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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.

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Question reference: S6W-10481

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost each year has been of consultancy fees relating to Transport Scotland’s work on developing long- and medium-term resilient routes to replace the existing A83 Rest and Be Thankful corridor.

Since the announcement in August 2020 to develop a resilient long term solution to the landslide issues at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, Transport Scotland has spent approximately £5 million in consultancy fees for both the medium term and long term solutions.

Financial Year	Spend (inc. VAT)
2020-21	£1,157,851.95
2021-22	£2,804,916.38
2022-23*	£1,013,000.99

* up to and including July 2022.

This has allowed the environmental and engineering assessment work on eleven different corridor options to be concluded with the preferred route corridor being announced in March 2021.

Design and assessment work has subsequently progressed on five long term solution options within the preferred corridor comparing the relative merits in terms of engineering, environmental and economic criteria. All options are technically complex ranging from traditional roads with structural rock shelters, to tunnels through the hillside and viaducts options crossing through the Glen Croe valley.

At the same time, consultants have been undertaking design and assessment work on a number of medium term options to improve resilience of the route while the long term measure is being developed.

To inform the design, consultants have undertaken a wide range of activities including the development of 3D road models for each option, rock and channel mapping of the hillside, landslide hazard assessments, constructability reviews as well as flood risk and flood mapping. They have also prepared contract documents and supervised the £1.8 million ground investigation and undertaken a range of environmental and topographical surveys.

All consultation, design and environmental assessment reports completed to date, and further details of the data gathering and design activities are available on Transport Scotland’s website: Access to Argyll and Bute (A83) (transport.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-11226

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to date to support Arjowiggins and the reported 360 affected jobs in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government is doing everything in our power to help those affected through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). A PACE Partner event took place on 29 th September 2022, which was attended by around 150 individuals, followed by a Jobs Fair on 10 th October which was attended by around 500 individuals. We are continuing to provide any further PACE support that may be required by the affected employees.

Scottish Enterprise has worked with Arjowiggins for many years, providing grant support as well as expert advice. In 2019, when Stoneywood Mill was a solvent part of the overall group that was in administration, a concerted effort by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise was made to secure the company’s future and protect the jobs of its employees. Since then Scottish Enterprise has provided advice, further loan funding and assistance in leveraging private sector investment. Arjowiggins has received Scottish Enterprise loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £141,000. Most recently, Scottish Enterprise assisted with detailed options analysis and the pursuit of a buyer for the business. Scottish Enterprise continues to work with the joint administrators to explore all possible options.

Question reference: S6W-11284

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its Humanitarian Emergency Fund spending for the last 12 months.

Our independent Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) Panel, supported by the HEF Secretariat, have prepared an Annual Report on HEF spend across 2021-22. In the interests of transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government will make this available on our website in due course.

In the meantime, I am able to confirm the Scottish Government's £1 million Humanitarian Emergency Fund was activated four times in the 2021-22 financial year. Additional funding of £4.4 million was provided to respond to crises in Ukraine and Malawi. A breakdown of funding allocations in 2021-22 is available in the following table.

Crisis Location	Activation Type	Recipient Organisation	Funding Amount
South Sudan	HEF Stream 2	Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF)	£120,500
South Sudan	HEF Stream 2	Christian Aid	£120,500
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 2	Tearfund	£120,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 2	Christian Aid/Islamic Relief	£240,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 1A	Disasters Emergency Committee	£192,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 1B	SCIAF	£48,000
Burkina Faso	HEF Stream 2	Tearfund	£123,000
N/A	HEF Secretariat Admin fee	Disasters Emergency Committee	£36,000
Malawi	Additional funding - Storm Ana flooding response	British Red Cross	£400,000
Ukraine	Additional funding - Ukraine humanitarian response	SCIAF	£500,000
		British Red Cross	£500,000
		Disasters Emergency Committee	£2,000,000
		UNICEF	£1,000,000

To date, the HEF has been activated twice in the 2022-23 financial year. We have provided £250,000 to assist people affected by the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. This was split equally between Christian Aid, for work in Ethiopia, and Islamic Relief, for work in Somalia.

The Scottish Government have also committed £500,000 to respond to the floods in Pakistan, with £250,000 coming from the HEF and a further £250,000 from the Climate Justice Fund. £400,000 of this has been committed to the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal, with the remainder split equally between the two non-DEC members of the HEF Panel, Mercy Corps and SCIAF.

Question reference: S6W-11246

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been provided to coastal local authorities for coastal change adaptation in (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, following the announcement in the Programme for Government 2020-21 that £12 million would be invested to help these areas adapt to the threat of sea level rise, broken down by local authority.

We announced the new capital budget of £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation in the 2020 Programme for Government. Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed a methodology to distribute the new budget for the first two years to coastal local authorities based on evidence from Dynamic Coast which identifies assets most at risk from erosion ( https://www.dynamiccoast.com/ ). The budget covers the four-year period from 2022-23 until 2025-26, split as follows:

2022-23 - £1.6 million

2023-24 - £2.6 million

2024-25 - £2.7 million

2025-26 - £5.0 million

Total - £11.7 million

The distribution for 2022-23 and intended distribution for 2023-24 are as follows:

Council	2022-23	2023-24
Argyll & Bute	£160,000
Dumfries & Galloway	£160,000
East Lothian	£160,000
Fife	£160,000
Highland	£160,000
Moray	£160,000
North Ayrshire	£160,000
Orkney Islands	£160,000
Shetland Islands	£160,000
South Ayrshire	£160,000
Aberdeen City		£150,000
Aberdeenshire		£150,000
Angus		£150,000
City of Edinburgh		£150,000
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar		£150,000
Dundee City		£150,000
Falkirk		£150,000
Inverclyde		£150,000
Scottish Borders		£150,000
Clackmannan		£100,000
Perth & Kinross		£100,000
Renfrewshire		£100,000
West Dunbartonshire		£100,000
West Lothian		£100,000
Case studies – to be allocated		£550,000
Total	£1.6 million	£2.4 million

Local authorities were informed by letter of their allocation in February and they will receive the funds in their general capital grant settlement.

We continue to work with councils and COSLA to agree a distribution methodology for the £550,000 unallocated from the 2023-24 budget as well as the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets.

Question reference: S6W-11110

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the recommendations on (a) governance, (b) project controls and (c) value for money in the report Project Neptune, Governance, Internal Controls and Value for Money, which was published on 16 February 2022.

Question reference: S6W-11308

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the remit of the new Island Transport Forum.

Question reference: S6W-11307

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that the Islands Transport Forum consults with trade unions representing workers in the transport sector.

Question reference: S6W-11227

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what options ministers considered for supporting Arjowiggins and the reported 360 affected jobs in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise, had been working extensively with Arjowiggins and its partners to explore all possible options to support the business, including the pursuit of a buyer for the business. Scottish Enterprise continues to work with the administrators and partners to understand the potential options for the business going forward and explore all possibilities to rescue the jobs.

The Scottish Government will continue to help those affected through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE).

Question reference: S6W-11225

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when Scottish Enterprise was first made aware of problems at Arjowiggins.

Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Scottish Enterprise were aware of the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials.

Most recently, Scottish Enterprise helped with detailed options analysis and the pursuit of a buyer for the business, and an initial non-binding offer was received for Arjowiggins in 2022. Scottish Enterprise were advised on 20 th September 2022 that the preferred bidder had decided not to proceed with the acquisition citing the risks associated with the current economic environment, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 nd September 2022.

Question reference: S6W-11228

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when ministers were first made aware of problems at Arjowiggins.

The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise, has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Arjowiggins has received Scottish Enterprise loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £141,000.

Ministers have been routinely updated on the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials. In relation to Arjowiggins entering into administration, Ministers were advised on 20 th September 2022 that a potential sale of the business would not be proceeding, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 September 2022.