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-28035

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement NatureScot has had with the Bat Conservation Trust regarding the protection of bat species from the loss of roost sites.

NatureScot considers bat surveys submitted as part of a licence application against the Good Practice Guidelines developed by the Bat Conservation Trust. NatureScot also contributed to the creation of these guidelines. The guidelines ensure that bat roost sites are appropriately surveyed to inform species licensing decisions and allow NatureScot to assess what is the appropriate level of mitigation and compensation to protect bat species.

Question reference: S6W-28004

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to (a) the First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls 2024 Report and (b) reported concerns that a lack of urgency, coherence and accountability on the part of the Scottish Government has prevented the implementation of all previous recommendations of the advisory council.

We are grateful to the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls and the Empowering Women Panel for the considerable work they put into the 2024 report. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the Council and Panel to meet our shared goal of greater equality for women and girls. We welcome the report are giving it our full consideration before responding formally to the Council.

While we recognise progress has been made in this area, there is much more to do. I met with the co-chairs of the NACWG recently and discussed how we can best make that progress. I look forward to carrying on that discussion and taking forward any actions required.

Question reference: S6W-27938

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24385 by Shona Robison on 22 January 2024, whether it will provide an updated list of any current (a) ministerial taskforces, (b) Cabinet committees, (c) Cabinet sub-committees, (d) ministerial working groups and (e) other ministerial committees.

Kate Forbes: Information on Cabinet and Cabinet Sub-Committees is available on the Scottish Government website here; any change to these structures would be updated on these pages:

Cabinet and Ministers - gov.scot ( www.gov.scot )

Cabinet sub-committees: factsheet - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

There is also a range of other Ministerial groups and taskforces that are co-ordinated by individual portfolios. These are developed as required and change over time, therefore a comprehensive list of such groups is not available.

Question reference: S6W-28019

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27514 by Ivan McKee on 30 May 2024, whether it plans to publish the findings of the internal review and the report provided to ministers, and when it expects ministers to respond.

Question reference: S6W-28015

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27509 by Ivan McKee on 30 May 2024, whether it will release (a) copies of the letters sent by the minister and (b) the responses received from the (i) chairs and (ii) chief executives mentioned.

My recent letter to chairs and chief executives of public bodies can be viewed at www.gov.scot/publications/making-the-most-of-resources-letter-to-public-bodies/ .

In my letter, I reminded chairs and chief executives that it is incumbent on each public body to adhere to the statutory duties to which it is subject, which for many includes reporting requirements in Part 3 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

No substantive response from chairs and chief executives has, so far, been received to this letter.

Question reference: S6W-27420

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what date its Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP) reportedly granted a request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered from 134,0000 children in the Health and Wellbeing Census, and whether it will provide any documentation that shows for what reason any such request was granted, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default, which created "serious risks" and put children at risk of "potential harms".

The Scottish Government has a robust process in place when it receives access requests to its data for statistics and research purposes: Scottish Government statistics: request our data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This web page includes a list of projects that have been approved by the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP).

The request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered in the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census did not progress to final approval and as such this data access request does not feature in the list of approved projects.

Question reference: S6W-27934

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much the potential designation of a new national park has cost to date.

The Scottish Government has received nominations from five areas which wish to be considered for designation as a new National Park.

The delivery costs to date, excluding staffing costs and expenses, are £331,409.05.

These costs are broken down as follows:

£100,000.00 funding to NatureScot for New National Parks

£27,387.77 on consultation activities

£48,269.22 on impact assessments

£147,653.06 on nominations support funding

In 2022 NatureScot was asked to undertake public consultation and stakeholder engagement in order to provide advice to the Scottish Government on the future of National Parks in Scotland. More information is available here: National Parks Advice to Ministers - February 2023 | NatureScot.

Question reference: S6W-28096

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what training packages are in place for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in relation to environmental (a) legislation and (b) crime.

Question reference: S6W-28206

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve psychosocial care for people living with kidney disease.

Question reference: S6W-28225

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 15 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it holds regular discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency regarding maritime safety compliance on privately-operated ferry routes in Scotland, and, if so, when the MV Alfred was last discussed.