Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-05866

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many trade union representatives will be on the board of the new company that will run Scotland's Railway.

Question reference: S6O-00745

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what impact Brexit has had on its policies across government, including how it invests in business.

Question reference: S6W-05872

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether adopting Passivhaus standards for newbuild housing would have a positive impact on reducing (a) domestic energy bills and (b) greenhouse gas emissions.

New homes built to a standard which delivers lower energy demand and emissions than are achieved under current regulations would have a positive impact on reducing both domestic energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Accordingly, consideration of the performance and processes of Passivhaus and similar standards remains a topic within the ongoing review of Scottish building regulations. We intend to publish revised standards in April, which will apply from October this year. Discussion on further change beyond 2022 will also continue.

Question reference: S6W-05877

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many FTE staff have been employed in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last 14 years.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) came into being as a national service on 1 April 2013. In its first year of operation (2013-14) employment statistics were collated by the Scottish Government and in that year SFRS had 7690 FTE employees at 31 March 2014. For reporting year 2014-15 and onwards, SFRS has been responsible for producing these statistics and employment figures are published annually on the SFRS website www.firescotland.gov.uk as part of its Organisational Statistics.

Prior to 2013-14 fire and rescue services were provided by the 8 regional fire and rescue services which formed part of local government. Statistics on the number of employees in these services is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-05873

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether adopting Passivhaus standards for newbuild housing would make a positive contribution to achieving Scotland's climate targets.

New homes built to a standard which results in lower energy demand and emissions than are achieved under current regulations would make a positive contribution to achieving Scotland's climate targets.

Accordingly, consideration of the performance and processes of Passivhaus and similar standards remains a topic within the ongoing review of Scottish building regulations. We intend to publish revised standards in April, which will apply from October this year. Discussion on further change beyond 2022 will also continue.

Question reference: S6W-05871

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons it has stated that it will not take forward the recommendation of the Climate Assembly to adopt Passivhaus standards for newbuild housing.

The Climate Assembly recommended adoption of Passivhaus standards (or an agreed Scottish Equivalent) within the next five years.

Our response to the recommendation agrees with the need for review of regulation to further improve energy and environmental standards for new homes. It noted the relevance of the current review of Scottish building regulations, due to be completed this year. It provides an assurance that the outcome sought by the recommendation will be reported on, as part of the current review of standards.

Further work to consider the performance and processes of Passivhaus and similar standards is planned over the next few months, in support of the ongoing review of Scottish building regulations.

The members of Scotland’s Climate Assembly met for an eighth and final weekend on 5 and 6 February. Ministers intend to make a Parliamentary Statement on the Assembly later this month.

Question reference: S6W-05878

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 2 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the reported recruitment issues in the retained fire service, and whether it will list the (a) actions that it has taken and (b) additional resources that it has provided in this regard.

Recruitment of any staff group to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is a matter for the SFRS Board. The Scottish Government is aware of the challenges of recruiting and retaining Retained and Volunteer Duty System (RVDS) firefighters as fewer people live and work in the same location. The Scottish Government has invested an additional £9.5m in the 2022-23 budget for service delivery and modernisation of SFRS. How that money is spent is a matter for the SFRS Board.

SFRS now has 58 full time manager positions in rural locations to help with availability and recruitment of RVDS firefighters and is currently reviewing RVDS arrangements to assess what more can be done to help the situation.

Question reference: S6W-05874

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on legislation to provide a statutory right to food.

In the 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to the introduction of a Human Rights Bill within this Parliamentary session.

The Human Rights Bill will incorporate into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This includes a right to adequate food, as an essential part of the overall right to an adequate standard of living.

Question reference: S6W-05875

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people in Scotland have been food insecure in each of the last 14 years.

In Scotland, food insecurity questions were introduced into the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) from 2016. As of 2019, food security levels are measured for the whole of the UK, including Scotland, as part of the Family Resources Survey (FRS).

Despite differences in approach between the surveys, food insecurity levels in Scotland have been consistent since data collection started in 2016; around 8% or 9% of individuals, and 8% of households.

Food Insecurity Rates in Scotland:

	2017	2018	2019	2020
Scottish Health Survey ‎ (% individual respondents)	8	9	9	8
Family Resources Survey ‎ (% households)	n/a	n/a	8

1. Data for FRS collected April 2019-March 2020

2. SHeS data from 2020 not directly comparable to previous years due to COVID-19 restrictions

Question reference: S6W-05443

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comments from the Mayor of Tees Valley that investors are choosing regions of England over Scotland for industrial investments due to Scotland not having a freeport policy or freeport status.

The Scottish Government has always been consistent in wanting to deliver a green port model which has a strong focus on a just transition to net zero and fair work. We have been in active discussion with UK Ministers on a joint approach that will deliver these, as well as a full package of reserved and devolved incentives to Scottish ports.

It is often the case that investors consider a number of locations before making a final decision on where to invest. Scotland continues to have a great track record in attracting inward investment. The EY Annual Attractiveness Survey for 2021 identified that Scotland has been the top performing region or nation of the UK, outside of London, for 8 out of the last 10 years and for the sixth year running.

Chamber and committees