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-17065

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the £25 million investment from the Just Transition Fund for the north east, which was announced on 4 April 2023, including which organisations will receive the funding, when the funding be delivered and what criteria will be used to determine who receives the funding.

The £25 million funding will be allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24 to invest in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, and in support of a Just Transition to net zero in the region. The funding will be invested by the Bank on a commercial basis, to leverage further private investment towards accelerating a just energy transition across the North East and Moray.

The Bank has a proven track record having committed £415.1 million across 27 investments, alongside over £680 million of third party capital since 2020. Utilising the Bank’s commercial investment expertise and experience represents a key opportunity to unlock third party finance at the scale required to realise our ambition for a just transition in the region.

Question reference: S6W-17175

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 12 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government in relation to the Social Housing Net Zero Fund, how many of the properties that have been awarded funding since the fund was established involve the replacement of a gas boiler with a zero emissions heating system.

Several of the projects funded by the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund have been awarded funding involving the replacement of a traditional gas boiler. The Scottish Government can provide an estimate, based on the applications received since 2020, that the amount of properties that have been awarded funding involving the replacement of a gas boiler with a zero emissions heating system is an estimated 826 properties.

It should be noted that several of the projects awarded funding from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund involve intervention that is dependent on the specific needs of individual properties. This can include properties that do not have a gas boiler, and in rural areas that are off gas. In these cases, the interventions required may involve the replacement of another heating source for example wet electric central heating systems, storage heaters, oil and solid fuel, with an appropriate zero or low emissions heating system.

Alongside this, several projects funded through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund involve “Fabric First” Energy Efficiency Only Projects. In order to be eligible for “Fabric First” funding, social housing projects must commit to installing zero emission heating. Registered Social Landlords receiving “Fabric First” only funding will be able to apply for subsequent funding to install zero emission heating systems.

Question reference: S6W-17500

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 12 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture's recent attendance at New York City Tartan Week, who attended in an official capacity with the Cabinet Secretary; what the full itemised cost was of the Cabinet Secretary's attendance, along with the cost of any officials and members of the Cabinet Secretary's party; what the pre-determined aims, objectives and anticipated deliverables of the attendance were; what meetings and events the Cabinet Secretary attended whilst in New York City; what the (i) minutes and (ii) speaking notes were of any events at which the Cabinet Secretary spoke or had discussions in an official capacity; what specific and identifiable outcomes were achieved from the Cabinet Secretary's attendance, and what official debrief has taken, or will take, place, to ensure that the outcomes achieved represent good value to the public purse for the spending that was incurred.

My visit aimed to cover a number of areas in the Scotland/US relationship. It had a particular focus on trade and investment, culture, higher education and – linking all of these things – Scotland’s network in the US. This visit offered an opportunity to build upon my visit to the US in April 2022, as well as other Ministerial visits over the past 12 months. It also presented an opportunity to launch our Scottish Connections Framework, Scotland’s new diaspora strategy, in perhaps the most populous (alongside Canada) diaspora location. (Link )

I attended Tartan Week, supported by my Private Secretary, the Scottish Government Deputy Director for International, and two supporting officials. Five members of staff based in the US also supported my visit and attended events. The full costs of my visit, and those of all Ministerial travel costs, are routinely published on the Scottish Government website. I would encourage you to look there for more details (Link:

You also requested the costs for travelling officials who accompanied me from Scotland. Please find these in the following table.

Official	Flights (£)	Hotel (£)	Nights	T&S (£)
Private Secretary	922.21	1169.26	5	161.51
Deputy Director	1,476	846.99	3	320.31
Comms Official	921.41	935.40	4	190.10
Policy Official	586.21	1169.26	5	578.27

I can confirm I met with several businesses with operations in the US and Scotland to support their continued engagement and investment in Scotland. These companies include XPO Logistics, Mirador, Catalent, Rockstar Games, AMP Energy and Aiim Partners. Details of the meetings, including summaries of each, will be published next week under Freedom of Information.

In terms of follow up, I meet senior officials regularly to discuss international engagement. There are a range of actions including follow up with specific companies, ongoing diaspora engagements and discussion with the Tartan Week Committee to ensure future viability and value for money, which will continue to be monitored in the coming year. Furthermore, there were over 50 commitments made in Scottish Connections report, which officials are now actively working on.

Question reference: S6W-17172

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, how many applications it has received to date, and, of those applications, how many have been (a) awarded and (b) rejected.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has received various applications from local authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs) since its inception in 2020.

To date the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has received 65 applications since 2020 for capital funding, of which 55 applications have been awarded funding. 10 applications have been rejected, invited to resubmit following feedback or have been referred to alternative funding sources.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund also funds a stream of pre-capital projects for development funding and has received 20 applications for development funding, with 12 applications being funded, and 8 being rejected, invited to resubmit or referred to alternative funding sources.

Question reference: S6W-17173

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value is of applications received to the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund since it was established.

Question reference: S6W-17178

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16273 by Kevin Stewart on 6 April 2023, whether it will provide specific details of each of the upgrades, broken down by (a) geographical location, (b) anticipated time-saving and (c) projected cost.

Question reference: S6W-17176

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16277 by Kevin Stewart on 6 April 2023, which states that “Transport Scotland intends to achieve journey time savings via a series of infrastructure upgrades including signal enhancements and specific capacity alterations to facilitate the operation of more and faster trains”, what the (a) nature, (b) geographical location and (c) potential time-saving of each infrastructure upgrade is, and how it plans to reduce the ScotRail journey time between (i) Aberdeen and Dundee by three minutes and (ii) Dundee and Edinburgh by 17 minutes, by 2026.

As set out in my response to PQ S6W-16276 on 6 April 2023, Transport Scotland intend to publish the Outline Business Case for the Aberdeen to Central Belt Rail Enhancement Project later in the year. This will provide the requested details of the specific infrastructure upgrades and their contributions to journey time savings.

In the meantime, Transport Scotland has been updating key stakeholders on the progress of the design of this project.

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

Question reference: S6W-17177

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16274 by Kevin Stewart on 6 April 2023, whether it will provide the information requested in the previous question in relation to its pilot to remove peak ScotRail fares regarding what its rationale is for running the pilot over a six-month period, and what its position is on whether this will be a sufficient period of time during which to assess the success or otherwise of the trial; what it considers would constitute the success of the pilot, and how this will be measured; what the rationale is for potentially removing peak fares, and what the evidence base is that suggests that removing peak fares will achieve this; in which geographical area(s) it expects the removal of peak fares to have the most impact, and what impact it projects the removal of peak fares will have on ScotRail's income from ticket fares during the trial period; for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer; what its position is on whether (a) sufficient planning was carried out and (b) an adequate strategy was in place prior to the announcement of the pilot, and when further details of the ScotRail peak fares pilot will be confirmed.

On 18 April 2023 the First Minister announced that the ScotRail Peak Fares pilot will commence at the start of October 2023 and last for 6 months. Transport Scotland , Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail are currently finalising the design, monitoring and evaluation of the pilot. This is an unprecedented intervention in the UK rail sector and the purpose of the 6 month trial is to collect evidence on the impact both on rail and other modes, including bus, that will inform the Fair Fares Review and form the basis of future proposals.

The topics that the member raises are being considered during the pilot development process and further details will be announced in due course and will be assessed as part of the evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-17068

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which companies and industry bodies from the energy sector the new Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition has met with since taking on her new role.

Question reference: S6W-17171

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the contract between Ferguson Marine and BAE systems, which is currently requiring a £25,000 working capital loan, is expected to conclude.