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: S6F-01743

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that dozens of people living in Scotland with no recourse to public funds are being made homeless and forced to sleep rough on the streets or in cars.

Question reference: S6W-13735

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the public was reportedly not made aware of a rise in radioactive particles found between February and March 2022 on the Dounreay foreshore until eight months later, when reports appeared in the press in November 2022.

The monitoring of the Dounreay foreshore area is undertaken by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) which is a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and is agreed and regulated by SEPA.

All radioactive particle finds are removed, analysed and reported on the DSRL website. The finds in February and March 2022 were reported on the DSRL website in March and April 2022. The Dounreay Stakeholder Group was also provided with information regarding the particle finds in a written update from SEPA at one of its subgroup meetings in April 2022.

The NDA and SEPA remain content that the monitoring and retrieval programme in place continues to provide appropriate protection for the public.

Question reference: S6O-01803

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any racial profiling practices in Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01745

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding what support is available for anyone working in creative industries, including the Belmont Cinema in Aberdeen, who may wish to take control or ownership of their workplaces.

Question reference: S6W-12888

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the report, one of numerous recent ones on carbon capture utilisation and storage. As the report highlights, CCUS is an aggregate of technology applications that have been applied across varying sectors. As Scotland develops our ambitions for carbon capture and storage it’s crucial that we continue to expand the evidence base and build upon the lessons that have been learned over decades of CCS technology and projects.

Question reference: S6W-12890

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on any new gas power stations with carbon capture and storage, in light of the reported concerns about the carbon capture and storage industry in The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The Scottish Government supports the development of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage as a decarbonisation infrastructure for hard to decarbonise sectors. Its deployment must enable decarbonisation at pace and cannot be used to justify unsustainable levels of fossil fuel extraction or impede Scotland’s just transition to net zero. Scottish planning policy states that the construction of new thermal generation power stations may be acceptable where that proposal includes or commits to carbon capture and storage. Any application made to the Scottish Ministers for the construction and operation of such power stations in Scotland is determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account responses from key consultees and representations made by members of the public, and in light of careful consideration of the benefits and environmental impacts of the proposal.

Question reference: S6W-12889

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its upcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan will take account of (a) The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and (b) the recommendation to have a plan B for achieving the equivalent abatement should Negative Emission Technologies, such as carbon capture, fail to deliver, as set out in the previous parliamentary session's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee response to the Draft Updated Climate Change Plan, published on 4 March 2021.

The Scottish Government has drawn upon a range of evidence and analysis, including the The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned report, during the development of the draft version of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The UK Government’s decision to not award the Scottish Cluster Track-1 status in their CCUS cluster sequencing process has generated significant uncertainty on the timely deployment of CCUS in Scotland and, therefore, our ability to achieve our emissions reduction targets and economic ambitions as part of a just transition.

Delays in the deployment of CCUS infrastructure in Scotland will require contingency planning (Plan B) to identify the additional emissions reduction effort that may be needed from other sectors to meet Scotland’s net zero commitments. This will be explored in the 2023 Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S6O-01682

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies across government will support disabled people living in the north east to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-01620

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to provide mental health and suicide prevention support to refugees.

Question reference: S6T-00961

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Baroness Helena Kennedy KC's final report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Asylum Provision in Scotland, published on Friday, which highlights avoidable failings in the provision of care to New Scots during the COVID-19 pandemic.