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-32910

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32549 by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2020, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what date it last met representatives of the aviation industry.

Question reference: S5W-32636

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Scottish Youth Guarantee and when young people will begin to be supported by this scheme; how much money has been spent on the scheme since it was announced; how many (a) young people have received assistance from the scheme, (b) young people have been consulted about the scheme since it was announced, (c) jobs have been created by the scheme and (d) civil servants are working on the scheme, including what this represents as a percentage of the staffing capacity of its economy directorate.

The Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Fair Work and Culture set out further details on how the Young Person's Guarantee would be delivered, including details on the £60m of additional funding and how young people would be supported, in her statement to Parliament on 5 November.

The Scottish Government is supporting the commitment set out by Sandy Begbie, that within 2 years every 16-24 year old in Scotland will either be in paid employment for a period of between 12 and 24 months, enrolled in education, actively involved on an apprenticeship or training programme, or engaged on a formal volunteering or supported activity programme. As the Guarantee includes a range of existing interventions and will include new offers it is not yet possible to aggregate the total number of young people who have received support.

The Scottish Government has engaged young people and the organisations who represent them on an ongoing basis. We published the reports from the work Young Scot and Intercultural Youth Scotland took forward alongside our

A range of employers have already signalled their willingness to support the Young Person’s Guarantee such as Cap Gemini, SSE, Lothian Health Board and the Scottish Government. We will continue to build broad support by engaging with a range of stakeholders including employers, young people, Unions and third sector organisations.

In order to support the delivery of the Young Person's Guarantee a new Division has been created in the Economy Directorate. The division currently has 24 members of staff who are coordinating the work to support the Guarantee across the Scottish Government and its agencies as well as supporting other related areas of policy, including Developing the Young Workforce, Apprenticeships and Careers Information Advice and Guidance.

Question reference: S5W-32946

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 12 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many training courses to develop the skills required for energy efficiency and low-carbon heat have been available across colleges in Scotland in each of the last five years, and what targeted funding has been made available to support each course in each year.

The latest data available are from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and go up to and including the academic year 2018-19 and pre-date the establishment of new funding streams designed to support the green recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic. The data cover training relating to energy or low carbon sectors.

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
No of courses (colleges only)	76	71	77	86	90
No of students (FE and HE)	1,447	1,363	1,693	1,759	2,038
Funding*	£3,130,052	£3,013,065	£2,395,131	£2,194,101	£2,352,639

*From SFC and based on credit delivery to these students and note this includes HE and FE.

The data in the table therefore do not include spend in 2019-20 or our recent commitments in 2020-21 to:

• An initial £25 million National Training Transition Fund to provide retraining opportunities for people who have lost their jobs or are at risk of doing so;

• A £60 million Youth Guarantee , so every young person aged between 16 and 24 will be guaranteed an opportunity at university or college, an apprenticeship programme, employment including work experience, or participating in a formal volunteering programme. This will be backed by additional funding for apprenticeships and the new Job Start Grant ;

• Our £100 million Green Jobs fund , investing alongside a range of sectors - such as manufacturing, tech, and land based organisations - to support new and increased opportunities for green job creation across Scotland; and

• Doubling of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund to £20m - enabling employers to access up to £15,000 each to address skills gaps in their workforce

Question reference: S5W-32197

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of food waste reduction measures identified by Zero Waste Scotland through stakeholder workshops as part of the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, and which of these measures are yet to be implemented.

The measures identified and committed to under the four action areas of the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan represent the outcome of the stakeholder workshops delivered by Zero Waste Scotland. The environmental and economic benefits of food waste prevention remain as important as ever as we deal with, and recover from, COVID-19 and a full review of progress against the commitments in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan will be published in 2021.

Question reference: S5W-32944

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the loans issued under the SME Loan Scheme to aid energy efficiency measures, (a) how many loans have been issued and (b) what the total value of (i) issued and (ii) repaid loans has been in each year since it launched.

Since the launch of the SME Loan Scheme in its current form in 2013, 594 loans have been paid to aid businesses to implement energy efficiency measures.

SME Energy Efficiency loan paid number and value by FY budgets as at 30 th September 2020

Financial year	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21 - to 30 Sep 20
Number of loans paid	35	63	55	53	79	153	139	17
Value of loans paid	£1,063,128	£1,177,773	£1,289,009	£910,486	£1,850,520	£2,662,054	£2,286,498	£248,278

SME Energy Efficiency loan repayment values received by FY as at 30 th September 2020

Financial year	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21 year to 30 Sep 20
Value of loan repayments	£1,697,797	£1,869,548	£2,077,224	£2,069,221	£2,147,396	£2,101,442	£1,999,249	£658,943

These figures represent energy efficiency loans only and do not include loans which have been legally committed in 2020-21 but have yet to be drawn down.

This scheme builds on earlier support, as set out in our Energy Efficient Scotland Route map published in 2018, where at that point - including previous incarnations since 2008 - the SME Loan Scheme had financed over 800 projects resulting in financial savings of over £36 million.

Question reference: S5W-32947

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding awarded through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) since 2015, and what the (a) outcomes have been and (b) current status is of each funded project.

Question reference: S5W-32336

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what reduction in food waste there has been in (a) schools and (b) hospitals in each year since 2013.

As outlined under the response to S5W-32198 on 30 October 2020, we currently do not hold food waste data at a sector-specific level, and it is therefore not possible to determine accurate national estimates of food waste specifically for schools or hospitals at this time. The developing actions and infrastructure described in the response to question S5W-32200 on 30 October 2020, together with improvement in measurement methodologies, will support an enhanced capacity for food waste measurement and reporting going forward.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

Question reference: S5W-32341

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the rural exemption for food waste.

Question reference: S5W-32342

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many collaborations between businesses that generate food waste and those that can utilise food waste as a resource it has facilitated since 2013.

Since 2016, nine projects have been formally supported, through Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund, that utilise food and drink waste or by-products. Since 2016, Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Business Support Service has supported 15 SMEs in the pursuit of turning food waste or food by-product into secondary products. Additionally, support has been provided to targeted sectors under Zero Waste Scotland’s Food and Drink Advice and Support Service through the provision of food waste audits. Food waste audits have been provided to 30 bakeries and 10 breweries, identifying the opportunity to provide waste bread to breweries as a malt replacement in brewing amongst other waste prevention measures, including redistribution opportunities.

Question reference: S5W-32434

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31929 by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020, how many remanufactured products made in Scotland have been recognised as comparable or equivalent to new products by the EU, standards and certification organisations and others since 2016, and how many of those were achieved through it or its agencies lobbying and/or influencing through other means.

This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (SIR) has enabled 23 companies to deploy new manufacturing technologies and processes into their businesses in Scotland. The SIR and the University of Strathclyde have also worked with standard setting bodies to develop remanufacturing standards, influenced the creation of the European Remanufacturing Council, and had involvement with product specific steering committees.