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-11832

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the reported 926 responses received to the energy workers survey that was carried out in August 2022 as part of engagement regarding the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, and, if so, within what timescale.

Question reference: S6T-00914

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, due to legal aid fees agreed in 1999 only increasing by 10%, there is a lack of legal provision across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-11242

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10964 by Jenny Gilruth on 26 September 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what assessment it has made of any impact of not having published its 10-year islands connectivity plan on people in remote and island communities, particularly in relation to the adequacy of ferry services; for what reason it did not provide details of any such assessment in its answer, and, if no such assessment has been made, whether it will state this.

Question reference: S6W-11136

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has spent on installing electric vehicle charging points in each of the last three years.

Over the past decade the Scottish Government has invested more than £55 million in electrical vehicle charging. ChargePlace Scotland (CPS), a publicly available network, now consists of over 2,300 charge points across Scotland.

Scotland benefits from the most public charging points outside of London, and the most rapid charge points anywhere in the UK. We now want to see greater private sector investment and involvement in line with our vision for Scotland’s public EV charging network – delivering more infrastructure faster and in way that is more accessible than ever before.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much each Local Authority has spent on installing electric vehicle charging points, we can only advise how much funding they have received from us.

In the last three years, we have invested over £30m across all local authorities, as shown in the table. Investment has been awarded through a range of initiatives, including innovation projects such as the £5.3m Project Pace in North and South Lanarkshire.

	19-20 ‎ £ (000s)	20-21 ‎ £ (000s)	21-22 ‎ £ (000s)	Total ‎ £ (000s)
Aberdeen city	300	152	75	527
Aberdeenshire	355	122	50	527
Angus	270	130	74	474
Argyll & Bute	150	100	62	312
Clackmannanshire	150	107	89	346
Dumfries & Galloway	250	206	249	705
Dundee city	452	75	698	1,225
East Ayrshire	300	208	162	670
East Dunbartonshire	250	110	26	386
East Lothian	200	500	293	993
East Renfrewshire	150	132	46	328
City of Edinburgh	1,187	747	814	2,748
Falkirk	676	416	892	1,984
Fife	597	140	50	787
Glasgow City	371	524	2,286	3,181
Highland	800	175	368	1,343
Inverclyde	150	104	66	320
Midlothian	160	206	75	441
Moray	150	109	80	339
Na h-Eileanan Siar	150	76	49	275
North Ayrshire	250	778	155	1,183
North Lanarkshire	225	2,708	83	3,016
Orkney	180	82	50	312
Perth & Kinross	250	177	57	484
Renfrewshire	310	566	98	974
Scottish Borders	250	99	66	415
Shetland	150	100	53	303
South Ayrshire	250	135	143	528
South Lanarkshire	500	2,771	47	3,318
Stirling	437	297	262	996
West Dunbartonshire	170	79	44	293
West Lothian	320	190	100	610

Question reference: S6W-11137

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what data it holds on the inspection of flood defences, (b) how many such inspections have taken place and (c) what the results and outcomes of these inspections have been, in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-11130

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent removing projects that were created under Spaces for People, broken down by (a) year and (b) local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-11132

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it has on Low Emission Zones in Scotland’s cities regarding vehicles that have been recorded entering zones, that are not currently operational, that would be issued with penalties once zones are fully operational in the coming years.

Question reference: S6W-11134

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on gas and electricity bills across its estate in each of the last three years, and whether it will provide forecasts of how much it anticipates these bills will increase by in the coming year, broken down by building.

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 set legally binding targets for the public sector to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, with interim targets requiring a 75% reduction by 2030, and 90% by 2040. The Scottish Government is installing energy saving infrastructure across estate including LED energy lighting projects and solar panel installation at some of our buildings to reduce our energy use and operation costs.

A full list of electricity and gas costs for each building within the Scottish Government estate from 2019 to 2022 with projected costs in 2023 can be found using SPICe reference 63647.

Question reference: S6W-11135

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many public electric vehicle (EV) charging points have been reported as broken or out of service and (b) what it estimates the cost has been of repairing broken and out of service public EV charging points, in each of the last three years, broken down by geographical area.

Over the past decade the Scottish Government has invested more than £55 million in electric vehicle charging. ChargePlace Scotland (CPS), a publicly available network of chargers, now consists of over 2,300 charge points across Scotland.

Responsibility for repairing charge points rests with the host or owner, which may be a local authority, other public body, third sector, or business. The CPS back office, which is a contracted service, advises hosts of faults as they arise.

Most faults on the network are short-lived and in the majority of cases require no physical intervention. Overall reliability across the CPS network is typically very good: on average 95% - 97% of charge points are operational each day.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on all public charge points in Scotland, only those on CPS.

(a) Information on the location of faults on the CPS network is not held by Scottish Ministers. Transport Scotland works with the CPS back office to enhance data provision and information, and I will ensure that members are kept updated on those improvements.

(b) Information on the costs of repairing broken or out of service charge points is not held by Scottish Ministers. Charge point maintainers provide quotes and issue invoices directly to the owner of the charge point.

Question reference: S6W-11133

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what projections or estimates it has for the amount of money that will be collected through the implementation of Low Emission Zones and the subsequent penalties imposed.

The Scottish Government will not collect any monies as a result of Low Emission Zone enforcement. Any funds received by the relevant local authority will be ring fenced for LEZ enforcement system running costs, and/or air quality improvement works. The penalty charge structure of the LEZs has been designed to deter entry by non-compliant vehicles, in addition, a grace period has been included so that members of the public have time to familiarise themselves with LEZs and how they might impact their lives and travel habits. To help with this, we have launched a national website and a targeted marketing campaign. We anticipate that this will result in fewer fines being issued.