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-24201

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates its proposed £17,496,000 reduction in funding for Ferguson Marine, as set out in the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, will have on its ability to deliver Hull (a) 801 and (b) 802 within its respective revised timescale.

Question reference: S6W-24176

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many registered GlobalScots there were in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-24159

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that a new chief executive of Historic Environment Scotland will be announced.

Question reference: S6W-24171

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made to VisitScotland in each year since 2016, and how many of those complains were (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully resolved.

VisitScotland handles two types of complaints: Visitor complaints - complaints and feedback submitted by visitors about their holiday experience in Scotland; and Corporate complaints - complaints about VisitScotland’s actions or services, as per the Ombudsman’s definition.

The following data relates to visitor complaints regarding various issues, and are not categorised into successfully or unsuccessfully resolved. The number of complaints of this nature made to VisitScotland from 2016 to 2023 is as follows:

Calendar year	Complaints received
2016	564
2017	527
2018	498
2019	361
2020	96
2021	164
2022	241
2023	342

The following complaints are about VisitScotland and are not categorised into successfully or unsuccessfully resolved. All complaints have been responded to. When appropriate and in line with VisitScotland's complaints handling processes, on completion of an investigation-stage complaint response all complainants are directed to the SPSO. The number of corporate complaints made to VisitScotland from 2016 to 2023 is as follows:

Calendar year	Complaints received
2016	125
2017	134
2018	113
2019	42
2020	51
2021	52
2022	102
2023	83

Question reference: S6W-24177

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses participated in the GlobalScot network in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-24175

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that it now holds information on how many handheld music devices provided through Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative are currently in use, and how much funding it has made available for the future use of these devices, and, if it is the case, whether it will provide this information.

Question reference: S6W-24173

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been made available for the (a) Access to Music Making and (b) Strengthening Youth Music Fund for (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-24200

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates its proposed £2,441,000 reduction in resource funding for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, as set out in the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, will have on its ability to maintain and operate regional airports.

The resource grant funding budget of £39,446,000 for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) in 2024-25 is intended to close the gap between HIAL’s commercial revenue and operating costs. As passenger numbers and commercial revenue have continued to recover post-pandemic, the subsidy requirement to maintain HIAL’s operations has lowered. The amount of grant funding required in 2024-25 will be determined by ongoing growth in passenger numbers, the delivery of new commercial opportunities and measures to reduce operating costs.

Question reference: S6W-24164

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19768 by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023, whether it will provide an updated breakdown of any performance payments that Historic Environment Scotland has awarded to staff at executive level in 2023.

As stated in my answer to question S6W-19768 given previously, no such payments have been made since the establishment of Historic Environment Scotland in 2015. Scottish Government pay policy for public bodies has not permitted performance-related payments for Chief Executives or for staff at director/executive level over this period.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-24161

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made to Historic Environment Scotland in 2023, and how many of those complaints were (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully resolved.