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-00084

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35339 by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 February 2021, whether it will provide an update on the steps it is taking to improve the response times for enquiries to SEPA, given that responses to some routine enquiries are reported to be taking in excess of six months.

Following the criminal cyber-attack on SEPA in December 2020, the Scottish Government is working with SEPA, Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, to a clear recovery strategy in response to a complex and sophisticated cyber-attack.

As part of this recovery strategy, frontline regulatory and flood warning services continue to be prioritised. SEPA’s Floodline and Pollution Hotline contact points continue to operate. The agency has increased resource to respond to customer enquiries, with customer enquiry backlogs, in areas such as environmental incident and permitting, being cleared.

SEPA has advised that regulatory teams have been deployed on over 170 occasions since January. Furthermore, 154 flood guidance statements have been issued and over 1045 regional flood alerts and local flood warnings have been issued.

SEPA has reported that since January, over 1,650 industrial pollution prevention and control, water environment, waste and other authorisations have been issued, with new high volume online services introduced for registrations of septic tanks. The Agency has completed or is progressing 304 planning cases to support Scotland’s recovery, engaging with 33 of 39 local councils to date.

Question reference: S6W-00075

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its planned spending on walking, cycling and wheeling over the next parliamentary year, until May 2022.

Spend on walking, wheeling and cycling increased to £115.5 million in 2021-22 and is budgeted over the financial year, rather than the parliamentary year. The budget for active travel is presented in the following table on the basis of the published Level 4 budgets:

Active Travel Budget	2021-22 (£m)
From Sustainable and Active Travel Capital	74.4
From Sustainable and Active Travel Resource	6.3
From Future Transport Fund - Cycling Infrastructure	10.9
Local Government Capital Grant - Cycling Walking Safer Routes	23.9
Total	115.5

Question reference: S6W-00055

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail in regard to the ongoing industrial action.

Responsibility for collective bargaining rests with ScotRail and the Unions concerned. The Scottish Government has advised both railway Unions and ScotRail of the substantial additional funding provided to maintain full employment of railway staff throughout the pandemic period. And therefore, that any pay increase, including any further increase to overtime payments for rest day working, would need to be funded by efficiencies agreed through meaningful discussions.

Throughout the process, the Scottish Government has encouraged all parties to resolve this issue for the benefit of passengers, staff, the environment and the economy.

Question reference: S6F-00067

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will consider issuing a formal apology to the historic victims of forced adoption.

Question reference: S6F-00059

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to a recent survey stating that 29% of police officers are experiencing moderate burnout, and a further 16% are enduring high levels.

Question reference: S6F-00058

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to ensure there are sufficient resources in place to prevent schools exceeding its maximum class size limits during the next academic year, in light of reports that a number of schools are currently exceeding these limits.

Question reference: S6F-00048

Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding the extension of the deadline for application to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Question reference: S6F-00041

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00039

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00040

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.