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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 648 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-09515

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06701 by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022, what the cost was of the (a) community needs and (b) market assessments of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes undertaken to inform the Ferries Plan 2013-2022.

Question reference: S6W-09519

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06701 by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022, whether it will provide an update on any invitations to external consultants to tender for contracts related to the (a) community needs and (b) market assessments.

Question reference: S6W-09836

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it holds any statistics on the number of people currently staying in community-based bail accommodation.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on the number of people staying in community based bail accommodation. Officials are currently exploring what further data could be practically recorded beyond the current information collated annually on total bail orders by gender and age and bail supervision cases by Local Authority areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening alternatives to remand and this year, alongside introducing electronic monitoring for bail, increased investment by £3.2m. We are continuing to work with partners to explore improvements, including the potential to further develop community based bail accommodation in the future .

Question reference: S6W-09504

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many applications teaching posts receive on average in each local authority.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data.

The recruitment and employment of teachers in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education.

Councils have the responsibility for providing a complement of teachers and all other education staff which best meets the needs of their schools and pupils within the resources available.

Question reference: S6W-09503

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to reduce the number of teachers on temporary contracts.

The recruitment and employment of teachers in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education.

Councils have the responsibility for providing a complement of teachers and all other necessary education staff which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

This includes providing a complement of teachers and headteachers which meet the needs of each of their schools and its pupils in light of their local needs and circumstances.

The Scottish Government is determined that teachers, who have trained and made a commitment to educate our young people, have strong job opportunities. For that reason, we have provided £240 million of additional investment to local authorities during the pandemic to support the recruitment of additional education staff to support education recovery. We are also providing additional permanent funding of £145.5 million per year to support the recruitment of these extra staff.

We will continue to work closely with COSLA regarding the employment of teachers and do everything we can to maximise the number of jobs available for teachers, including permanent posts.

Question reference: S6W-09698

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all Marine Scotland staff receive any overdue pay for specified leave days.

Question reference: S6W-09361

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Programme pipeline update (March 2022), which second-hand vessels have been considered for purchase by CMAL since 1 December 2021.

The Scottish Government continue to task Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to search the second hand tonnage market for appropriate vessels to support and enhance connections on Scotland’s ferries network.

CMAL have investigated some 70 vessels since 1 December 2021 of which only 1 has been deemed suitable for purchase. The vessel (MV Loch Frisa) was bought, upgraded and entered service on the Craignure-Oban service in June 2022.

Question reference: S6W-09358

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Programme pipeline update (March 2022), which was published on 15 June 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the increase in the cost of tenders for contracts in the Skye Triangle Infrastructure Programme, and what proportion of the budget for that programme has been spent to date.

The Skye Triangle Infrastructure Programme is estimated to cost around £108million in total for the three port projects: Tarbert (Harris) £23million, Lochmaddy (North Uist) £21million and Uig (Skye) £64million as budgeted following completion of the tender processes. This compares with a total budget of £95million at the time of publishing the Infrastructure Investment Plan in February 2021. The works are aimed at replacing life expired infrastructure, improving resilience and increasing the range of vessels that can use the ports.

Each of the projects are currently in the construction phase and we estimate total project spend to date to be in the region of £34million. It is the responsibility of the statutory harbour authorities undertaking the works to monitor costs and spend for each of the port projects namely; Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) for Tarbert, Comhairle nan Eiliean Siar (CNES) for Lochmaddy, and The Highland Council (THC) for Uig.

Question reference: S6W-09360

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Programme pipeline update (March 2022), what assessment it has made of the number of full-time equivalent (a) manufacturing, (b) seafarer and (b) port jobs that could be created in Scotland from the (i) CMAL Net Vessel Investment and (ii) Piers and Harbours Grants programmes.

The assessments undertaken to inform ferries investments focus on direct infrastructure impacts such as route capacity and connectivity. The benefit realisation process for each project will seek to identify and maximise the positive impact of our investments. As an example of this, the recent introduction of the MV Loch Frisa was enabled by modifications works, instructed by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), undertaken at the Dales facility in Leith, and CalMac Ferries Ltd have now completed the recruitment of 38 crew for the vessel to provide the year round commutable service for Mull.

Question reference: S6W-09362

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Programme pipeline update (March 2022), whether it will provide an update on what commercial discussions Transport Scotland has had with Peel Ports regarding infrastructure work at Ardrossan Harbour.