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-32841

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Baby Boxes have been issued in (a) Aberdeen and (b) Scotland since their introduction.

Registration opened on 15 June 2017, and delivery of Baby Boxes nationwide began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

The total number of Baby Boxes issued since the introduction of the Baby Box programme up to 3 January 2025 is 324,968. We are unable to provide the number of Baby Boxes delivered in the Aberdeen area as we only record the number of Baby Boxes distributed by Health Board area. Since the start of the programme 35,278 Baby Boxes have been issued in NHS Grampian.

Question reference: S6W-32417

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help households tackle the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why in 2024-25 we continued to allocate around £3bn a year to policies which tackle poverty and help with the cost of living for households. This includes providing free bus travel for over 2 million people and continuing to invest in discretionary housing payments with £90.5m being made available in 2024-25.

Additionally in November we announced a £41 million package of support for people struggling with energy costs this winter. This includes: an additional £20 million which will be provided for the Scottish Welfare Fund, to enable councils to provide more vital support to people in crisis; an additional £20 million for the Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme, which helps people install energy efficiency measures and more efficient heating systems, saving on average around £300 per year in household energy bills, and making £1 million of grant-funding available to registered social landlords to fund work to help sustain tenancies.

The Scottish Government believes that a social tariff is the best way to ensure that energy consumers are protected against high costs and can afford all of their energy needs. The powers to implement a social tariff remain with the UK Government and we are committed to working closely with them to advocate for the delivery of a social tariff across Great Britain. We established a Social Tariff Working Group in November, bringing together stakeholders to co-design a deliverable social tariff policy, and will share the outputs from the group with UK Government as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6O-04185

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey, which has suggested that business confidence has fallen to its lowest level for two years, including in Scotland, because of issues such as the UK Government’s decision to raise employer national insurance contributions.

Question reference: S6O-04182

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on the public and third sectors in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-32419

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to replace the trains that currently operate the InterCity services on ScotRail.

The Scottish Government has instructed ScotRail to procure replacement trains for the current fleet, known as the High Speed Trains (HST) fleet, 25 of which operate on its InterCity routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness.

These routes are strategically important for Scotland: 35% of Scotland’s population are served by the rail corridor to Aberdeen. Inverness provides long distance connectivity to the rest of the UK for approximately 250,000 people: it is the gateway to the Highlands and Islands and the Far North.

Replacing the fleet aims to provide a high quality, more consistent, reliable, comfortable, accessible and family-friendly experience for passengers on the InterCity routes, helping to encourage more people to choose to travel by train on these routes rather than by car.

Replacement will ensure the reliability of InterCity routes for the long-term, reduce emissions from Intercity services and will be another step on our journey towards the full decarbonisation of ScotRail services. It will also reduce ScotRail’s operating costs by being more energy efficient.

The decision to replace the trains followed a process of appraisal. The appraisal took into consideration the available options to transition from diesel power to electric trains, the time necessary to deliver electrification infrastructure, the availability of funding and the affordability challenges.

ScotRail will run the procurement in a fair and transparent manner, enabling Scottish suppliers to provide their services to potential bidders. In the meantime, the HSTs remain safe to run until a replacement fleet is ready; they are needed for the capacity required by ScotRail to deliver an appropriate service level. As the replacement trains arrive, the HSTs will be withdrawn.

This decision will also contribute to the refresh of the Scottish Government’s Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan (the DAP), which will be informed by the response to this procurement. The first DAP, published in 2020, was stated to be dynamic and subject to continuous improvement, to be updated and refined as progress is delivered and the funding environment changes. Accordingly, it is being revised.

The original target date of 2035 for complete removal of diesel passenger trains from the Scottish network can no longer be met, due to constrained budgets and logistical requirements impacting adversely on the delivery programme.

The physical delivery of electrification works needs to be staged to reduce the impact on passengers as much as is practicable. Undertaking too much disruptive engineering work across the Network at the same time would have significant farebox revenue impacts and would significantly diminish the attractiveness of rail travel for the public.

Delivering electrification over a longer period of time reduces passenger disruption from engineering works. It also allows for other associated works, such as bridge replacements, to be undertaken in a more phased manner, reducing road traffic impacts.

The revised DAP will demonstrate phased full decarbonisation by 2045. The refreshed plan is now expected to be published in Spring 2025. The refreshed plan will show a staged approach to creating a decarbonised rail system by 2045 and increasing from the current 75% of rail journeys which are already decarbonised.

A contract notice will be published today on Public Contracts Scotland with a more detailed delivery timeline available at the point of contract award.

Question reference: S6O-04122

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what its position is on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

Question reference: S6T-02237

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the UK Government at the British Irish Council summit regarding ending the two-child benefit cap.

Question reference: S6W-31804

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will set out its ambition to grow Scotland’s hydrogen potential internationally, and publish an export plan for that sector.

Scotland has the resources, skilled workforce, and ambition to become a leading hydrogen nation and developing this sector will create international trade opportunities in terms of our hydrogen production and across the supply chain.

That is why an export plan aimed at realising Scotland’s hydrogen potential as a leading net exporter of hydrogen will be published on 29 November 2024.

The plan will set out how Scotland will realise the international opportunities presented by the development of the Hydrogen sector and will outline the immediate international export opportunities and strategic actions needed to support Scottish businesses.

Achieving this goal presents a great opportunity to combine the efforts of a range of partners. I look forward to continuing to work with them as we take forward delivery of the plan and realise Scotland’s hydrogen future.

Question reference: S6O-04083

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that college courses are being tailored to meet the needs of industries involved in energy efficiency, carbon reduction and the just transition.

Question reference: S6O-03893

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates that the recent UK Government Budget will have on its aim to deliver social justice.