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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 35033 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-00193

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to accelerate the rate at which staff working in schools will be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-00190

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Sea Eagle Management Scheme payments are paid from the NatureScot budget and not from the Scottish Government's agriculture budget, in light of these payments being primarily to support farming.

The Sea Eagle Management Scheme is not an agricultural financial support scheme. It has historically been provided by NatureScot (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage) to provide practical support which includes advice, loan of scaring equipment and research for livestock farmers and crofters who suffer impacts across the sea eagle breeding range.

One of the objectives of the current White-tailed Eagle Action Plan is to consider whether support of farm and croft management relating to sea eagles should be included in future agri-environment programmes. This will help to develop the right conditions for the sustainable co-existence between sea eagles and sheep farming in ways which benefit the biodiversity, economic and social interests of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-00191

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Sea Eagle Management Scheme payments are not directed solely to farms and croft landholdings where there are independently verified livestock predation incidents established by veterinary post-mortem analysis.

The Sea Eagle Management Scheme is not a compensation scheme and therefore does not require verification of predation. It is not possible to retrieve all carcasses in suspected predation incidents as sea eagles generally take prey back to their nests. The aim is to support farmers and crofters to manage livestock in the presence of sea eagles and to minimise the risks of possible predation through that management. Applications to the scheme are accepted only where there is known sea eagle activity and after discussions between expert contractors and the applicant to assess the level of sea eagle activity and possible impacts.

Question reference: S6W-00192

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff who work in schools have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Currently 63% of teachers have had 1 dose of the vaccine. How reflective of the wider workforce the teacher figures will be will depend on the difference in age profile and underlying health conditions between these populations. Those working in the Early Learning Care sector tend to be younger so their vaccination rates would be expected to be lower at the moment. Statistics were published on 2 June 2021 at https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/

Question reference: S6W-00627

Asked by: Neil Gray, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any progress on consulting retail employees and businesses regarding large retail stores trading on New Year’s Day.

Question reference: S6W-00433

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much the SQA charged each local authority for providing its services in the 2019-20 session, and how much it will charge each local authority for the 2020-21 session.

I have asked SQA to respond. The charges per local authority are:

	Total Charges	Total Charges	Levy Amount	Non- Levy	Non- Levy
	2019-20	2020-21		2019-20	2020-21
Local Authority	£	£	£	£	£
ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL	705,222.25	699,017.00	698,265.00	6,957.25	752.00
ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL	1,177,229.25	1,185,000.00	1,169,834.00	7,395.25	15,166.00
ANGUS COUNCIL	555,398.25	552,189.00	549,886.00	5,512.25	2,303.00
ARGYLL & BUTE COUNCIL	445,413.50	443,867.00	443,348.00	2,065.50	519.00
SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL	545,625.00	546,656.50	1,483,687.00	- 938,062.00	- 937,030.50
CLACKMANNANSHIRE COUNCIL	240,288.25	240,466.00	238,057.00	2,231.25	2,409.00
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL	446,553.75	443,668.00	793,610.00	- 347,056.25	- 349,942.00
DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY COUNCIL	802,989.25	795,046.50	612,578.00	190,411.25	182,468.50
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL	620,854.25	622,603.00	602,382.00	18,472.25	20,221.00
EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL	609,791.50	610,740.00	678,524.00	- 68,732.50	- 67,784.00
EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL	682,681.00	681,193.00	487,911.00	194,770.00	193,282.00
EAST LOTHIAN COUNCIL	496,080.50	491,256.00	764,774.00	- 268,693.50	- 273,518.00
EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL	768,361.00	765,247.50	699,680.00	68,681.00	65,567.50
CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL	1,505,928.75	1,491,888.25	1,707,654.00	- 201,725.25	- 215,765.75
FALKIRK COUNCIL	707,678.75	703,365.75	2,135,236.00	- 1,427,557.25	- 1,431,870.25
FIFE COUNCIL	1,726,263.75	1,721,912.00	1,145,115.00	581,148.75	576,797.00
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL	2,153,260.00	2,149,264.00	385,443.00	1,767,817.00	1,763,821.00
HIGHLAND COUNCIL	1,153,573.00	1,155,695.00	425,177.00	728,396.00	730,518.00
INVERCLYDE COUNCIL	387,147.25	387,967.00	709,006.00	- 321,858.75	- 321,039.00
MIDLOTHIAN COUNCIL	428,181.75	426,894.50	1,766,850.00	- 1,338,668.25	- 1,339,955.50
THE MORAY COUNCIL	482,969.75	482,338.00	112,028.00	370,941.75	370,310.00
NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL	725,249.00	718,423.50	645,358.00	79,891.00	73,065.50
NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL	1,781,996.50	1,774,265.00	886,239.00	895,757.50	888,026.00
ORKNEY ISLANDS COUNCIL	112,504.00	112,028.00	540,772.00	- 428,268.00	- 428,744.00
PERTH & KINROSS COUNCIL	649,650.50	646,325.00	126,785.00	522,865.50	519,540.00
RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL	891,900.00	887,668.00	593,086.00	298,814.00	294,582.00
SHETLAND ISLANDS COUNCIL	127,303.75	128,010.50	1,545,723.00	- 1,418,419.25	- 1,417,712.50
SOUTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL	596,613.50	594,437.50	473,217.00	123,396.50	121,220.50
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL	1,555,156.50	1,553,114.50	480,912.00	1,074,244.50	1,072,202.50
STIRLING COUNCIL	478,519.00	477,069.50	443,668.00	34,851.00	33,401.50
WEST LOTHIAN COUNCIL	968,179.25	962,863.00	953,766.00	14,413.25	9,097.00
WESTERN ISLES COUNCIL	146,237.50	145,530.00	145,530.00	707.50	-

TOTAL	24,674,800.25	24,596,008.50	24,444,101.00	230,699.25	151,907.50

Question reference: S6W-00467

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure the Marine Fund Scotland does not add to overcapacity in (a) the scallop dredge and (b) other fisheries.

The governance applied to the Marine Fund Scotland will deliver on the Future of Fisheries Management policy document published last December. This will provide a clear framework to manage fisheries, balancing environmental, social and economic interests, adopting an ecosystems approach to fishing which follows the science.

This approach will ensure that all sea fisheries catching activity is in balance with the available opportunity in the exploitation of wild fisheries stocks. In addition, scallop dredge fishing activity is also controlled by other measures such as the limited availability of licence entitlements which have been capped following the removal by Marine Scotland of latent unused licences ensuring there is no increase in scallop dredge capacity.

Question reference: S6W-00348

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) teaching unions regarding temporary teaching positions.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers in local authority schools are matters for individual local authorities.

Whilst local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff, we are firmly of the view that we will need all possible teaching resources at our disposal to compensate for any loss of learning suffered since the start of the pandemic. It is for that reason that we have provided over £200 million of additional funding to support the recruitment of additional staff to aid education recovery.

In the first 100 days of this Parliamentary term, we will fund councils to increase teacher numbers by 1,000 and classroom assistants by 500. This as part of our commitment to support the recruitment of 3,500 additional teachers and classroom assistants over the parliamentary term.

We are working closely with COSLA regarding recruitment practices and the employment of teachers for next academic year, and Local Authorities are currently undertaking an assessment of staff requirements to support education recovery. This issue has also been discussed with the teaching unions at the Scottish Negotiation Committee for Teachers.

Question reference: S6W-00351

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, following the introduction of the Civil Liability Act in England and Wales, whether similar reforms regarding whiplash claims will be introduced in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-00426

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the (a) Institute for Aquaculture and (b) Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and what was discussed.

A Scottish Government official last met with the Institute of Aquaculture on 2 February 2021 when they attended a meeting of the Aquaculture Research Collaborative Hub (ARCH-UK) at which institute representatives are co-leaders. Discussion related to research which had been undertaken and proposed continuation of the ARCH-UK initiative. An official last met with the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre on 9 June 2021 at a Women in Scottish Aquaculture (WISA) meeting where a digital platform to promote women in aquaculture was presented.