Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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-36689

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether schedule 3 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 can be modified to ensure that Glasgow City Council's network of wholly and partly owned arms' length external organisations that provide services to and/or on behalf of the local authority are included as "relevant authorities".

Question reference: S6W-36040

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of Project Chia's consideration of the social value of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-36041

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a feasibility study on emulating the Common User Facility (CUF) model at the Australian Marine Complex in Perth, Western Australia, and Osborne Naval Shipyard near Adelaide, South Australia, at the (a) Newark Shipyard facility, which is owned by the Scottish Ministers via Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited, and (b) Inchgreen Marine Park, which is owned by Peel Group and operated in a joint venture with Inverclyde Council.

The Scottish Government provides a range of support to shipbuilding, marine engineering, harbours and ports across Scotland, but has no plans to undertake a feasibility study to emulate a Common User Facility for shipyards in Australia and Scotland, as the skill sets of the staff at the respective yards will differ.

This Government took a proactive approach to preserve commercial shipbuilding on the Clyde at Ferguson Marine and remains committed to invest in the skills and capabilities needed to secure a sustainable future for the shipyard.

Question reference: S6W-36515

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that Historic Environment Scotland (a) define what it means by “development proposals” and “development proposals at an advanced stage”, where these have been used as a reason for not proceeding with designation in instances where there are no live planning applications for the site/building in question, and (b) clarify how determinations should be handled in instances where planning applications or applications for building warrants are initiated while a building is under consideration for designation.

Question reference: S6W-36517

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that Historic Environment Scotland introduce a policy to recommend to planning authorities that they serve a building preservation notice at the outset of any instance where it has been requested to assess a building for designation but where that building may be subject to development proposals, or otherwise at risk of demolition during the designation assessment process.

Question reference: S6W-36516

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that Historic Environment Scotland revise its policy to not normally list buildings that are subject to development proposals at an advanced stage, in light of reports of recent cases where this has been seen as counterproductive.

Question reference: S6O-04500

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to incentivise the restoration and reuse of listed buildings in Glasgow that are considered to be at risk.

Responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of a listed building lies with the owner of the property. Consequently, the removal of VAT on these repairs would be a strong incentive for owners to undertake necessary work.

The Scottish Government will continue to make representations to UK Government requesting the implementation of a VAT reduction in the context of encouraging maintenance and energy efficiency improvements in traditional buildings.

Additionally, through Historic Environment Scotland’s Grants programme, we invest around £13.5 million a year to support building repairs, ancient monuments, archaeological work, and conservation.

Question reference: S6W-36023

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 1 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will promote collaboration between the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council's Strategic Investment Model Stage 1 project on enabling (a) crew transfer and (b) service operation vessel fabrication with the analysis of future market opportunities for UK-built ships in offshore wind, which the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, in partnership with the National Shipbuilding Office and the Crown Estate, has appointed Cammell Laird to carry out.

Question reference: S6O-04531

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will accelerate the full implementation of bus franchising powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Question reference: S6W-35590

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a comprehensive response to the Community Trade Union (a) report, Steel Reforged, and (b) recommendation that "the first priority should be upgrading our existing plate mill at Dalzell".

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the Community Trade Union’s report as part of our continued commitment to the vitally important sector. We acted at pace in 2016 to secure the future for the Dalzell and Clydebridge steel works, rescuing more than 100 jobs, and retaining steel plate production in Scotland. To protect the interests of the Scottish workforce, the Scottish Government maintains regular engagement with the plant owners, the UK Government and other partners; and we will shortly respond to the UK Government consultation on the Plan for Steel.