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-34586

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the programme board established to consider how to take forward recommendations from the report by the Suckler Beef Climate Group, and whether it will provide the minutes of the board’s meetings to date.

Members of the Suckler Beef Climate Group Programme Board consist of: myself (co-chair), Jim Walker, Farmer (co-chair), Claire Simonetta, Farmer, Alan Clarke, QMS, Sarah Millar, QMS, Tim Bailey, SAOS, Pat Lambert, Farmer, Steven Thomson, SRUC, Andrew Moxey, Pareto Consulting, Claudia Rowse, NatureScot, Neil Wilson, IAAS, Scott Walker, NFUS, Andy McGowan, SAMW, Andrew Lacey, SRUC, Bob Yuill, ScotEID/SAOS and Scottish Government Officials. Minutes of meetings are available on the Scottish Government Website:

Question reference: S5W-34607

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will lay regulations to implement the terms of the single-use plastics directive, which is due to be implemented by the EU in July 2021.

Question reference: S5W-34587

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the programme board established to consider how to take forward recommendations from the report by the Suckler Beef Climate Group will report back solely to it, or in conjunction with farmer-led groups established by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism.

The programme board will provide advice and oversight to the Scottish Government on the implementation of the recommendations made by the Suckler Beef Climate Group on the development of support mechanisms for the sector to reduce GHG emissions of beef production.

The Scottish Government will also hear from four other farmer-led groups on how to farm in ways that reduce emissions and tackle climate change, as reaffirmed in the recently published Climate Change Plan update.

Question reference: S5W-34608

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many responses it has received to its consultation on the EU single-use plastics directive, and when it will publish a summary of the consultation responses.

Question reference: S5O-04947

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the businesses and sectors most directly impacted by Brexit.

Question reference: S5W-34104

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31906 by Michael Matheson on 28 September 2020, whether it will confirm when the community engagement and consultation phase was completed.

Question reference: S5W-34106

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29596 by Michael Matheson on 17 June 2020, whether it will confirm which community groups were consulted as part of the islands impact assessment being carried out for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s (HIAL) Air Traffic Management Strategy.

Question reference: S5W-34107

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29597 by Michael Matheson on 17 June 2020, when it expects all submissions and relevant correspondence in relation to the islands impact assessment being carried out for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s (HIAL) Air Traffic Management Strategy to be published on the HIAL website.

Question reference: S5W-34105

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the islands impact assessment into the proposals by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) for centralising air traffic services in the Highlands and Islands to be published.

Question reference: S5W-33552

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 6 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the most recently-published estimate of £10.7 billion, which was set out the June 2018 paper, Public Health Priorities for Scotland, being a figure for 2009-10 that was taken from an earlier report, whether it will provide an updated estimate of the annual national cost of dealing with mental health problems, after taking account of social and care costs, economic outputs and human costs.