- Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to request that every school records the name and biological sex of every pupil in its admissions register.
Answer
The Schools (Scotland) General Regulations 1975 set out the requirements upon schools and education authorities in relation to registration of admissions.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many properties have provided annual deer cull data to NatureScot in each of the past five years.
Answer
The number of properties that have provided annual deer cull data to NatureScot in each of the past five years is as follows:
2018-2019 | 2707 |
2019-2020 | 2286 |
2020-2021 | 2523 |
2021-2022 | 2627 |
2022-2023 | 2448 |
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S6O-02702 by Paul McLennan on 9 November 2023, regarding its statement that "the £3.5 billion budget that we had set aside has effectively been cut in value by £700 million", whether any such reduction in value has taken place over one year or multiple years; what the annual sum of any such reduction is, and what the estimated real-terms value of the £3.5 billion is expected to be in each of the remaining years of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
On Thursday 9 November, during Portfolio Question Time at a Meeting of Parliament, relating to a question on Social Housing Waiting Lists (Support for Local Authorities) I responded to a point made by Mrs Downey MSP, as follows:
“I will make a number of points on that. When I go round speaking to local authorities and housing associations, I find that the biggest barrier to building more houses just now is inflation. Construction inflation has been around 15 to 20 per cent, which has meant that the £3.5 billion budget that we had set aside has effectively been cut in value by £700 million.”
I referenced this effective cut in value of £700 million based on construction inflation figures being between 15 to 20 per cent; 20 per cent of £3.5 billion equating to £700 million.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue funding the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, and, if it is the case that it does not, what support it will provide to organisations to help prevent homelessness.
Answer
Scotland’s long term strategy for ending homelessness is delivered in partnership with local government, third sector organisations and the wider homelessness sector in Scotland. It requires commitment and investment by all partners on the actions each takes with the aim of ending homelessness.
Our £ 100 million Ending Homelessness Together Fund was established to transform the homelessness system between 2018 and the end of this parliamentary term. On top of funding provided through the local government settlement, we are investing £35 million in 2024-25 in specific action to end homelessness and reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation. As local authorities are our key partner for delivering our homelessness strategy, the majority of this funding will be allocated to councils.
In addition to this, the Ending Homelessness Together Fund resources a range of other activity, including the opening of Rapid Rehousing Welcome Centres each winter, which provides people at risk of rough sleeping with a warm, safe space and access to trauma-informed services to help them move onto more settled accommodation. It also provides third sector organisations with resource for administration by frontline and street outreach workers to support the immediate needs of people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness and/or rough sleeping.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the bus industry receiving funding of £329 million from local and central government in 2021-22, what its response is to the Scottish Transport Statistics 2022, which show that, aside from the COVID-19 pandemic years, a historic low of 234 million journeys were made by bus in 2021-22.
Answer
Bus travel in Scotland and the UK was profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with emergency funding to support the industry continuing in 2021-22. Although lockdown measures had eased, restrictions on travel and daily activity remained in Scotland for large parts of 2021-22. This is evident from the Scottish Transport Statistics 2022 which show the lower number of passenger journeys taken over the period.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any projects funded through the Recycling Improvement Fund to date showing the (a) expected tonnage increase in recycled material and (b) funding allocated to each project.
Answer
The following table provides a breakdown of the projected tonnage and funding allocated to Recycling Improvement Fund projects for which tonnage increase is a direct impact. It should be noted that this list does not include all funded projects as recycling tonnage increase is not a direct impact for some projects, such as investments in vehicle technology to help local authorities to identify the most efficient collection routes and to capture data to improve service management and communication with residents.
Local Authority | Projected tonnage increase (tonnes per year) | Funding allocated |
Aberdeenshire | 4623 | £3,540,415 |
East Lothian | 3461 | £2,746,566 |
Fife | 2733 | £470,000 |
Highland | 473 | £205,965 |
Edinburgh | 9270 | £8,491,499 |
West Lothian | 1124 | £3,953,034 |
North Ayrshire | 220 | £74,535 |
Midlothian | 96 | £132,085 |
South Ayrshire | 10 | £89,535 |
Aberdeen City | 25 | £34,959 |
Aberdeen City | 1,727 | £933,668 |
Stirling | 568 | £234,035 |
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | 91 | £840,138 |
Perth & Kinross | 1,250 | £2,532,548 |
Renfrewshire | 1,845 | £374,342 |
Glasgow | 10,139 | £21,202,000 |
Argyll & Bute | 416 | £891,945 |
Highland | 5,728 | £6,550,302 |
Clackmannanshire | 931 | £583,890 |
North Lanarkshire | 340 | £276,840 |
South Ayrshire | 122 | £166,090 |
Angus | 2,409 | £2,843,472 |
Midlothian | 1,537 | £2,322,042 |
East Ayrshire | 155 | £139,843 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 12.45 | £70,759 |
Edinburgh City | 10 | £19,000 |
Fife | 50 | £30,675 |
Falkirk | 390 | £149,207 |
Orkney | 4.96 | £4,875 |
Aberdeenshire | 67 | £37,095 |
South Lanarkshire | 258 | £150,000 |
- Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make it a requirement for boarding and residential accommodation at schools to include single-sex sleeping arrangements.
Answer
This is a matter for the managers of residential schools. The Equality Act 2010 already contains provisions which enable the provision of single-sex sleeping arrangements.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the number of ferry breakdowns in the last year, what processes and procedures are being put in place in the next 12 months to ensure that CalMac can maintain continuous ferry services to communities, and how this will be managed and improved upon in the future.
Answer
While delivery of investments in new vessels and port infrastructure is being progressed, this Government has authorised a six month extension to the current charter of MV Alfred. The primary focus of the vessel MV Alfred is for resilience purposes. However, this will help mitigate the impact of disruption or where certain islands are reduced to single vessel service.
Delivering six new major vessels to serve Scotland’s ferry network by end 2026, is a priority for this government of which four are for Islay and the Little Minch routes and two are for the Ardrossan-Brodick/Campbeltown route.
Transport Scotland is also working with CMAL and CalMac on further vessel projects and programmes including the Small Vessel Replacement Programme.
Additional funding has been committed for enhanced maintenance of vessels and CMAL and the operators continue to work to identify potential additional second hand tonnage to support the fleet.
As is the case at present and within the remit of the current contract, there are measures to which we hold the operator accountable for and apply performance measures where applicable.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23098 by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2023, how many awards of each type of grant have been issued by each local authority to date.
Answer
Local Authority | Grant Type | No. of Applications approved by Local Authority |
Angus | Community Recovery Grant (£1500) | 175 |
Business Recovery Grant (£3000) | 31 |
Dundee | Community Recovery Grant (£1500) | 56 |
Business Recovery Grant (£3000) | 4 |
Aberdeenshire | Community Recovery Grant (£1500) | 5 |
Business Recovery Grant (£3000) | 6 |
Perth and Kinross | Community Recovery Grant (£1500) | 9 |
Business Recovery Grant (£3000) | 0 |
The promotion and distribution of the Recovery Grants is the responsibility of the Local Authorities.
Local authorities are still working to promote these grants and are providing Scottish Government with regular updates.
The above figures were provided by the Local Authorities to Scottish Government (8 January 2024).
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 10 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the role of counsellors and psychotherapists in delivering its Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Answer
As set out in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Workforce Action Plan, we recognise that counsellors and psychotherapists are part of the core mental health and wellbeing workforce and play a critical role in delivering the Strategy.
Throughout the development of the Strategy, associated Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan, we engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including directly with representatives of the workforce.
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA) and the British Psychological Society participated in the consultation processes.
We will continue to engage with them and other representatives of the mental health and wellbeing workforce on the implementation of the Strategy’s Delivery and Workforce Action Plans.