Questions and answers

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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-22544

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applicants in total there have been for Adult Disability Payment since it was launched; of those, how many in total have waited more than (a) eight, (b) nine and (c) 10 weeks for a decision; what the median waiting time has been for all applications, and what the longest time is that an applicant has waited for a decision.

Statistics relating to Adult Disability Payment are published quarterly – the latest releases covers the period to 31 st July 2023 and is available on the Social Security Scotland website:

Table 1 of the publication provides statistics on the number of applicants there have been for Adult Disability Payment, and Table 8 provides statistics on processing times. We can't provide data on longest processing times as we are unable to report on individual cases.

Question reference: S6W-22487

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12674 by Mairi McAllan on 14 December 2022, whether it will provide an update on which of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works are (a) under construction and (b) at the planning or other stage of development, broken down by (i) the expected completion date, including the reason for any date being beyond the 2021 timeframe, (ii) the number of properties that will be protected and (iii) the (A) initial forecast and (B) final expected cost of each.

Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies included 42 formal flood protection schemes. Local authorities were expected to start work on development of these schemes by 2021.

Flood protection schemes can have significant impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and so require careful and detailed planning and consultation, it was recognised that construction work may not be completed within the 2015-2021 timeframe.

15 of the flood schemes have now been completed.

Schemes (a) under construction are as follows:

Scheme	(ii) Properties protected	(i) Completion Date	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated final cost (£ million) (2)
Upper Garnock	600	2023	15.5	18.5
Hawick	970	2023	37.4	78.6
Campbeltown	770	2024	9.3	15.2
Millport Coastal	657	2024	12.1	48.6
Stranraer	350	2024	0.4	1.2

Schemes (b) under development are as follows:

Scheme	Stage	(ii) Properties protected	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated Final Cost of Scheme (2)
Kilmacolm – Glenmosston Burn	Confirmed (3)	Not held	0.5	0.5
Comrie	Confirmed (3)	189	15.7	28.4
Quarrier’s Village	Confirmed (3)	60	0.2	0.4
Dumfries - Whitesands	Confirmed (3)	166	18.9	37.5
Water of Leith (Coltbridge, Gorgie, Saughton) Phase 3	Confirmed (3)	75	Not held	Not held
Mill Burn Millport	Confirmed (3)	124	1.1	1.7
Musselburgh	Under development	2500	8.9	97.9
Dumbarton - Gruggies Burn	Under development	370	14.5	20.0
Newton Stewart/ River Cree	Under development	270	7.5	18.5
South Kinross	Under development	Not held	3.2	3.8
Bridge of Allan	Under development	Not held	4.4	17.3
Callander	Under development	30	2.4	4.7
Haddington	Under development	320	8.5	8.5
Stirling	Under development	810	26.2	85.6
Grangemouth FPS	Under development	2980	111.5	420
St Andrews - Kinness Burn	Under development	133	3.2	3.2
South Fords	Under development	58	1.4	1.4
Scone	Under development	44	0.7	0.8

(1) Note: Initial costs as provided by local authorities in 2016-17.

(2) Note: Final Scheme costs are the latest estimates provided by local authorities. Differences between these latest estimates and initial cost estimates arise as a result of inflationary pressures and because flood protection schemes are put forward for prioritisation at various stages of their development to fit with Flood Risk Management Planning cycle set out in the FRM Act. Costs are revised over time as designs are finalised and more detailed investigations are carried out and as new information emerges.

Schemes will only be taken forward for construction if they receive the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals so the expected completion date is not yet known.

More detailed information on each of the schemes can be obtained from the relevant local authorities whose responsibility it is to develop and deliver flood protection schemes and who are best placed to answer specific questions on each of the schemes.

(3) Note: Formally confirmed under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009).

Question reference: S6O-02696

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average processing time is for Adult Disability Payment applications.

Question reference: S6O-02664

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the proposal for a railway station in Newburgh, Fife.

Question reference: S6O-02641

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it consulted Elon Musk as part of its R100 programme.

Question reference: S6O-02615

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make a public apology, in light of reports that it did not deliver its policy of 100% coverage of superfast broadband by December 2021.

As outlined earlier this year in response to a similar question from Mr Rennie, our over £600 million investment in the R100 contracts, our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage – including the emergence of newer technologies such as Low Earth Orbit satellite – means that every property in Scotland is able to consider options for superfast broadband connection today as was the case at the end of 2021, meeting our commitment.

Question reference: S6W-20895

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on rejoining international surveys on literacy and numeracy, and in what year it will be possible to make comparisons between Scotland and other European countries.

Officials have met with the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement, who direct PIRLS and TIMSS, to begin the process of rejoining the studies.

The next cycles of PIRLS and TIMSS will be in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Results for PIRLS 2026 are expected in December 2027 and results for TIMSS 2027 are expected in December 2028. At this point, comparisons can be made with participating countries from across Europe and beyond.

Question reference: S6W-21354

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make changes to the General Revenue Grant if its proposals to change the council tax multipliers for properties in bands E to H are implemented, and, if so, what effect this would have on the distribution of funding among different local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-20894

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many P1 children have taken (a) one part and (b) both parts of the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland since 20 September 2018, broken down by (i) school year and (ii) local authority area.

The following table provides an overview of P1 learners who have undertaken (a) one or (b) both parts of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments since 20 September 2018, broken down by (i) school year and (ii) local authority.

The row "n/a" denotes publicly-funded schools outwith local authority control.

Table 1 - Number of P1 Children undertaking SNSA since 20 September 2018 - by year and local authority

Year	2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23*
Local Authority	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both	one of	both
Aberdeen City	13	1940	301	457	301	1941	19	2034	7	2033
Aberdeenshire	28	2821	27	71	27	2563	42	2709	0	2852
Angus	10	1205	**	**	**	863	16	908	**	1116
Argyll and Bute	5	752	28	49	28	585	8	597	**	646
Clackmannanshire	10	499	46	445	46	555	**	484	4	515
Dumfries and Galloway	7	1321	12	113	12	1252	11	1284	3	1350
Dundee City	5	1389	61	360	61	1216	27	1339	16	1373
East Ayrshire	38	1223	61	59	61	818	9	937	9	1065
East Dunbartonshire		1251	154	403	154	704	7	1154	14	1193
East Lothian	18	1146	23	64	23	977	37	1049	43	979
East Renfrewshire	**	1233				1174	6	1149	**	1246
Edinburgh	45	4340	240	258	240	3790	42	4026	24	3806
Eileanan Siar	**	128		13		97		127	**	95
Falkirk	14	1647				1536	12	1488	**	1576
Fife	16	1855					**	13	14	65
Glasgow City	566	3948	190	235	190	3263	330	3682	171	3856
Highland	35	2077	42	394	42	1926	44	1919	7	1996
Inverclyde	**	698	92	185	92	604	8	702	**	662
Midlothian	14	1090	91	221	91	1112	12	1170	**	1141
Moray	**	942				903	15	895	0	861
North Ayrshire	31	1279	7	37	7	1071	12	1104	**	1119
North Lanarkshire	50	3545	82	193	82	3563	60	3376	25	3525
Orkney Islands	**	220	**	102	**	216	**	190	0	188
Perth and Kinross	21	1357	**	21	**	1267	33	1344	**	1339
Renfrewshire	14	1797		77		1742	12	1775	5	1816
Scottish Borders	**	1081	17	123	17	917	13	922	30	956
Shetland Islands		229	**	29	**	102	**	186	6	151
South Ayrshire	5	1002	60	93	60	1031	5	1015	**	983
South Lanarkshire	45	3282	35	24	35	2758	123	2947	28	3107
Stirling	10	851	103	299	103	820	6	863	**	836
West Dunbartonshire	12	897	91	67	91	864	14	836	**	839
West Lothian	13	2160				2020	85	840	6	1960
n/a		66				65		64	0	66

*Please note figures for 2022-23 are subject to minor changes, pending the completion of the annual assessment closure process, which is currently ongoing.

** Please note that figures less than five have been suppressed to prevent the potential identification of individuals.

Question reference: S6W-20899

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to support schools in teaching about the climate emergency.

In Scotland, the climate emergency is taught through the cross curricular entitlement of Learning for Sustainability (LfS). LfS has been a feature of Curriculum for Excellence since 2012 and has gained international interest and recognition, with other countries looking at our concept of LfS as a model.

The Scottish Government published a refreshed LfS action plan in June 2023, which sets a new ambitious aim for all learning settings to become Sustainable Learning Settings by 2030, and clearly teaching children and young people about the climate emergency is an important aspect of this.

The plan contains a significant number of new actions to further support the teaching and learning of LfS. These include the development of a new accessible LfS portal where teachers and educators will be able to find online practical advice, tools and support in one place; the creation of new LfS qualifications and pathways; and the development of a single national approach to LfS within Initial Teacher Education.

This builds on a significant amount of work already underway. For example Education Scotland provides a wide range of advice, resources and support to schools in relation to climate and sustainability education, through their National Improvement Hub, including the Learning for Sustainability Self-Evaluation Framework, Countdown to COP26 resources, Weather and Climate Change video series and a Climate Change Wakelet, a tool for sharing resources.

The Scottish Government also funds Keep Scotland Beautiful to deliver the Climate Action Schools programme. In 2022-23 a total of 1,694 schools took part in the programme which aims to increase climate change awareness, enable young people to have a voice and take action on issues that matter to them, and embed LfS across Scotland.