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-19736

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Scottish Development International since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website . The spreadsheets include a wide range of information including details of the organisation/individuals Ministers met along with the subject discussed.

Scottish Government Officials from the Directorate for International Trade and Investment have regularly met with the SDI since May 2021 as key partners to showcase Scotland’s strengths globally, boost inward investment and to achieve our export growth ambition. In addition, officials across a range of portfolios engage with the SDI as part of the policy development process and this will continue.

Question reference: S6W-19733

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 12 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Question reference: S6W-19718

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has held any discussions with Historic Environment Scotland regarding any permanent closures of sites that it manages, and, if so, which sites were earmarked for closure.

Question reference: S6W-19716

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm the total amount that Historic Environment Scotland has spent on advertising its sites, in each year since it was founded in 2015.

Question reference: S6W-19768

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether Historic Environment Scotland awarded any performance payments to staff at executive level since 2015, broken down by year.

Question reference: S6W-19717

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the advertising spend that Historic Environment Scotland allocates to promote each of its sites.

Question reference: S6W-19751

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its paper, A Culture Strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide an update on how it is working with (a) Creative Scotland and (b) its international offices, to encourage international cultural exchange and collaboration in order to facilitate opportunities across the culture sector.

Question reference: S6W-19306

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to assist NHS Western Isles to recruit permanent GPs for a number of vacancies across all the islands.

Question reference: S6W-19307

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to assist NHS Western Isles to recruit a permanent (a) GP and (b) dentist for the Isle of Barra.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and developing rural and island primary care and continues to meet regularly with NHS Western Isles to review all aspects of the Board’s service delivery.

The Scottish Government are investing in a range of initiatives to assist Boards in recruitment, so that being a GP or dentist remains an attractive career choice in Scotland.

Boards are able to access funding support including the Golden Hello scheme to attract new rural GPs, Rediscover the Joy that aims to recruit experienced GPs to provide resilience for remote and rural practices, SCOTGEM, a scheme that provides a graduate-entry medical degree with a rural focus, and a recruitment and retention allowance, allowing health boards, such as Western Isles, to pay a new qualified trainee dentist up to £37,500 over a three year period.

Question reference: S6W-19248

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what additional electricity grid capacity will be needed to meet its target of banning the sale of (a) pure-combustion vehicles from 2030 and (b) plug-in and full hybrid vehicles from 2035.

Independent work commissioned by Transport Scotland on the renewable energy requirements projected to be needed for the entire transport sector as it decarbonises between now and 2045 are set out in the Zero Emission Energy for Transport Forecasts: National Demand Forecasts for Electricity and Hydrogen report published on 26th May last year. The findings of this report show that the amount of electricity (and hydrogen) Scotland’s transport system is expected to need is well within the levels of what the energy sector is expected to generate.

It is important to highlight that electricity network companies are investing to ensure that our infrastructure can support our transition to net zero. Both Scottish electricity Distribution Network Operators have worked closely with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to ensure that their business plans reflect the scale and pace of deployment necessary to meet Scotland’s net zero and interim targets.