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 1015 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-20642

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the outsourcing of the Construction Industry Training Board's (CITB) construction training and other functions, and the potential closure of the CITB facility at Inchinnan.

Question reference: S5W-20641

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the construction industry trades unions regarding the potential closure of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) facility at Inchinnan and the outsourcing of CITB construction training and other functions.

Question reference: S5W-20639

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it has met the Construction Industry Training Board since January 2017.

Question reference: S5W-20638

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the outsourcing of the Construction Industry Training Board's construction training and other functions.

Oversight of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is a reserved matter. The outsourcing comes as a result of a review of the operations of CITB across Great Britain. The Scottish Government regards this development as unfortunate, particularly for those who are directly affected. The Scottish Government expects CITB to ensure that the employment rights of individuals are protected.

The responsibility for these changes lie with the UK Government, but the Scottish Government will provide support to those who are facing redundancy through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE).

The local PACE team was quickly in touch with CITB Inchinnan to offer PACE support. Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals facing redundancy are out of work.

Question reference: S5O-02784

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the future of the Construction Industry Training Board and the National Construction College campus in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-20147

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it has made for the anticipated end of generation at Hunterston B in 2023.

Question reference: S5W-20150

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the Department of Energy and Climate Change, (b) EDF Energy and (c) the energy industry regarding the anticipated end of generation at Hunterston B in 2023.

Question reference: S5W-20145

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with EDF Energy regarding generation at Hunterston B and the economic future of the site.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with EDF regarding the future of Hunterston B. A delegation of Scottish officials visited the site on 6 November 2018 and met with the Station Director to discuss the current issues with the two reactors and when they may be brought back into service.

We support proposals to extend the operating life of Hunterston B, with the qualification that this is provided that strict environment and safety criteria continue to be met and that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is satisfied that this can be done safely.

Prolonging the life of this station will enable it to continue playing a part in meeting Scottish demand while we increase the proportion of electricity generated by renewables and cleaner thermal generation technologies.

Question reference: S5W-20149

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the extension of generation at Hunterston B beyond 2023.

Question reference: S5W-20146

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when Hunterston B will resume generation and start contributing to the National Grid again.

EDF has estimated that both Reactor 3 and Reactor 4 at Hunterston B will return to service in the New Year, on 21 February and 14 January respectively. These dates are subject to Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) agreeing the respective safety cases. The ONR is clear that the reactor cannot be restarted until it is satisfied it is safe to do so.

The Scottish Government holds regular discussions with National Grid on the continued security of Scotland’s energy networks. Despite continued outages at Hunterson B, National Grid remain confident that they have the measures in place to maintain supply throughout this Winter.