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 MSPs 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: S5O-03590

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what role seagrass meadows, and similar blue carbon ecosystems, play in helping Scotland reach its climate change targets.

Question reference: S5O-03472

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting its climate change targets, and how it works with the agricultural sector to maximise the potential that farmers have to help achieve these.

We are on track to meeting Scotland’s world-leading climate change targets, with emissions down by 47% between 1990 and 2017.

Scottish farmers already play a key role in this progress, including contributing to emissions reduction through forestry, land use and electricity generation.

The Scottish Government is working with the agriculture sector to do even more. Our initiatives include; encouraging more tree planting and agro-forestry on farms, promoting the multiple benefits of good grassland and grazing management, encouraging farmers to invest in renewable energy and developing models to demonstrate and promote carbon neutral farms.

Question reference: S5W-23869

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent in 2018-19 on each of the three PSO air routes that it operates.

Question reference: S5F-03383

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2019

To ask the First Minister what actions the Scottish Government is taking to investigate the disenfranchisement of EU nationals who were denied their vote at the recent EU elections.

Question reference: S5W-23019

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a progress update regarding the Northern Isles Ferry Services tender.

The Court of Session judgment on 26 April 2019, dismissing Pentland Ferries’ petition for Judicial Review, allows the tender for the Northern Isles Ferry Services to proceed as set out in the competition documents.

I can also confirm that Transport Scotland received tenders from CalMac Ferries Limited and Serco Limited on 29 April 2019. The third prequalifying bidder, the international ferry operating company Förde Reederei Seetouristik GmbH & Co. KG (FRS), decided not to pursue any further interest in the competition. Transport Scotland will evaluate bids received, with a view to having a new public service contract in place by 31 October 2019.

Simultaneously, Transport Scotland will continue its engagement with the European Commission to seek an early resolution to Pentland Ferries’ outstanding State aid complaint about the subsidies payable under the next public services contract.

Further information about Transport Scotland’s engagement with the Commission and any implications for the tender procedure will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S5O-03139

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what research is taking place into citizen engagement and satisfaction with the new BBC Scotland channel.

Question reference: S5O-03114

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it plans to take to re-engage the Rural GP Association with its Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group.

Question reference: S5W-22144

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it last carried out a review of the fostering and adoption service.

Fostering and adoption services in Scotland are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Through the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Scottish Government established Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, known as the Care Inspectorate to independently review, regulate and improve social care and social work services, including adoption and fostering services. The Care Inspectorate’s A Review of Care Services for Children, Young People and Some Adults 2014-17, published 5 February 2019 indicated that overall, the quality of adoption agencies and fostering services was high with almost all services evaluated as good or better across all quality themes.

In February 2017 the First Minister commissioned the Independent Care Review, which is looking at legislation, practices, culture and ethos of the care system across Scotland. It is listening to young people with experience of care and their families and providers of care and particularly, children and young people in care now, to inform its recommendations to improve both the quality of life and outcomes of young people in care, including in relation to fostering and adoption. It is scheduled to report in early 2020. When the report is published the Scottish Government will carefully consider the recommendations.

Question reference: S5W-22145

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make the process for fostering and adoption easier and quicker.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of making these processes easier and quicker where possible without detracting from the crucial safeguarding of children that these processes seek to ensure. The Scottish Government recognises that permanent, loving, nurturing relationships are what matter most to children, and that this is best delivered by giving them the legal certainty that their relationships are permanent. Since 2014 the Scottish Government has funded the Centre for Looked After Children (CELCIS) to deliver the Permanence and Care Excellence programme (PACE). PACE supports improvement projects in local authorities, designed to identify areas of blockages or difficulties in securing permanence for looked after children and to reduce delay where it is appropriate to do so. In line with the commitment in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2018-19 all local authorities have now been offered support from the PACE programme .

Through the Children and Young People Act 2014, the Scottish Government has placed Scotland’s Adoption Register on a statutory footing. The Register provides opportunities for children to be matched with families across Scotland if they cannot be matched locally, and is now used by all local authorities to further reduce the delays in children being matched with adoptive families, and finding permanent homes.

Question reference: S5W-22152

Asked by: Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how the North Coast 500 has changed the economy of the north Highlands.