- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in Scotland have been included on Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters, including how many buildings in Scotland have been included on Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings at Risk Register in each year since 1999, are best answered by Historic Environment Scotland.
I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to assist residents in Dumfries and Galloway who are experiencing any difficulties recycling single-use plastic medical blister packs.
Answer
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for setting all packaging requirements for medicines. Blister packs are not easily recycled because of strict regulatory requirements for pharmaceutical packaging. The Scottish Government encourages businesses to take steps to increase the recycling rates for this packaging where these are compatible with the waste hierarchy and ensure the high-value recycling of materials.
We are taking action to reduce packaging waste and improve recycling in Scotland, including the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, which will make it easier for households to recycle, and work across the devolved administrations to introduce extended producer responsibility for packaging. These actions will help local authorities increase the types of materials they can recycle.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12681 by Màiri McAllan on 13 December 2022, whether detailed marine spatial plans, as opposed to broad spatial areas, will be provisionally set in the new National Marine Plan (NMP2), in line with section 11(2)(a)(ii) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, unless and until superseded by regional plans agreed under the terms of that same Act.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12759 on 15 December 2022.
The purpose of Scotland’s National Marine Plan is to set out the strategic policies for the sustainable development of our marine resources. Regional marine plans are currently being developed for 3 out of the 11 Scottish Marine Regions (Orkney, Shetland and the Clyde) with preparatory work being undertaken by Local Coastal Partnerships in other regions.
The content of the new National Marine Plan (“NMP2”) is yet to be defined. As the process to replace the current National Marine Plan progresses, the content of NMP2 will be established and consideration will be taken as to whether NMP2 will include detailed spatial plans.
The Marine Scotland Directorate undertakes national marine planning activities in accordance with the requirements and conditions set out in the Marine Acts: Marine (Scotland) Act (2010) and the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009). NMP2 will be developed in accordance with the policies, including the National Spatial Strategy, set out in the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4)(once adopted).
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Rural Housing Fund in each year since its introduction.
Answer
The following table provides a breakdown of the spend from the main Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since the funds were launched in 2016-17, broken down by rural (mainland) and Islands. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others while complementing the significant delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords in rural and island areas.
| | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
| Rural and Islands Housing Fund - Total | 0.101 | 1.061 | 1.650 | 2.822 | 4.916 | 4.793 | 2.327 |
| Rural | 0.074 | 0.961 | 1.451 | 2.140 | 3.062 | 1.867 | 0.900 |
| Islands | 0.027 | 0.100 | 0.199 | 0.682 | 1.854 | 2.926 | 1.427 |
| Note: 2022-23 spend is based on provisional programme management information to end December 2022 and could be subject to change. |
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done with NHS Education for Scotland to improve mandatory equality, diversity and inclusion training for health and social care staff and ensure that this is up to date and relevant.
Answer
NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, produced an e-learning module for Non-Executive Board members on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and is a resource that all staff can access.
Equality is a theme running through the new Leading to Change programme aimed at developing future and current leaders in health and social care. NES is also working with a range of stakeholders to scope out current training and learning needs for staff on equality and diversity. This will inform work by NES to continue to develop up to date and relevant learning resources on equality and diversity for health and social care staff.
This will include a review and update of the NES essential learning module 'equality and human rights' which is available to the health and social care workforce.’
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to improve the granularity of workforce data regarding protected characteristics, in order to provide information on pay, promotion and recruitment, and ensure that this is recorded in a standardised way, and whether it publishes any such information.
Answer
Scoping work is ongoing to consider the additional data collection, recording, and quality assurance requirements necessary for implementing this action. Further information on the delivery of this action will be set out in our update to the National Workforce Strategy, to be published later this year.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that the freeze on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) capital budget at £32.5 million will have upon the ability of SFRS to modernise its current estate.
Answer
Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including how to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.
The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13629 by Neil Gray on 12 January 2023, when it expects to provide the update mentioned in the response, and whether this will be by the end of January 2023.
Answer
An update on the Expressions of Interest data reconciliation project is planned to be published by the end of February 2023.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will actively engage with Aberdeen-based North Star Shipping, which has reportedly secured $172.2 million of financing and loan support to begin the next phase of its plan to build 40 Service Operation Vessels, in order to ensure that this long-term ship design and build opportunity is able to be undertaken by the Scottish shipbuilding industry.
Answer
The Scottish Government is supportive to the shipbuilding industry which has strategic importance to Scotland’s economy and its wider manufacturing base; and we actively engage with the industry, both with individual companies through our enterprise and skills agencies and collectively through the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many houses have been completed for the social rent sector in each year since 2016.
Answer
Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/
