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: S5W-09381

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board, broken down by length of service, and what its position is on the board's gender balance.

The current members of SEAB are listed on the Scottish Government website at the following link which is updated periodically:

Those members, and their respective length of service are as follows:

Co-Chairs

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister- Chair (February 2015 - Current)

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal, University of Strathclyde - Co-chair (May 2009 - Current)

Board Members

Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy (May 2016 - Current)

Alistair Phillips-Davies Chief Executive Officer, Scottish and Southern Energy (May 2014- Current)

Andrew Jamieson, Chairman, Scottish Renewables Forum, later Chairman RenewableUK, ORE Catapult (May 2009 - Current)

Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive, Forth Ports Plc (May 2009 - Current)

Charlotte Wright, Chief Executive, HIE (New member)

Cordi O’Hara, National Grid (March 2016 - Current)

Damien Yeates, Chief Executive, Skills Development Scotland (October 2009 – Current)

David Sigsworth, Chairman SEPA (September 2011- Current)

Deirdre Michie, Chief Executive Oil and Gas UK (March 2016 - Current)

Dick Winchester, Managing Director, The Old Schoolhouse (January 2010 - Current)

Dr Graeme Sweeney, Managing Director – Generation, EDF Energy later Independent Energy Consultant with Ardnacraggan (Energy Services) Ltd (July 2014 - Current)

Frank Mitchell, Director Energy Networks, Scottish Power later Chair, ESAG (May 2010 - Current)

Graeme Smith, STUC (New Member)

Jim McColl OBE, Chairman & Chief Executive Clyde Blowers Ltd (May 2009 -current)

Keith Anderson, chief of Corporate Officer, Scottish Power Renewables (September 2011 - Current)

Les King, Doosan Power Systems (May 2014 - Current)

Margaret McGinlay, Director of Energy and Low Carbon, Scottish Enterprise (October 2012 - Current)

Melfort Campbell, Chair & Chief Executive, IMES Group. (February 2011 - Current)

Niall Stuart, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, (January 2010 - Current)

Professor Alex Kemp, Professor of Petroleum Economics, University of Aberdeen (September 2011 - Current)

Roy MacGregor, Chairman Global Energy (November 2012 - Current)

Sam Ghibaldan, Head of Consumer Futures Unit, Citizens Advice Scotland (March 2016 - Current)

Stuart Crooks, Managing Director, EDF Energy (July 2014 - Current)

The issue of gender balance on boards was discussed by SEAB in February 2015 in light of the Scottish Government’s voluntary 50:50 by 2020 challenge. Discussion highlighted that members recognised the benefits of such balance and the importance placed by all members on the need to increase gender balance in the energy sector more generally.

Question reference: S5W-09380

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which of the recommendations that have been made by the Scottish Energy Advisory Board in each of the last five years have led to the commissioning of consultants or facilitators, broken down by the (a) the name of the project, (b) person or organisation commissioned and (c) cost of comissioning, and which recommendations have not been taken forward by ministers.

There have been a number of recommendations agreed by the Scottish Energy Advisory Board that have led to work being commissioned. These are set out in the following table:

Project Name	Recommendation	Organisation	Cost	Year of recommendations
Scottish Security of Supply Assessment	National Grid to respond to the Board’s call for an annual capacity assessment for Scotland, working with the ILG for Thermal Generation and CCS	National Grid	£0	2016
SEAB Supply Chain Report	Agreed that a short life subcommittee focusing on the supply chain in Scotland be established	SEAB appointed working group	£30,912	2016
Assessing Scotland’s security of supply in the GB Electricity market	Agreed commissioning of further analysis security of supply issues, impacts and potential solutions	KPMG	£103,240.80	2014
Green Growth Action Plan	Agreed that a structured short-life group be established to produce a detailed routemap to enable “green growth”.	SEAB appointed working group	£28,755	2015

There have been no recommendations agreed by the Board that have not been taken forward by Ministers.

Question reference: S5W-09377

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09158 by Jeane Freeman on 22 May 2017, how many staff currently administer assessments for Atos Healthcare in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-09384

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates the Scottish Energy Advisory Board has met since 2015, and whether it will publish the minutes.

The Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) met on 16 February 2015, and the minutes are available at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/resources/working-groups/energy-advisory-board/Minutes/Minutes16-Feb-15

SEAB also met on 1 March 2016 to discuss the development of the draft Scottish Energy Strategy. There was very clear consensus in that meeting over the priorities of a new Energy Strategy for Scotland. This was reported in the then Minister for Energy’s speech to Parliament on 15 March 2016. The draft Energy Strategy was published on 24 January 2017 and proposed that SEAB will be re-focused on the new themes of the strategy. The consultation has now closed and SEAB will convene again shortly to discuss the development of the final Energy Strategy.

The minutes of the 1 March 2016 meeting will be agreed and published following that meeting, in accordance with past practice.

A specially convened meeting of a cohort of SEAB was also held on 16 February 2017 to discuss National Grid’s progress in assessing Scotland’s security of energy supply. This is part of an on-going piece of work which has not yet reached its conclusion. The next meeting of the SEAB will take place during June 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09383

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05868 by Annabelle Ewing on 10 January 2017, whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making in facilitating the transfer of the administrative responsibilities.

Question reference: S5W-09367

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) ScotRail and (b) trade unions regarding the establishment of an employee gain sharing scheme, as required by the franchise agreement with Abellio, and what the reason is for the reported delay in establishing this.

Question reference: S5W-09368

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) dividend and (b) other payments ScotRail has made to its parent company, Abellio, since April 2015.

Question reference: S5O-01074

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what issues were discussed during its recent meeting with the Ambassador of Israel to the UK.

Question reference: S5W-09160

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of its (a) meetings, (b) discussions and (c) correspondence with Ineos in the last two years.

It is not the policy of the Scottish Government to publish details of its discussions and correspondence with stakeholders. However, details of Ministerial meetings with all external stakeholders are regularly updated and is available on the Scottish Government website through the following link. https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

Information has also been published under Freedom of Information and can be found: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/resources/Publications/EnergyFoI/FoI-16-01214

Question reference: S5W-09162

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given in the last five years to taking the operations of the Grangemouth refinery into public ownership.

Scotland’s oil and gas sector continues to offer major economic opportunities. It is estimated that, with the right fiscal, regulatory and market environment, as many as 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil remain under the North Sea and wider UKCS basin and the industry supports almost 125,000 Scottish jobs.

The Scottish Government is supportive of investment which is consistent with our economic strategy, is beneficial for the Scottish oil and gas sector, and good for the Grangemouth petrochemical plant and refinery and its workforce.