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-27518

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is tackling sectarianism in wider society, in addition to football.

Question reference: S6W-27517

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Scottish Football Association to discuss sectarianism.

Question reference: S6W-27516

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its policies aimed at tackling sectarianism to assess their effectiveness and report any findings to the Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-27519

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who has ministerial responsibility for tackling sectarianism in football.

Question reference: S6W-27276

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations in relation to (a) public safety and (b) transport are being taken for the upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh, in light of the anticipated demographic of the audience being primarily younger women.

The Taylor Swift concerts are wholly commercial events and the Scottish Government has no locus for involvement. It is the responsibility of the City of Edinburgh Council as the relevant licensing authority to oversee events of this nature, including ensuring compliance by the organisers with the appropriate public safety regulations.

Like with similar major events, security arrangements including the deployment of officers is an operational decision for Police Scotland.

Enhanced transport arrangements have been put into place across Lothian Buses, Edinburgh Trams and ScotRail services to meet the increase in demand expected over the weekend. This includes adding later trains on numerous routes and providing additional carriages on existing rail services to manage the demand. There will be enhanced staffing plans and additional British Transport Police (BTP) officers in place at key locations, as well as on board trains to ensure a safe environment for passengers traveling to and from the event.

Question reference: S6W-27288

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use digital and social media platforms to effectively disseminate wildfire prevention information to the public.

Efficient and effective dissemination of wildfire prevention information to the public is key to preventing wildfires. Before igniting any flames in a rural or outdoor setting, the SFRS encourage everyone to check which area of Scotland may be at threat of wildfires. If a threat is in place, the key prevention advice from the SFRS is that people should refrain from igniting any flames. People can check the current threat levels in their area by visiting the following SFRS website:

https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/outdoors/wildfires/wildfire-danger-assessments/

When Scotland is at a high threat of wildfires, the SFRS work in partnership with the Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF), to alert the public and partners to the threat of wildfires by issuing “Wildfire Danger Assessments”. SFRS issue alerts through their social media channels, their website and local media outlets, and request assistance from Local Authorities across Scotland to share safety messaging to seek engagement with as many members of public as possible. These warnings detail which areas across Scotland are most likely to be affected. The SFRS also alert the Scottish Government who pro-actively re-issue these warnings across digital and social media platforms.

Question reference: S6W-27295

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will repeal the short-term lets regulations, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

We remain committed to the current regulation of short-term let accommodation. Over the last decade the sector has both grown significantly and changed in nature. That has brought economic benefits but also raised concerns about consistency of quality and the impact on neighbourhoods. The introduction of licensing brings short-term lets in line with other accommodation such as hotels and caravan parks, providing assurance to guests on safety and quality such as gas and electrical safety compliance and the suitability of hosts.

I am currently preparing an update for Parliament on the implementation of short-term let licensing. This will outline findings from our monitoring and ongoing engagement with stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-27287

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to fighting wildfires in Scotland in each of the last 10 years.

Since 2017-18 there have been substantial year on year increases in funding to support SFRS to create a modern and effective fire and rescue service. The 2024-25 budget for SFRS, at £393.3 million, is over £78m higher that the 2017-18 equivalent figure. All firefighters carry out a variety of prevention and response related roles and the Scottish Government does not allocate funding to SFRS for specific types of incidents. Decisions on the allocation of resources are a matter for the SFRS Board and Chief Officer.

Question reference: S6W-27223

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25983 by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024, for what reason the name of the financial institution providing the Bank Refund Guarantee (BRG) is deemed to be commercially confidential.

Question reference: S6W-27290

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 14 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will detail its investment in state-of-the-art technology and aerial surveillance for early detection and response to wildfires.