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-17765

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17105 by Paul McLennan on 27 April 2023, whether it is aware that SafeDeposits Scotland has two versions of its Scheme Rules on its website, both dated 12 December 2022, which have different wordings for scheme rule 22.5, and whether it will investigate this irregularity.

SafeDeposits Scotland annually check the scheme rules and some wording changes were made for clarity. There have been no significant changes to the revised scheme or original proposal referred to the Scottish Government for approval. Any considered changes would be discussed as part of routine monitoring discussions.

SafeDeposits Scotland have confirmed that there is only one version of the Scheme Rules available on the website.

Question reference: S6W-17767

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15766 by Patrick Harvie on 22 March 2023, how many unclaimed deposits are currently in each of Scotland’s rental deposit schemes, and what their financial value is.

The following table provides how many unclaimed deposits are currently in each of Scotland’s rental deposit schemes, and what their financial value is at end February 2023.

	No. of unclaimed deposits	Financial value of unclaimed deposits
Letting Protection Service Scotland	2,191	£699,647
mydeposits Scotland	7,425	£1,810,399
SafeDeposits Scotland	4,413	£1,192,858

There is currently no definition in law of what an unclaimed deposit is. As part of the New Deal for Tenants: Draft Rented Sector Strategy we consulted on proposals to make use of unclaimed deposits and the period after which the funds should be available for reinvestment.

Question reference: S6W-17771

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the rate of care experienced students completing college or university courses, and when it last discussed this issue with representatives from the academic/education sector.

Attracting more people from a care-experienced background to further and higher education continues to be a priority for Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). SFC have a National Ambition for Care-Experienced Students for the college and university sectors.

Our vision is to see no difference in the outcomes between care-experienced students and non care-experienced students by 2030. The work we are currently doing is taking us toward that vision. The SFC’s Report on Widening Access reported that in 2020/21 care-experienced students at Scotland’s colleges and universities accounted for 1.9% of Scottish-domiciled entrants to undergraduate courses. That’s up from 1.7% in 2019-20 and represents an increase of 215 students. SFC has an established a Care Experience National Policy Group. The last meeting of that group was 26 January 2023 and included Student Ambassadors.

Question reference: S6W-17772

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of student withdrawals from (a) college and (b) university courses have been (i) male and (ii) female in each year since 2020.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publishes information on college withdrawals, as well as retention statistics for undergraduate courses at colleges and universities.

These statistics are measuring different things and are not comparable.

College withdrawal statistics (Chart 10) : College Performance Indicators 2020-21 (sfc.ac.uk)

College and university retention statistics (Background Table 3) : Report on Widening Access 2020-21 (sfc.ac.uk)

Question reference: S6W-17481

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of its representatives will attend the 53rd Annual Conference of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, in light of the reported economic value of the shellfish industry to Scotland.

The shellfish industry is an increasingly important aquaculture and food sector, creating and sustaining employment opportunities in many of Scotland’s remote rural, island and coastal communities and which supplies healthy and delicious Scottish shellfish to domestic and international markets and businesses.

I was pleased to support the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers conference held in Oban last year, in addition to the Shellfish Association of Great Britain conference to provide an update on progress across our priorities in Scotland, which of course is producing substantial amounts of the UK’s shellfish either through wild or farmed stocks. This year’s annual conference will be held in London in June and I was grateful to receive an invite to attend from David Jarrad, Chief Executive of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain.

Scottish Government officials are currently considering attendance at the event.

Question reference: S6W-17548

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress on (a) the recommendations in the report, A Review of the Aquaculture Regulatory Process in Scotland, published in February 2022, and (b) establishing a short-term project board.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-01811 on 25 January 2023 which is available on the Parliament's website, the Official Report can be found here: Meeting of the Parliament: 25/01/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

I am pleased to update that the Scottish Science Advisory Council published the ‘Use of Science and Evidence in Aquaculture Consenting and the Sustainable Development of Scottish Aquaculture’ report on 26 April 2023.

Question reference: S6W-17584

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings in the Scottish Women’s Aid and Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland report, Policies Not Promises: A review of Scottish social landlord’s domestic abuse policies, published in April 2023.

We welcome Scottish Women’s Aid and the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland’s Policies Not Promises report. It illustrates why the proposed new duty on social landlords to develop and implement a domestic abuse housing policy, as part of wider duties to prevent homelessness, is so important.

Social landlords play a crucial role in preventing homelessness and good intentions are not enough. There is good practice guidance already available to help social landlords and they must act now to support any tenants who are survivors of domestic abuse and protect their rights to stay in their home. I look forward to working closely with social landlords and other partners to ensure they improve their support and make a real, positive difference for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.

Question reference: S6W-17766

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16796 by Siobhian Brown on 21 April 2023, whether it can provide an estimated or intended year for the implementation of the restricted days of the supply and use of fireworks and pyrotechnic articles, in order to allow retailers to plan ahead.

Question reference: S6W-16710

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on maintaining the monarch as the head of state in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-01384

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce violence in schools, in light of reports that three teachers and a 14-year-old pupil have been injured in a disturbance at a Renfrewshire school.