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: S6W-22486

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Patrick Harvie on 27 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of its Heat in Buildings Strategy.

We have laid before Parliament today an annual progress report against our Heat in Buildings Strategy, the second since its publication in 2021: https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-in-buildings-progress-report-2023 .

We have made significant progress in key areas during the past year, including our broad package of delivery schemes, heat networks, building standards and new build regulations. The biggest challenge facing us now is in existing buildings, and therefore the report confirms our intention to consult later this year on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill.

Question reference: S6O-02626

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations are being made for the bonfire night period.

Question reference: S6O-02602

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering specific solutions to support the City of Edinburgh Council, and other relevant organisations, to address Edinburgh’s social housing shortage and growing population pressures, including providing additional resources in its 2024-25 Budget.

Question reference: S6W-21599

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of a Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal.

Question reference: S6W-21460

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the £5 million funding announced at COP27 for action to address loss and damage.

At COP27, the Former First Minister pledged £5m of funding to address non-economic loss and damage (NELD) over the course of the parliament. Non-economic loss and damage includes, for example, cultural loss, damage to nature and health decline due to climate impacts.

Following the announcement, officials engaged with the international stakeholder community and explored options to deliver the funding. Our priority has been to ensure the funding:

quickly reaches those who need it, in particular women, in the global south,
responds to community needs and is participatory in design,
makes a genuine difference to their lives by allowing them to address the impacts of climate change,
is well-managed by a credible partner, and
allows other donors to join the Scottish Government and provide funding.

On this basis, we are delighted to be partnering with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF) to deliver the £5m of funding.

CJRF will use the funding to create a programme that will provide grants to support vulnerable global communities impacted by climate change and build grant partners’ capacity through technical assistance, learning and advocacy. The aim of the programme is to enable and support communities facing extreme climate-induced NELD to identify and prioritise the actions that will best address it. The programme will also focus on addressing NELD in a gender-responsive way, ensuring women and girls are given a strong voice throughout all stages of programme design.

In addition to meeting our criteria, CJRF were chosen as the preferred delivery partner on the basis of their ability to obtain additional funding and so to ensure that even more vulnerable communities receive support. We are delighted that Open Society Foundations (OSF) are providing $700,000 of additional funding for the programme, especially to foster youth-led community projects. OSF bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the programme given their historical human right and equity approaches to socio-economic challenges, including through their work on Climate Justice

We hope that this is not the only additional funding. The programme is fiscally sponsored by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) who can accept other funds from governments, NGOs and the private sector, to address loss and damage. The aim is that Scottish Government’s contribution will galvanise others to pay into the fund to create a large, multi-donor initiative that can support more communities address non-economic loss and damage.

The programme is designed to respond to community needs. These may include, for example, activities to address climate-forced displacement and forced migration, and the myriad of associated losses: of family life, community, and culture; activities to address increases in gender-based violence, domestic abuse, and child marriage due to incessant climate stress. Other losses that communities may prioritise include loss of sites of cultural and/or spiritual importance, loss of language, and traditions.

Question reference: S6O-02494

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the Scottish Land Commission’s work on compulsory sales orders and land value capture.

Question reference: S6W-20672

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reportedly growing and significant demand that exists in Edinburgh for more social housing and more housing generally as a result of population growth, how it is working with the City of Edinburgh Council to deliver its current Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) in Edinburgh, as part of the affordable housing supply programme, and whether there are discussions taking place or plans to seek to build more social housing than set out in the current SHIP and/or to do so faster than set out in the current SHIP.

The announcement of five year resource planning assumptions for all local authorities for this parliament provides a clear demonstration of this Government’s commitment to support the delivery of affordable housing.

Affordable Housing Supply Programme investment in the City of Edinburgh will be at a record level of £234m over the parliamentary period and an additional £10m of funding has already been made available in the first two financial years of this parliament to deliver more social and affordable homes in the city.

Scottish Government has also approved a grant of £1.72m through the Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund to support City of Edinburgh Council to bring 100 void homes back into use. These will be used to house Ukrainian Displaced Persons for up to 3 years, after which they will revert back into the wider social housing supply in Edinburgh. My officials continue to work closely with the City of Edinburgh Council on a number of other opportunities to further boost the supply of social rented homes for those fleeing the invasion of Ukraine. I would continue to encourage the Council to speak to my officials about any projects they can identify that meet the criteria for the Fund.

I have met with the City of Edinburgh Council Housing Convener to discuss housing issues in the city, and my officials regularly meet with colleagues from the Council to discuss progress with the delivery of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. These discussions focus on maximising the delivery of as many social and affordable homes as possible.

Question reference: S6O-02480

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the City of Edinburgh Council and other organisations to provide suitable temporary accommodation and more social housing in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S6W-20039

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul McLennan on 19 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it will progress its commitment to work with local government and other partners to reduce the number of people living in temporary accommodation.

As set out in our response , published today, to the report of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, we will begin by prioritising a number of actions to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2026. We will:

invest at least £60 million this year through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to support a national acquisition plan
maintain momentum in delivering our Affordable Housing Supply Programme
work with social landlords to deliver a new programme of stock management
implement targeted partnership plans with the local authorities facing greatest pressure.

These actions build on the clear commitment in the Policy Prospectus to respond to the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations to support more people more quickly to a settled home and progress our work to end homelessness in Scotland. Work to set the conditions for effective delivery has been progressing in parallel to preparing our response and we are ready to hit the ground running in implementing these actions.

We will build on engagement undertaken in the lead up to the publication of our response which has helped inform the detail of these actions. We call on our partners in local government and across the housing sector to work with us to respond to the housing pressures we are seeing across the sector and to deliver on our shared public responsibility to both prevent homelessness and support more households to a settled home.

Question reference: S6W-19385

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding has been provided to local authorities to support the pay offers made by COSLA to the local government workforce since the 2023-24 Budget was published.

As set out in Annex A of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, the Scottish Government has already confirmed to COSLA that a total of £343 million of additional funding will be made available to councils to support pay deals in 2023-24 over and above the allocation published in the Scottish Budget 2023-24.

Of this: £188.8 million was made available to fund the multi-year pay deal agreed by teachers; the additional £100 million for the Scottish Joint Council workforce was confirmed at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill; and Ministers have also provided reassurance to COSLA that a further £55 million, for a total of £155 million, will be provided through in-year budget management processes.

This £155 million of additional funding for the SJC workforce has already been factored into the existing COSLA pay offer and Ministers would encourage both sides to conclude negotiations as swiftly as possible.

As in previous years those transfers will be given formal effect during the annual budget revisions.