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: S5W-27469

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the sector has a high recorded level of fuel poverty based on tenure, what its response it to concerns that its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating targets for the private-rented sector are not sufficiently ambitious.

Addressing fuel poverty, climate change and tackling energy efficiency have been long term priorities for the Scottish Government.

Improving the energy efficiency of homes in the PRS sector is part of an overall framework of standards and support across all tenures and buildings through our Energy Efficient Scotland programme. This is early action, going ahead of the owner occupation sector in recognition of the existing levels of poor energy efficiency within this tenure, and following the progress of the social sector. The higher levels of Fuel Poverty in the PRS supports the need to press ahead with this early action in the PRS.

For these reasons, there is a further commitment that all PRS properties should be at EPC C by 2030, where technically feasible and cost effective – bringing these homes up to the same standard as owner occupiers.

Our Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme helps homeowners and private rented sector tenants who are on a low income and are struggling to heat their home. The scheme is designed to make their homes warmer through installing a range of energy efficiency measures, who meet the qualifying criteria. Further information and qualifying criteria is available on the Home Energy Scotland or by contacting Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282.

Question reference: S5W-27470

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a fine is a sufficient deterrent where a private landlord has failed to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least E for their property by 1 October 2020.

The regulations require that new tenancies must meet an EPC rating of E from 1 October 2020.

The modelled average cost of upgrading stock with an EPC rating of F or G to meet an EPC E is around £1,140. There is a broad range of support and incentives to help landlords improve the energy efficiency of their properties, including low cost loans which can be accessed via Home Energy Scotland.

The Scottish Government believes that the prospect of a civil penalty of up to £5,000 will be sufficient to encourage landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.

Question reference: S5W-27380

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce reliance on gas boilers and increase the use of alternative heating sources.

The Scottish Government currently funds a number of schemes to support the uptake of renewable and low carbon heat, including support for heat networks and for individual households and businesses to install low carbon heating. Where we currently provide funding for fossil fuel heating systems we have already increased support for renewable and low carbon heating, for example via Warmer Homes Scotland.

We recognise the need to phase out support for fossil fuel heating, which we will do between now and 2024, where it is appropriate and does not adversely affect achieving our statutory fuel poverty targets. We are also committed to working with industry to introduce a requirement for new homes to have low carbon heating from 2024, i.e. for all new build properties to no longer use fossil fuel boilers from this date.

The Draft 2020-21 Budget allocates £120 million for a Heat Transition Deal to accelerate the deployment of low carbon heating sources. Later this year, we will publish a Heat Decarbonisation Policy Statement which will include a programme of actions to scale up deployment of low carbon heating and taking into account the need to scale up capacity within the supply chain.

Question reference: S5W-27386

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the rail network's capacity to increase the number of passengers using it, and whether it will publish the findings of any such assessment.

As a result of the significant investment made in Scotland’s Railway infrastructure, stations and services, we have seen patronage grow by 35% in the last ten years.

Our National Transport Strategy, which was published on 5 February, sets out the future direction for transport and reflects the declaration of the global climate emergency with climate change action identified as a priority.

We are fully committed to increasing public and sustainable transport options across the country. The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), due to report Spring 2021, is underway and is currently identifying the transport interventions required to provide Scotland with a network fit for the 21st Century, which will inform Scottish Ministers’ investment decisions for the next 20 years. Any decisions on future funding of transport infrastructure in Scotland will be informed by the outputs of STPR2 and through the normal cycle of government spending reviews.

In terms of rail capacity assessment I would refer the member to Network Rail’s Scotland Route Study publication:-

Question reference: S5W-27377

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government in the last three years regarding HS2.

Over the last three years, Transport Scotland and Department for Transport officials have been working in partnership with HS2 Ltd and Network Rail to deliver a joint UK and Scottish Government commitment to identify options that could improve capacity and reduce journey time on the rail routes between Scotland and England.

Officials last met their UK Government counterparts on 18 December 2019 as part of a regular set of meetings at which they discussed infrastructure options for high speed rail to improve speed, capacity, connectivity and resilience on rail routes between England and Scotland. The next scheduled meeting is due to be held on 5 March 2020.

Question reference: S5W-27384

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make improvements to Sunday services provided by any future rail operators.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that our rail services deliver the best possible connectivity for the people of Scotland. Over the last ten years we have significantly improved both the frequency of weekday and Sunday services. In addition, we have introduced Sunday services on routes which were not served before. We remain committed to further such improvements, subject to affordability and rail industry deliverability constraints.

Question reference: S5W-27385

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the frequency of rail services in areas that currently have an hourly service.

Question reference: S5O-04155

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it will grow the live music industry in Scotland, given the closure of the O2 ABC.

Question reference: S5W-27379

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 19 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available to support disabled people who wish to stand for electoral office.

Political parties should support their disabled candidates with additional costs , however we recognise that this may not always be possible.

In February 2016 the Scottish Government launched the Access to Elected Office Fund to provide support for disabled people seeking to stand for selection or election in the 2017 local government elections. The Fund offered financial assistance to disabled people to help meet the additional costs they face when seeking election. It was initially delivered on a pilot basis by Inclusion Scotland however, after achieving positive outcomes, the fund has been continued for local and Scottish Parliamentary elections to 2021.

For the 2017 local authority elections, 44 disabled people were supported by the Fund with 39 becoming official candidates. Of those, 15 disabled people were elected to local councils, covering a wide geographical area and a range of political parties and impairments.

Question reference: S5O-04116

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a single consent form to allow benefit claimants to agree to share their data for the purpose of benefit take-up.