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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-09395

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent steps it has taken to increase the number of affordable homes for (a) rent and (b) purchase in rural communities.

The Scottish Government understands how important good quality housing is for Scotland’s future prosperity and for the strength and diversity of our communities. That is why over the lifetime of this Parliament we are investing over £3 billion to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes across Scotland, in both rural and urban communities, 35,000 of which will be for social rent.

Through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme we have various housing initiatives designed to increase the number of affordable homes for rent or purchase which will benefit rural Scotland. However, we understand that people in rural areas can face particular and specific difficulties in finding affordable homes to rent or buy. To this end we launched a £30 million Rural and Islands Housing Fund in 2016 to run for three years until 2018-19. This fund is open to a wide range of organisations and aims to increase the supply of long term affordable housing of all tenures in rural areas. It provides capital funding (grant or loan) to enable provision of both new build and refurbishment of empty properties and contributions of up to £10,000 for feasibility work.

Question reference: S5O-01031

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve safety at the junction 21 slip road on the M74 where it joins the B7076.

Question reference: S5W-08344

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it defines "an obvious error" by farmers in a single application form, and how many such errors were identified in 2016.

An obvious error is one of a purely clerical nature that is obvious to us during a simple examination of a customer’s Single Application Form (SAF). It could also be an error we find during our coherence checks which reveals a contradiction in the information provided on a SAF or supporting documentation. We are still processing SAF 2016 so figures are not yet available for the number of cases where obvious errors have been identified.

The consequences for a failure to supply the correct information when completing the Single Application Form can be severe, with restricted scope for the Scottish Government to address any deficiencies in the information supplied by customers through application of the obvious error provisions. This is why customers are strongly encouraged to check the guidance carefully before completing their application and check the acknowledgment letter they are sent to ensure that they have completed their application form correctly.

Question reference: S5O-00999

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making with the establishment of a south of Scotland enterprise agency.

Question reference: S5W-08343

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many farmers opted not to claim their entitlements under the single application form in 2016.

Question reference: S5W-08885

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the method used in Ireland of two-year tissue tag testing for bovine viral diarrhoea.

As part of our role in the industry led Scottish bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication scheme Scottish Government is in dialogue with a number of other countries, including Ireland, to share experience and best practice. However the BVD testing methods used in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the Irish administrations and not for the Scottish Government to consider.

Question reference: S5W-08887

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what scientific data it used to devise the testing system for bovine viral diarrhoea and whether the information available is in the public domain.

Question reference: S5W-08886

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a regional model of bovine viral diarrhoea testing.

Question reference: S5W-08628

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the impact of freshwater dredging.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of freshwater dredging. Dredging is regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities)(Scotland)Regulations 2011. These regulations have three tiers of authorisation depending on the risk to the water environment. A licence is required for activities which pose the greatest risk, and SEPA considers any potential risk and impact when assessing an application and setting licence conditions.

Question reference: S5W-08351

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether feed-in tariffs can be claimed for biomass boilers that have not been granted local authority planning permission.