– in the Scottish Parliament at 4:30 pm on 23 May 2024.
Liam Kerr
Conservative
4:30,
23 May 2024
On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. During First Minister’s Question Time today, the First Minister said:
“When we came to office, around 20 per cent of Scotland’s electricity consumption came from renewable sources, but that has now reached 113 per cent.”—[Official Report, 23 May 2024; c 20.]
Like his two predecessors as First Minister, Mr Swinney has misled Parliament on renewables. I advise the chamber that, in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available, in fact, 64 per cent of Scotland’s electricity consumption was from renewable sources.
Perhaps the Presiding Officer can advise the new First Minister on how he might correct the record and thus ensure that accurate data is presented to both Parliament and, of course, the people of Scotland.
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
Thank you, Mr Kerr. As you are aware, that is not a point of order.
There will be a brief suspension before we move on to the next item of business.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
