Parliamentary questions
Willie Rennie
1,353 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Dec 2024 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that both of the privately-run nurseries in the East Neuk, in the North East Fife constituency, will close by the end of 2024.
18 Nov 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the impact on agriculture in Scotland, what its response is to the removal of ring-fenced agricultural support funding for devolved nations by the UK Government.
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Ofqual regarding the undertaking the SQA gave to Ofqual, which was accepted on 16 August 2024, following Ofqual's identification of non-compliance with its conditions into the resit assessments for the 202…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.The Scottish Go…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the undertaking given by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to Ofqual, which was accepted on 16 August 2024, and the non-compliances identified by Ofqual's investigation into the resit assessments for the 2024 SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Constructi…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.We expect all p…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August 2024, whether it is aware of the concerns identified by Ofqual in January 2022 regarding the SQA's approach to investigating and dealing with with malpractice and mal…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA have regula…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by theScottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August2024, whether it is aware of what issues were identified by Ofqual regardingthe SQA's failure to ensure that the content of resit assessments for the 2024 SQA Level 1 H…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA have regula…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August 2024, what steps it and the SQA have taken to ensure that the issues identified by Ofqual’s investigation, similar to the resit assessments for the 2024 SQ…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.We expect all p…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August 2024, whether it is aware of what "significant issues" were identified by Ofqual regarding the 2024 SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in Construction qualification, and i…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA have regula…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by theScottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August2024, what actions the SQA took to address the impact on learners who wereawarded qualifications for the resit assessments for the 2024 SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Its findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA is an executive No…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the the undertaking given by theScottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and accepted by Ofqual on 16 August2024, when concerns were raised with or within the SQA regarding compliancewith Ofqual's conditions of recognition and the 2024 SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Const…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA is an execu…
17 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers became aware of the Ofqual review of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) investigations, which resulted in the SQA's undertaking to Ofqual was accepted in August 2024, into the resit assessments for the 2024 SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Envi…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Its findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.SQA made the Scottish …
26 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £97.1 million in Barnett consequential funding, which it received as a result of the UK Government’s announcement in March 2020 to remediate additional residential cladding, was allocated to the Single Building Assessment delivery team, and to which other area…
Answer · Paul McLennan: Under devolution, consequentials of this kind become part of the Scottish Government’s overall budget for that year. As part of the Scottish Budget process, it is for Scottish Ministers to propose funding levels for specific programmes in Scotland, and …
26 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what Barnett consequential funding it (a) has received and (b) anticipates it will receive as a result of the UK Government's announcement in July 2023 of £5.1 billion of funding for the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Answer · Paul McLennan: (a) £97.1 million in cladding specific consequentials were received in 2021-22.(b) In the Spending Review 2021, the UK Government confirmed £5 billion funding (£3 billion over the Spending Review period to 2024-25) for remediation of the hig…
11 Sep 2024 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to develop local flood plans, including natural flood prevention measures.
10 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage ofpost-induction scheme teachers from the previous year were in permanent ortemporary employment in 2023-24, broken down by those in (i) full-timepermanent, (ii) full-time temporary, (iii) part-time permanent and (iv)part-time temporary employmen…
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Statistics on the employment status of post-induction scheme teachers, including counts and percentages of those in full-time and part-time permanent and temporary employment are published in Table 1.6 of the teacher census supplementary statistics, available…
9 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications were received in the process of appointing a new chair of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, and where, in addition to the Scottish Government website, the position was advertised.
Answer · Angela Constance: A total of 13 applications were received for the post of Chair to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The appointment process for that post remains on-going. At the same time, the SCCRC advertised a vacancy for a Legal Member, which also attracted …
2 Sep 2024 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of its work to tackle the poverty-related educational attainment gap, in light of the gap reportedly widening across all school qualifications in the recent exam results.
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported comments that it is committing "£500 million to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland", how much of this money has been spent to date, and how many additional jobs it has supported.
Answer · Gillian Martin: We are kick-starting our commitment to invest up to £500m to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland with investment of £67 million in the sector this financial year. This investment will support market certainty, helping to create a hig…
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum capacity is per year of wind turbines that can currently be manufactured in Scotland.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The large pipeline of offshore wind projects under development in Scotland offers a significant manufacturing opportunity. We are already seeing significant progress in this regard. Sumitomo’s £350 million high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable …
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to count any components fabricated outside the UK and shipped to the UK for assembly towards the £16 billion to fund manufacturing and fabrication of turbines and offshore infrastructure in Scotland, as pledged by the energy companies who won offshore contracts thr…
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Supply Chain Development Statements (SCDS) process has been carefully designed and is managed by Crown Estate Scotland. It requires developers to outline their initial commitments to the Scottish supply chain across four project phases - development, manu…
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the £16 billion to fund the manufacturing and fabrication of turbines and offshore infrastructure in Scotland, as pledged by the energy companies who won offshore contracts through the ScotWind auction in 2022, will be delivered.
Answer · Gillian Martin: The ScotWind leasing round was carefully designed by Crown Estate Scotland with a focus on quality and deliverability of bids, and the long-term goal of securing supply chain investment. We welcome the commitment of developers to invest an average projection …
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with Vestas regarding its reported plans for a facility to construct turbine blades in Leith, inside the Forth freeport zone.
Answer · Gillian Martin: We are continuing to engage with Vestas around potential investment into Scotland. The former First Minister met with the CEO of Vestas on 3 April 2024. A further meeting between the First Minister and the CEO is due to take place in September 2024.Officials …
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with Shell and Scottish Power, which are jointly developing the CampionWind and MarramWind projects, regarding reported comments that "it is evident that significant investment will be required into Scottish facilities to prepare the Scottish market for…
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government regularly engages with key stakeholders involved in ScotWind projects, including a recent developer roundtable which I chaired on 13 August 2024, at which CampionWind and MarramWind were both represented. The roundtable included discus…
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Renewables regarding reports that "significant investment" is required to make the most of "an unprecedented opportunity to grow the renewable energy supply chain in Scotland and to establish the facilities we will need to manufacture and supply …
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government holds regular discussions with key stakeholders in the renewable energy industry, including Scottish Renewables.We remain committed to ensuring projects are supported to deliver maximum economic benefits. This includes investing up to …
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what fines or punishments are available for it to impose in the event that energy companies fail to deliver their share of the £16 billion worth of manufacturing and fabrication of turbines and offshore infrastructure in Scotland, which was pledged by companies who won offshore con…
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential. We expect developers to honour their commitments set out in the Supply Chain Development Statements (SCDS). The SCDS pro…
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any minister will be removed from office in the event that the £16 billion to fund manufacturing and fabrication of turbines and offshore infrastructure in Scotland, as pledged by the energy companies who won offshore contracts through the ScotWind auction in 2022, is not d…
Answer · Gillian Martin: The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential.We expect developers to honour their commitments set out in the Supply Chain Development Statements (SCDS) and a process …
19 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any public money will be provided to support Vestas with its reported plans for a facility to construct turbine blades in Leith, inside the Forth freeport zone.
Answer · Gillian Martin: Our fast-growing offshore wind industry provides us with significant opportunities to attract inward investment, generate green jobs and grow our regional and national economies, not least in our Green Freeport areas in Inverness and Cromarty Firth and the Fi…
13 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28065 by Tom Arthur on 19 June 2024, whether it will clarify the reasons for the selected structure being the best available structure.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The agreed transaction structure secured the earliest realisation of the commercial and wider economic benefits of the deal and prevented the closure of the last remaining steel plant in Scotland and the loss of hundreds of highly skilled jobs.
13 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28067 by Tom Arthur on 19 June 2024, whether it will provide details of how exactly it enabled "all parties to achieve what they required from the sale and purchase of the business", and whether or not the transaction would have proceeded without Sc…
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government’s involvement in the transaction helped secure the earliest realisation of the commercial and wider economic benefits of the deal, and the selected structure was agreed by all parties.The statement given by the then Minister for …
13 Aug 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28058 by Tom Arthur on 19 June 2024, what (a) discussions and (b) correspondence Scottish Enterprise has had regarding the repayment of the loan since 2022.
Answer · Tom Arthur: Scottish Enterprise is responsible for the operational management of its portfolio of investments. Scottish Enterprise remains in regular discussion with Liberty Steel regarding the loan.