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-12167

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether any Barnett consequential funding received in 2022-23 remains unspent.

The 2022-23 Autumn Budget Revision, and the associated guide, details how all Barnett Consequentials and other funding movements have been formally allocated to date.

The net funds available for deployment following the conclusion of the Autumn Budget Revision are £94 million. However all of these funds are being held against a number of pressures on the Scottish Government Budget, including the conclusion of some public sector pay agreements and the costs associated with resettlement of Ukrainian refugees.

The Spring Budget Revision will detail the final Scottish Budget allocations, utilising all funding that remains available.

Question reference: S6W-12165

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish a breakdown of where the reallocated funds announced by the Deputy First Minister in the Emergency Budget Review have been, or will be, spent.

A full breakdown of the implications of the Emergency Budget Review (EBR) measures on the Scottish Budget was included within the guide to the Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) provided to the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Of the initial £560 million line items included within the Deputy First Minister’s letter to the Committee in September, £369 million is included within the ABR as either a return of budget or a funding change. The balancing figure of £191 million are reductions to previously unfunded pressures which have emerged since the Scottish Budget was published and savings which will come through the SBR exercise.

The new commitments detailed in the EBR document published earlier this month are also reflected in the ABR position. The additional savings outlined will be processed, where necessary as part of the Spring Budget Revision.

Question reference: S6W-12168

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the amount that it anticipates it will carry forward within the Scotland Reserve from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-12163

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not include a full breakdown of the destination of the £1.175 billion of in-year funding reallocations, which were announced by the Deputy First Minister in September and November 2022, in the 2022-23 Autumn Budget Revision.

The full list of the savings generated, and new commitments made, through the Emergency Budget Review was outlined in the EBR document and published on the Scottish Government website. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Finance and Public Administration Committee in September providing a line by line analysis of the first phase of these savings.

In addition the nature of each line item and its effect on the Scottish Government Budget was outlined in the Guide to Autumn Budget Revision document provided to the Committee. Within this document an analysis of the items included within the ABR is included along with detail of the transfers expected to be included within the Spring Budget Revision.

Question reference: S6W-12164

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates additional funding will be needed for public sector pay settlements in 2022-23 beyond the £714 million that the Deputy First Minister announced as part of the Emergency Budget Review.

Question reference: S6O-01617

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged in discussions or research about the feasibility of vertical farming in Scotland’s cities.

Question reference: S6W-12080

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it received from the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland in relation to proposed regulations about pavement parking exemptions.

The Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) wrote to Transport Scotland in March 2022 expressing their desire that no Ministerial Directions be given on which type of pavement can be considered by local authorities for an Exemption Order. We sought to allay their concerns during a meeting between MACS and the Minister for Transport on 15 June 2022 and a further meeting with the policy lead of MACS and Transport Scotland.

During these meetings we confirmed that exemptions had already been the subject of Parliamentary debate during the passage of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. We also confirmed that Ministerial Directions will not allow for blanket exemptions of streets from the National pavement parking prohibitions and will set out scenarios where local authorities may be able to consider an exemption. Exemptions will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and will not be the norm. Any such exemptions will require to be clearly marked by signs and lines on the ground so that a driver can be in no doubt where pavement parking is permitted.

Additionally, we are currently finalising the wording of the Ministerial Directions to take account of any issues raised in the public consultation.

Question reference: S6W-11882

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to allow the removal of any freeze on apprenticeship places and budgets at Skills Development Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01597

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11605

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in developing an Agriculture Bill, and when it expects a Bill to be introduced.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a new Agriculture Bill to Parliament in 2023.

The public consultation on proposals for a new Bill, “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill” was launched on 29 August and will now be open until 5 December. The consultation seeks views on proposals, which aim to assist in delivering the Vision for Agriculture, and suggests a legislative framework required to replace the current Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).