- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide financial support to manufacturers to develop decarbonisation technologies for Scotland’s railways.
Answer
The Rail Cluster Builder is a specific example of Scottish Government supporting manufacturers to develop decarbonisation technologies. Funded by Scottish Enterprise, Transport Scotland and Skills Development Scotland, the Rail Cluster Builder Phase 2 is a three-year project building on the momentum of Phase 1, giving opportunities for Scottish SMEs to bring new ideas, new thinking and learning from other industries across Scotland into the railway sector and helping to create innovative, green solutions that will support our net zero targets.
A key element of Phase 2 is ensuring that businesses have access to support to address the skills related challenges faced by organisations in the rail sector. Skills Development Scotland provide support to companies to identify their skills needs and how to develop their existing workforce in order to build capacity, grasp opportunities and increase competitiveness.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what comparative analyses of its international office spending relative to similar devolved administrations it has carried out, and on what dates.
Answer
There have been no comparative analyses undertaken of spending relative to similar devolved administrations.
However, the Scottish Government is in regular contact with the international networks of other devolved administrations to understand how they operate.
The Welsh Government has 21 international offices in 12 countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, which are responsible for trade and investment, government relations, tourism, culture and education.
The Northern Ireland Executive has diplomatic offices in Washington D.C, Brussels and Beijing. In addition, “Invest NI” has offices in locations across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East and Africa focussing on trade and investment.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what resources are being developed to help (a) individuals and (b) households improve their flood resilience.
Answer
The Scottish Flooding Forum, funded by Scottish Government, already makes a broad range of resources available to individuals and households. These cover preparation and protection, what to do if flooding occurs, recovery and guidance on actions communities can take together. The SFF also have an online Property Protection Advisor tool.
If someone lives in an area that may flood they can also contact the Scottish Flooding Forum enquiry telephone line for advice, information and support to protect their property.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that its international offices are not used to promote the case for Scottish independence.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s international network offices do not have a role in developing policy on options for Scotland’s constitutional future. Nevertheless, it is the role of the Civil Service to support the elected government of the day in developing and implementing its policies. That is the case for work on independence as it is for the rest of the government’s work.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what interim measures are being implemented to reduce emissions from diesel passenger trains before 2045.
Answer
Decarbonisation of Scotland’s Railway is undertaken on a phased basis. The line to Barrhead was decarbonised in December 2023. The line to East Kilbride is next, completing in December 2025. Other lines will follow.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the results of the Instrumental Music Service Survey 2024 to be published.
Answer
The survey is not a Scottish Government survey. It is carried out by the Improvement Service on behalf of Heads of Instrumental Tuition Scotland (HITS).
For further information please contact the Improvement Service at research@improvementservice.org.uk
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much the A96 Corridor Review has cost, broken down by financial year.
Answer
Please see the following table with breakdown of costs by financial year for work undertaken on the A96 Corridor Review:
Financial Year | Total Cost excluding non-recoverable VAT |
2022-2023 | £3,265,047.17 |
2023-2024 | £2,362,603.37 |
2024-2025 | £745,417.93 |
Note: 2024-2025 figures are up to 19 December 2024, date of request.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its policy and guidelines regarding people with alcohol use disorder in the justice system, with a view to addressing any gaps in implementation.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.
This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.
Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost was of the recent replacement of the heating and window control systems in MSP offices in the Parliament building.
Answer
The works referred to in your question is part of an existing project to upgrade the Parliament’s Building and Energy Management System (BEMS). The BEMS is a business-critical tool which provides visibility and control of building services, principally the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and domestic hot water systems in all areas of the Holyrood site. The new BEMS replaces an existing system which was installed 20 years ago and at end of life.
The estimated total value for the BEMS project is £3,900,000. This information is published on the Scottish Parliaments Contracts Register under the contract reference NIC-SER-486 at the following link - Contract register | Scottish Parliament Website.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S6W-31550 by Claire Baker on 11 December 2024, how many email and domain accounts for MSP spouses who are not in paid employment by MSPs there are on the Parliament IT system, and what the average annual cost is of administering any such accounts.
Answer
In line with data protection legislation the personal data processed by the SPCB is minimised to only that which is necessary, and there is no business reason to hold spousal information of those who work for MSPs in an unpaid capacity. The average annual licencing cost to provide email and productivity applications to Parliament network users is approximately £280 per user.