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-31656

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how many applications to the Private Rent Sector Landlord COVID-19 Loan Scheme have cited (a) tenants facing difficulty in paying rent and (b) inability to find a new tenant as a reason for loss of rental income.

Question reference: S5O-04581

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment made by the Lord Advocate in April 2018 regarding raising proceedings against companies and Scottish limited partnerships for failure to comply with their statutory duties to provide information to Companies House, what progress there has been and whether there have been any convictions.

Question reference: S5W-31406

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 31 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to end the risk of homelessness faced by domestic abuse victims who are seeking to exit a joint tenancy under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

We have convened a working group, co-chaired by Scottish Women’s Aid and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, to consider what actions are needed to prevent homelessness for women and children experiencing domestic abuse. This includes exploring whether an amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 is possible under the Domestic Abuse (Protective Orders) Bill to enable a social landlord to apply to the court for an order to transfer a social housing tenancy to a joint tenant who is a domestic abuse victim.

Question reference: S5W-30884

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the evaluation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme, and when the results will be published.

The Scottish Government accepted the Barclay Review recommendation to review the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) and, in June 2019, commissioned the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) to carry out an independent review of the scheme.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and associated restrictions, the FAI have been unable to perform the planned fieldwork and business engagement necessary to inform their findings. As such, they are now set to report on this review in Spring 2021, ahead of the timescales set out in the Barclay Review.

Question reference: S5W-30602

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not appointed any representatives of private tenants on its private Rented Sector Resilience Group.

Question reference: S5W-30601

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 27 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on its Housing to 2040 strategy, and what the timescales are for completing its consultation and other relevant work.

Question reference: S5W-29743

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it took to implement the recommendations of Exercise Cygnus on the UK's pandemic response, including the (a) preparation of a methodology for assessing social care capacity and surge capacity, (b) management of excess deaths in the community, (c) mapping of capacity of third sector organisations and developing a strategy for national direction of voluntary resources during a pandemic.

Question reference: S5W-29749

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it last tested its local response arrangements as identified by the report on Exercise Cygnus (page 7, Key Learning 1) on the UK's pandemic response.

Question reference: S5W-29748

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when each Regional Resilience Partnership last ran a pandemic planning exercise, and whether it will publish the results of these.

All three Regional Resilience Partnerships (North, East and West) participated in the Scottish Government Exercise Silver Swan in 2015. The exercise report and the follow-up report can be accessed via the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), and will also be published imminently.

None of the Regional Resilience Partnerships have conducted pandemic planning exercises in recent years. At the Local Resilience Partnership level, the Highlands & Islands ran a Pandemic Influenza exercise (Exercise Odette) in November 2017. The exercise report for Exercise Odette has not been published.

Question reference: S5W-29745

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 16 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for eviction proceedings have not yet been decided by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber).