- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16109 by Jenni Minto on 3 April 2023, what the latest data available is for how many families accessed the Young Patients Family Fund in 2022-23, and, if the full year returns are not yet available, whether it will provide the information that it has so far, regarding any partial returns.
Answer
The latest data reported from Health Boards indicates that 8415 claims were submitted under YPFF, this equates to 3740 young inpatients being claimed for.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to hold a full review of the Young Patients Family Fund, including its (a) use and (b) impact to date, and, if so, when this review will take place.
Answer
We plan to consider the potential of an evaluation once the fund is well established. As part of any evaluation we will consider how we get direct feedback from people about their experiences of using it and impact.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10631 by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022, whether it will provide an update on the total number of homes that have been built in each local authority area through the (a) Rural Housing and (b) Islands Housing Fund since November 2021.
Answer
A total of 56 homes have been completed through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund since November 2021. The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area.
Local Authority Area | Rural | Islands | Total |
Argyll & Bute | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 7 | - | 7 |
Highland | 10 | 4 | 14 |
Moray | 20 | - | 20 |
Orkney | - | 1 | 1 |
Scottish Borders | 7 | - | 7 |
Western Isles | - | 1 | 1 |
Total | 44 | 12 | 56 |
The homes provided through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects and conversions. |
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the number of sewage discharges by (a) incidence and (b) hours of discharge, into Peterhead Lido, in each year since 2017 up to the latest available data; what the approximate volumes were of any such discharges in each year; what assessment has been made of the potential impact of any such discharges on the health of Lido users; what the reasons were for any such discharges; what action it has taken since 2017 to reduce the number of discharges, and what is currently being done to prevent any further discharges.
Answer
There are no sewage discharges into Peterhead Lido, designated bathing water. The recent Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Scottish Water’s published Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) spill data stating that ‘sewage was discharged for a staggering 483 hours last year, totalling 337 separate sewage dumps onto the beach’ and widely reported in the media is incorrect.
Peterhead Lido is located within Peterhead Bay Marina harbour walls, which is situated within Peterhead Bay again protected by a second set of harbour walls. Peterhead Wastewater Treatment Works short sea outfall CSO, as highlighted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, is located 1 km south around a coastal peninsula outside both sets of harbour walls away from Peterhead Lido. Given its location it cannot discharge sewage into Peterhead Lido or impact on its bathing water quality.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying protecting and improving water quality at designated bathing waters. Peterhead Lido is currently classified as having excellent bathing water quality. Overall, 98% of bathing waters currently meet the bathing water standards with more beaches being classified as excellent than ever before.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its commitment, announced on 23 April 2023, to support affordable housing for key workers in rural areas, whether it plans to make funds available for community-led housing projects in rural areas that aim to provide affordable housing to key workers.
Answer
Development Trusts and others taking forward community led housing already have access to the demand-led £30 million Rural and Islands Housing Fund. This fund already supports community organisations to bring forward new housing projects, or to renovate empty homes or to convert commercial or non-domestic premises into residential accommodation to meet local housing needs including through the attraction or retention of economically active households.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its commitment, announced on 23 April 2023, to support affordable housing for key workers in rural areas, for what reason community development trusts have reportedly been excluded from this initiative.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17667 on 17 May 2023. 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: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when a final decision will be taken regarding funding allocation for student mental health counsellors for the next academic year.
Answer
We have made significant investment to introduce more than 80 extra counsellors across institutions and have committed funding to maintain support through to the end of this academic year.
No decision has yet been taken with regard to funding beyond the current academic year.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is planning any future engagement with churches regarding the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2021.
Answer
In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.
The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to raise awareness and help support stakeholders through the process. This will include a programme of additional awareness raising and reviewing the existing guidance, however this will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S6W-11752 by
Mairi McAllan on 10 November 2022, whether it has now considered whether Island
Communities Impact Assessments will be required in relation to its proposed
Scottish Highly Protected Marine Areas, and if so, whether it will publish details of
this.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17310 on 4 May 2023. 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: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it allocated to advertising its public
consultation on Highly Protected Marine Areas.
Answer
The Scottish Government did not pay for advertisements in relation to the public consultation on our overall approach to Highly Protected Marine Areas. The consultation was publicised online via social media – see the answer to
S6W-17045 on 15 May 2023 for more details. Additionally emails were sent out to the over 200 stakeholders who had signed up for our mailing list.
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