other UK countries.”

The Scottish Government does not therefore consider that these experimental statistics are sufficiently nuanced to draw valid comparisons between Scotland and England and Wales.

Question reference: S6W-18317

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding non-domestic rates, whether it will reduce the combined poundage rate for the largest properties, to match the equivalent rate in England, over the course of the current parliamentary session.

As set out in our 2021 manifesto and confirmed in the Framework for Tax 2021, we are committed to reducing the Higher Property Rate, ensuring that the largest businesses pay the same combined poundage in Scotland as in England by the end of this parliamentary session.

Since the Barclay Review made this recommendation, we have introduced the Intermediate Property Rate on 1 April 2020. On 1 April 2023, we increased the rateable value threshold at which the Higher Property Rate applies, from £95,000 to £100,000. As a result, over 95% of properties are liable for a lower poundage rate in Scotland than in anywhere else in the UK.

Budget decisions are made annually in light of affordability.

Question reference: S6O-02385

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to ensure a fair application of funds from EventScotland and Creative Scotland to every part of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18389

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported change to residency eligibility criteria for free student tuition support in Scotland, whether people from Hong Kong with a British National (Overseas) visa will be eligible for free tuition fees in higher education, if they have three years of residency in Scotland.

I am pleased to confirm that from Academic Year 2023-24 all students who meet the following criteria will be eligible for home fees status and student financial support in Further Education and Higher Education:

Ordinarily resident in the UK for three years prior to the relevant date;
Ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date; and
Granted a form of leave to enter or remain in the UK, where that leave has not expired.

As the British National (Overseas) visa would be considered a form of leave to enter or remain in the UK, a student holding this visa would be eligible for support in the event that they satisfy the remaining criteria.

Question reference: S6W-18069

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for how long it had been planning to pause the current Warmer Homes Scotland scheme ahead of relaunching a new one.

It has always been planned for new referrals for Warmer Homes Scotland to close before the contract with the current managing agent ends on 29 September 2023, to exit the contract in a managed way and allow for all customer journeys to be completed.

We must always assume there may be a change in supplier when conducting a fair and open procurement. A similar pause occurred in 2015 when the service moved from Scottish Gas to Warmworks.

While the new contract builds on the existing WHS scheme it will be an entirely separate scheme with a different offer to customers and different requirements of customers, the managing agent and suppliers. The managing agent is required to procure their supply chain post contract award, and therefore will require a 4-6 month mobilisation period. This also factors in any TUPE implications and is used to build their IT system and ensure that all associated scheme documentation is in place before the contract begins.

Improvements will continue to be installed in customers’ homes up until the end of the current Warmer Homes Scotland contract on 29 September 2023. The new contract will launch on 2 October 2023, and Home Energy Scotland are currently accepting applications for this scheme.

This support sits alongside other help, such as our Area Based Schemes which provide local delivery of energy efficiency improvements and our Home Energy Scotland grant scheme.