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-20218

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with the Office for Nuclear Regulation regarding safety concerns at Hunterston B, and whether any such future meetings are planned.

Scottish Government officials are and will continue to be in regular contact with the nuclear safety and security regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), in respect of safety matters at all Scottish Civil Nuclear sites.

In respect of Hunterston B, whilst there have been no specific scheduled meetings, telephone and written contact has been regular, with ONR providing their latest updates to officials. During the latest communications on 28 November and 19 December 2018, ORN outlined their extensive involvement in this issue, namely:

ONR regulates EDF through on-site inspections which ensure that EDF controls its hazards effectively and maintains the highest nuclear safety and security standards. Site inspectors also provide advice on how to comply with legal requirements. ONR also assesses the adequacy of safety cases to ensure that the hazards are properly controlled. ONR holds regular meetings with EDF to discuss graphite cracking.

Supporting front line site inspectors is a team of specialist inspectors from ONR's assessment units, whom the site inspector can draw upon for in-depth specialist expert advice.

Permission will only be granted for the reactor to return to service if the ORN is satisfied that it is safe to do so. This assessment will include consideration of the timing of further inspections. The specialist inspectors are called onto site to support particular inspections.

I will next meet ONR on 21 February 2019.

Question reference: S5O-02755

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers who are employed using the Attainment Scotland Fund are on permanent contracts.

Question reference: S5W-20269

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03736 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016, whether it will provide the information for 2017-18, and what information it can provide regarding which companies received funding, how much they received and the purpose of the award.

Question reference: S5W-20276

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to answer S5W-19978 by Jamie Hepburn on 29 November 2018, what action it takes to ensure that a laser guidance system whose development or production has received enterprise grant support is not used for a purpose that meets its definition of munitions.

Question reference: S5W-20219

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18507 by Ivan McKee on 28 September 2018, whether it will provide the details of Scottish Enterprise’s support to Raytheon for the purposes of diversification into non-military, civilian markets, and what (a) specific projects were funded, (b) criteria it was assessed against and (c) specific products or services by Raytheon were supported by this funding.

Question reference: S5W-20156

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on professional learning for teachers in each of the last five years, and whether it will provide a breakdown of the topic covered in each year.

Teachers in Scotland have a contractual entitlement to career-long professional learning. As their employer, local authorities play an important role in providing and facilitating access to professional learning. The Scottish Government provides Local Authorities with a block grant to deliver education which reflects this responsibility. The costs of such expenditure over the last 5 years is not held centrally.

In addition, the Scottish Government also funds a range of activity in support of teachers’ professional learning. A table of examples is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 60287).

Question reference: S5W-20103

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support companies whose electricity production comes from 100% renewable sources to bid for the public contract to deliver electricity to public sector organisations.

The tender competitions have always been open to bids from any company that has a licence to supply electricity in the UK; this includes companies that generate electricity from 100% renewable sources. The Scottish Government provides comprehensive support to companies interested in bidding for its contracts, including the Supplier Journey and through funding of the Supplier Development Programme.

Question reference: S5W-20157

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent by schools on (a) professional learning and (b) professional learning on additional support needs in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-20102

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that the provision of electricity to public bodies comes from energy companies that generate their electricity from 100% renewable energy, and what its reasons are for its position on this matter.

All major electricity suppliers can access renewable power at scale, either directly via their own generation or via third parties. The new national electricity contract contains provision for the supply of electricity from 100% renewable sources. As there are additional costs involved compared to baseline contract costs, public bodies can choose whether they wish to avail themselves of this option.

The new national electricity contract makes provision to support public bodies generating their own power including exporting any excess to the National Grid, as well as supporting them to buy directly from renewable sources through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

Question reference: S5W-20101

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new publicly-owned Scottish energy company will source its electricity from 100% renewable sources.

The outline business case for the public energy company is currently being developed. This will determine the future arrangements that would support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s ambition to work in partnership with local authorities to deliver a public energy company through a white label contract approach. Whilst we are not yet able to specify the precise terms of any white label energy supply contract, given the Scottish Government's strong commitment of renewable energy, as set out in Scotland's Energy Strategy, it is expected that the use of renewable sources will be a key component of any contract specification.