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-26838

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all funding streams that are being used, or could be used, to fund anti-racist education initiatives.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to embedding anti-racism in education. As part of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme for financial year 2023-24 the Scottish Government provided the following funding streams aimed at providing anti-racist education. Funding streams for 24-25 will be published in due course.

Funding Streams:

Anti-Racism in Education Programme (AREP) funding stream
Curriculum workstream of the AREP
School Library Improvement Fund
Holocaust Educational Trust “Lessons from Auschwitz project”
Vision Schools Scotland
STUC Unions into Schools project

Question reference: S6O-03316

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy meant by her reported comments to the Ferguson Marine workforce on 9 April 2024, that the Scottish Government will “stand with you long into the future”.

Question reference: S6O-03227

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the BBC Scotland Disclosure programme, Surviving Domestic Abuse, which was broadcast on 11 March.

Question reference: S6T-01858

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Creative Scotland has awarded £85,000 to the project Rein, in light of concerns about its explicit content.

Question reference: S6W-25946

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason section (a) 9 and (b) 10 of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 is not in force.

Sections 9 and 10 of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 are not in force because the requisite court rules are not in place. Civil court rules govern the procedure to be followed in cases heard in the Court of Session and in civil cases in the sheriff courts to ensure a fair, efficient, and accessible legal system in Scotland.

Commencing legislative provisions without court rules in place would be irresponsible - potentially creating problems for court users and placing added pressures on our court system.

Responsibility for drafting court rules lies with the Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC), a statutory body chaired by the Lord President. The Council prepares an annual report on its activities along with an annual plan setting out its objectives and priorities each year and lays a copy before the Scottish Parliament. The rules required for sections 9 and 10 are currently in the SCJC work plan and are listed as a priority.

Implementing emergency measures to allow the court system to function during the pandemic and the subsequent work to manage recovery has had a significant impact on the delivery of the Council’s business, and its available resources. However, the SCJC have advised that drafting of the new rules is progressing well.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to engage with the SCJC and stand ready to commence the remaining sections of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 as soon as court rules are finalised.

Question reference: S6O-03213

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the creation of a national online support platform to expand music learning for children and young people in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-24888

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its work on international engagement, what recent contact it has had with the Turkish government, including any requests for meetings from either side, and what plans there are for representatives of the two governments to meet.

The Scottish Government has enjoyed a number of recent engagements with Government of Türkiye on issues ranging from tackling climate change, to boosting trade and investment and increasing tourism and cultural collaboration. This type of international collaboration, recently articulated through the publication of our new International Strategy, will continue to make a substantial, positive impact on the delivery of the Scottish Government’s domestic objectives and on the lives of people in Scotland and internationally.

Question reference: S6W-25477

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23936 by Fiona Hyslop on 10 January 2024, notwithstanding that it has not yet made a decision on the procurement route, whether it has conducted any assessment of the estimated cost difference between the direct award of a contract and a competitive tendering process; when it expects the decision to be made on the procurement route, and when it expects to update the Parliament on the decision.

Question reference: S6O-03149

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT Group/EE regarding the proposed closure of its Greenock call centre.

Question reference: S6W-24736

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of conducting the latest Scottish Household Survey (SHS), and how much it cost to conduct the SHS in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Household Survey costs in the following table cover both the social survey (approximately 10,500 households interviewed per year) and the physical survey (approximately 3,000 residential properties inspected per year). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 3,000 households were interviewed for the 2020 social survey, and the 2020 and 2021 social surveys were carried out by telephone rather than by the usual face-to-face method. There was no 2020 physical survey, and the 2021 physical survey inspections were external only, with information on internal aspects of the property collected from the householder by telephone.

Survey fieldwork year	Cost (excluding VAT)
2014	£1.94 million
2015	£2.01 million
2016	£2.12 million
2017	£2.08 million
2018	£2.47 million
2019	£2.53 million
2020	£1.35 million
2021	£2.48 million
2022	£2.68 million
2023	£2.74 million