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: S6W-22539

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture was first made aware of the First Minister’s decision to announce an additional £100 million for the arts and culture sector on 17 October 2023.

Question reference: S6O-02689

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported planned closure of Erskine Park Home.

Question reference: S6O-02646

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 26 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action the Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees is taking to support Show Racism the Red Card.

Can I firstly take the opportunity to thank Show Racism the Red Card for their work - I was proud to join fellow ��˿�� and the First Minister at the photocall that Mr Bibby organised a few weeks ago. I understand that they have engaged with officials across Ministerial portfolios over the years and while they do not currently receive funding from the Scottish Government, they are welcome to apply to future competitive funding opportunities. For example, Ministers are currently considering how we can best fund and support vital work within the Equality & Human Rights portfolio.

Question reference: S6O-02663

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its priorities are for its 2024-25 Budget.

Question reference: S6W-21969

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 10 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministerial responsibility for fair work in the culture sector sits with the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, or with the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.

Question reference: S6O-02512

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide to support the work of the Inverclyde Task Force, including in relation to investment in facilities at Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6W-19484

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to deliver a fair pay offer to local government workers and to prevent trade union strike action in Glasgow's parking services and velodrome impacting on the Cycling World Championships.

I am aware that all three of the SJC Trade Unions have balloted members on proposed industrial action. However, the negotiations on local government pay are rightly between COSLA as the representative of the employer, local government, and the Trade Unions representing the workforce. The Scottish Government has no role in those negotiations and, the recently signed Verity House Agreement, contains an explicit commitment to respect the existing negotiating arrangements for pay.

Let me emphasise that I recognise and value the crucial role councils and their employees play in communities across Scotland. I also recognise the challenging financial circumstances workers face in the current cost of living crisis. In recognition of this, and despite the most challenging financial settlement since devolution, we have already provided £155 million in additional funding to support the current local government pay offer for 2023-24 which COSLA Leaders agreed to on 31 March.

The Scottish Government recognises that any offer made by COSLA needs to provide a balance of fairness with affordability and sustainability and recognise the essential contribution of the local government workforce. I note the offer on the table from COSLA is worth 5.5% in year and the average uplift on salaries going into the next financial year is 7%. Importantly, the offer is progressive and means those on the Scottish Local Government Living Wage would get 9.12% and those at some of the higher grades would see a rise of 6.05%. I understand that the offer made by COSLA already goes beyond the maximum uplift indicated within the Scottish Public Sector Pay strategy, reflecting the funding identified by COSLA, alongside the contribution from the Scottish Government, and the value placed on the local government workforce.

In the spirit of the Verity House Agreement, we will continue to work in partnership with COSLA to help in any way we can to support them. I encourage both parties to engage with each other to reach a negotiated settlement to avoid industrial action.

Question reference: S6W-18880

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to align with EU law, what assessment it has made of how many (a) directives, (b) regulations and (c) pieces of tertiary legislation, that it considers relate to areas of devolved competence, have been passed by the EU since 1 January 2021, and how many of each it looked at, in total, in reaching any such assessment.

The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with EU law where that is possible and will have a meaningful impact on the outcomes we share with the EU. This is delivered through routine monitoring by policy experts. Therefore the Scottish Government does not maintain an authoritative record of all EU directives, regulations and legislation which cover topics of devolved competence since 2021.

The Scottish Government’s policy statement on the approach to EU alignment, approved by parliament on 8 June 2022, sets out detail of this process, acknowledging that much of EU legislation is now not applicable in Scotland since the UK Government removed it from the EU.

Question reference: S6W-18878

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions it has aligned with EU legislation, since 1 January 2021, by means other than the Scottish Ministers’ "keeping pace" power under the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with EU law where that is possible and where it will have a meaningful impact on the outcomes we share with the EU.

In doing so we acknowledge that alignment in all cases is not possible. Consideration of alignment with EU law is part of the policy development process and varies depending upon the relevance of EU law to Scotland regarding the matter in question, the extent of the devolved settlement and UK Government decisions which might have a constraining effect on Ministers ability to take effective action.

The Scottish Government’s policy statement on the approach to EU alignment, approved by parliament on 8 June 2022, sets this out in detail, acknowledging that a broad section of EU legislation is now not applicable in Scotland since the UK’s departure from the EU.

It is therefore not possible for the Scottish Government to provide a definitive answer to the question asked, although officials are working with their parliamentary counterparts to significantly expand the information provided to parliament regarding the commitment to align with the EU.

Question reference: S6W-18877

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the Scottish Ministers have used their "keeping pace" power, under the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, to align with EU (a) directives, (b) regulations and (c) tertiary legislation, since 1 January 2021.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-15749, S6W-15748 and S6W-15747 on 15 March 2023. Since this question was last answered, the ‘keeping pace’ power has not been used further by Scottish Ministers. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers