- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
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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/
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in the Social Work Professional Support Service - Scotland.
Answer
We acknowledge the immense, highly skilled and unique contribution made by social workers to support individuals and families across Scotland. We also know that social workers face significant challenges and have taken steps to ensure they have the right support.
The Scottish Association of Social Work has been given £200,000 in 2021-2023 to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues including wellbeing and resilience.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10720 by Christina McKelvie on 20 September 2022, when it will publish its refreshed Disability Equality Strategy.
Answer
We continue to work closely with the steering group, made up of Disabled People’s Organisations, to co-design the new Disability Equality strategy. The group met several times in 2022 and are focused on listening to the challenges and obstacles disabled people face and finding the solutions that can be delivered.
The group last met in November 2022 and a further meeting is planned for the end of February 2023. It is anticipated that the strategy will be published in Spring 2023 subject to the conclusion of the co-design process.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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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: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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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: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding the future use of the term, minor-attracted person, when referring to paedophiles, and whether it will discourage use of the term across government agencies and public bodies.
Answer
The Scottish Government has discussed the use of the term Minor Attracted Person with Police Scotland following recent media coverage. Police Scotland has confirmed that it does not use the term and it is not used by its partners. The Scottish Government does not use this term and it is not used by Scottish public bodies.
Police Scotland has issued a statement which confirms that it does not use this term and explains the context to it being referred to in a June 2022 Police Scotland performance report.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
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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: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to promote financial literacy and education for young people in order to help them better understand and manage their finances.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of financial education in order to equip young people to live independently and confidently. These topics are embedded in the curriculum in Scotland through numeracy and maths, business studies and personal and social education.
Education Scotland provide professional learning and resources for practitioners on financial education. It also features in qualifications, particularly through SCQF 4 and 5 Personal Finance awards, and through Applications of Mathematics, which provides advanced learning on a range of core and practical maths skills, including finance, up to Higher level.
At local level, schools have access to a range of organisations who visit schools to reinforce and enhance learning such as HMRC, Barclays Lifeskills, NatWest MoneySense and the Young Enterprise ‘My Money’ Talks.
The Scottish Government is also supporting young people after they leave school with a new School Leavers Toolkit which includes practical information about budgeting and finances.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the implementation of the European Union’s Single Use Plastic Directive (SUPD), including Article 6 on produce design requirements and tethered caps; whether it plans to adopt the SUPD in full or in part, and in the event that it does, whether its approach to implementation will include (a) the organisation of any public consultation events and (b) proposed changes to legislation, and what the timescales would be for any such activities.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining alignment, where possible, with developing EU standards, including those set out by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. Last year, Scotland became the first part of the UK to implement a ban on some of the most problematic single-use plastic products through the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. This legislation delivered Article 5 of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.
The Scottish Government is going further than these Regulations to deal with the problem of single-use plastics. For example, last year we announced plans to introduce a mandatory charge on single-use cups by 2025. This commitment aligns with Article 4 of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.
At present, the Scottish Government has not set a timetable for the implementation of Article 6 requirements. Any proposed Scottish Government action in this area will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation. We are already taking concrete action, including by implementing a deposit return scheme and a reformed extended producer responsibility scheme for plastic packaging. With specific reference to Article 6, from 2025 drinks producers will be required to meet a 90% collection target of all in-scope drinks containers (plastic, glass, and metal).
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 20 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure there are welfare facilities within all fire stations in Scotland, so that firefighters can decontaminate themselves following any exposure to cancerogenic fire contaminants.
Answer
The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24, which will bring the total budget to £362.7m.
I am aware that SFRS has been engaged with the FBU and the work of Lancaster University for a number of years and its well established contamination working group has taken action across all aspects of operations to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants. This includes investment in new fire appliances and fire station facilities.
This continues to be a priority for SFRS and the contaminants group will continue to consider the research and take appropriate action.
