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: S5O-03590

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what role seagrass meadows, and similar blue carbon ecosystems, play in helping Scotland reach its climate change targets.

Question reference: S5O-03472

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting its climate change targets, and how it works with the agricultural sector to maximise the potential that farmers have to help achieve these.

We are on track to meeting Scotland’s world-leading climate change targets, with emissions down by 47% between 1990 and 2017.

Scottish farmers already play a key role in this progress, including contributing to emissions reduction through forestry, land use and electricity generation.

The Scottish Government is working with the agriculture sector to do even more. Our initiatives include; encouraging more tree planting and agro-forestry on farms, promoting the multiple benefits of good grassland and grazing management, encouraging farmers to invest in renewable energy and developing models to demonstrate and promote carbon neutral farms.

Question reference: S5W-23869

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent in 2018-19 on each of the three PSO air routes that it operates.

Question reference: S5F-03383

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2019

To ask the First Minister what actions the Scottish Government is taking to investigate the disenfranchisement of EU nationals who were denied their vote at the recent EU elections.

Question reference: S5W-23019

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a progress update regarding the Northern Isles Ferry Services tender.

The Court of Session judgment on 26 April 2019, dismissing Pentland Ferries’ petition for Judicial Review, allows the tender for the Northern Isles Ferry Services to proceed as set out in the competition documents.

I can also confirm that Transport Scotland received tenders from CalMac Ferries Limited and Serco Limited on 29 April 2019. The third prequalifying bidder, the international ferry operating company Förde Reederei Seetouristik GmbH & Co. KG (FRS), decided not to pursue any further interest in the competition. Transport Scotland will evaluate bids received, with a view to having a new public service contract in place by 31 October 2019.

Simultaneously, Transport Scotland will continue its engagement with the European Commission to seek an early resolution to Pentland Ferries’ outstanding State aid complaint about the subsidies payable under the next public services contract.

Further information about Transport Scotland’s engagement with the Commission and any implications for the tender procedure will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S5O-03139

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what research is taking place into citizen engagement and satisfaction with the new BBC Scotland channel.

Question reference: S5O-03114

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it plans to take to re-engage the Rural GP Association with its Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group.

Question reference: S5W-22145

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make the process for fostering and adoption easier and quicker.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of making these processes easier and quicker where possible without detracting from the crucial safeguarding of children that these processes seek to ensure. The Scottish Government recognises that permanent, loving, nurturing relationships are what matter most to children, and that this is best delivered by giving them the legal certainty that their relationships are permanent. Since 2014 the Scottish Government has funded the Centre for Looked After Children (CELCIS) to deliver the Permanence and Care Excellence programme (PACE). PACE supports improvement projects in local authorities, designed to identify areas of blockages or difficulties in securing permanence for looked after children and to reduce delay where it is appropriate to do so. In line with the commitment in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2018-19 all local authorities have now been offered support from the PACE programme .

Through the Children and Young People Act 2014, the Scottish Government has placed Scotland’s Adoption Register on a statutory footing. The Register provides opportunities for children to be matched with families across Scotland if they cannot be matched locally, and is now used by all local authorities to further reduce the delays in children being matched with adoptive families, and finding permanent homes.

Question reference: S5W-22146

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how fostering and adoption services vary between local authorities.

The Scottish Government does not collect information about local fostering and adoption services. Rather it provides the legislative framework for fostering and adoption services in Scotland through the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, which set out the functions and duties of local authorities in the services they provide. Responsibility for managing services that respond to the individual needs of the children who come into care, lies with local authorities.

Information on looked after children and young people, including those in foster care and those who have been adopted, is however collected from local authorities through the Scottish Government’s annual Children’s Social Work Statistics at: and the Care Inspectorate’s Adoption and Fostering Statistical Bulletin .

Question reference: S5W-22151

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how the North Coast 500 has benefited the country.

Since its establishment in 2015, the North Coast 500 has delivered economic benefits to the area.

An initial impact review of the North Coast 500 was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in 2017, and this found that the route had attracted an additional 29,000 visitors, and an additional £9 million visitor spend ( http://www.hie.co.uk/common/handlers/download-document.ashx?id=a79fc94d-cfce-4eca-aa9b-21b31ee9c331 )?.

More recently a VisitScotland Visitor Barometer (Quarter 3 2018) reported 52% of businesses on the route having increased visitor numbers compared to 2017, and 63% reporting increased turnover during the same period ( https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/about-our-industry/industry-barometer ?).

Both of these figures exceed those from the wider Highlands. A further review of impacts on the North Coast 500 will be carried out by HIE during the 2019 season, to identify longer-term trends since 2015-16.

Sustainability is a key consideration in the development of the NC500 route. Acknowledging the increasing demands on services and infrastructure, the North Coast 500 Working Group has sought to coordinate public sector resources to help address concerns over waste disposal facilities, public conveniences, parking provision, digital connectivity and route maintenance.