- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the new VoiceAbility head office to open in Glasgow.
Answer
VoiceAbility has signed an agreement for premises on Bath St in Glasgow to house their Scottish HQ and bespoke training centre. This has been open and available since 1 March 2022. The premises will not be permanently staffed and will be used when required for training events and face-to-face meetings with clients.
This approach is consistent with VoiceAbility’s delivery model which is built around home-based staff and an existing network of accessible co-location venues in local communities, which allows them to reduce the cost of their service whilst being flexible and responsive to fluctuating demand.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government by when the process of accrediting more companies to its accessible vehicles and equipment scheme will be completed.
Answer
Motability is currently the only provider accredited under the Accessible Vehicle and Equipment Scheme. The Scottish Government plans to begin work to re-open the Scheme to additional applicants later this year.
We will announce a timetable for this in due course. We will work with any new accredited providers to integrate and test their service, to ensure disabled people benefit from high standards of service.
- Asked by: Jenni Minto, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Forestry Grant Scheme, how much woodland creation grant funding was provided for (a) conifer, (b) diverse conifer, (c) broadleaves, (d) native scots pine, (e) native upland birch, (f) native broadleaves, (g) native low density, (h) small or farm woodland and (i) Northern and Western Isles in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2021.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided more than £124m to support woodland creation across Scotland over the last three years, delivering increasing levels of new planting towards the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change and biodiversity targets. Table 1 shows how much funding has been provided in each of those years, broken down by the woodland creation type supported through the Forestry Grant Scheme, demonstrating our commitment to supporting a wide variety of forests and implementing the principle of “the right tree, in the right place, for the right reasons.”
FGS Woodland Creation Woodland Type | Value 2019-20 (£) | Value 2020-21 (£) | Value 2021-22 (£) |
Conifer | 18,046,767 | 21,128,526 | 23,786,429 |
Diverse Conifer | 3,160,856 | 3,404,428 | 4,067,949 |
Broadleaves | 2,452,692 | 2,253,688 | 3,032,404 |
Native Broadleaves | 6,099,041 | 6,969,769 | 8,706,606 |
Native Scots Pine | 2,349,413 | 2,514,959 | 2,758,930 |
Native Upland Birch | 2,321,752 | 3,687,417 | 4,498,327 |
Small or Farm Woodlands | 627,477 | 541,862 | 784,766 |
Native Broadleaves in Northern and Western Isles | 157,273 | 149,196 | 176,398 |
Native Low Density | 111,230 | 131,695 | 559,979 |
Table 1
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its new global affairs framework.
Answer
Work on the Global Affairs Framework is continuing and the Framework will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the public transport workforce is disabled, also broken down by (a) ferry, (b) rail and (c) bus operators.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect demographic data specifically on the public transport workforce nor does it do so for each mode of public transportation. If collected, this data will be held by public transport operating organisations.
Data from the Annual Population Survey over the period Jan-Dec 2020 provides breakdowns on employment by industry sector which includes the category “Transport and Storage”. It shows that 4% of all those aged over 16 in employment were working in Transport and Storage.
Of those employed in transport and storage industries, 13% are disabled. This compares to a figure of 13% also for those employed in all industries who are disabled.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government where the equalities impact assessment of the ScotRail proposals to reduce station ticket office staffing levels and opening hours is published.
Answer
We understand, following the completion of its ticket office opening hours consultation and Transport Focus’ findings report, that ScotRail intends to publish, in due course, its Diversity Impact Assessment.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much COVID-19-related funding from the UK Government it (a) received in 2020-21 and (b) has received in 2021-22, broken down by how much (i) has been allocated to (A) COVID-19-specific spending, (B) non-COVID-19-specific spending and (ii) remains unallocated.
Answer
The Scottish Government has received £14.564 billion in Covid-19 related funding from the UK Government. Amounts received for 2020-21 were £9.752 billion and for 2021-22 are £4.812 billion. Details of the timing and split of funding received are included in the following table:
UK Government COVID Allocations to Scottish Government (£m) | Resource | Capital & FTs | Total |
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Barnett Guarantee | 8,600 | | 8,600 |
2020-21 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates | 874 | 278 | 1,152 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2020 | 1,328 | | 1,328 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Budget | 1,206 | | 1,206 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Main Estimates | 1,000 | | 1,000 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - UK Spending Review 2021 | 516 | | 516 |
2021-22 Funding allocated by UK Government - Supplementary Estimates | 707 | 55 | 762 |
Total | 14,231 | 333 | 14,564 |
Following completion of the 2021-22 Spring Budget Revision exercise total Covid-19 funding allocations are £14.855 billion, £291 million more than the total UK funding received.
The timeline and split of Scottish Government Covid-19 funding allocations is detailed in the table below. Note that the £1.152 billion received at Supplementary Estimate 2020-21 was deferred into 2021-22.
Deployment of funds to support Covid response by Scottish Government (£m) | Resource | Capital & FTs | Total |
2020-21 Budget Revisions | 8,677 | 11 | 8,688 |
2021-22 Scottish Budget Bill as Amended | 3,593 | 278 | 3,871 |
2021-22 Autumn Budget Revision | 1,050 | | 1,050 |
2021-22 Spring Budget Revision | 1,162 | 84 | 1,246 |
Total | 14,482 | 373 | 14,855 |
There are challenges when attempting to directly compare funding received and Scottish Government deployment on Covid 19. For example the £707 million received at 2021-22 Supplementary Estimates includes £143 million of "Budget Cover transfers" in relation to Test and Trace/vaccination. The UK Government does not classify this as a Covid-19 Barnett Consequential but has been included in the total Covid-19 funding received.
Despite the complications with timing, classification and judgement, the Scottish Government has deployed all of the Covid-19 funding it has received over the course of the pandemic to directly support Covid-19 response measures.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 22 zero-emission electric buses that were used to shuttle COP26 delegates are now in service on routes in Glasgow.
Answer
The 22 zero-emission electric buses owned by First Bus, which were partly funded through Transport Scotland's Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS), are all now in service on routes in Glasgow following COP26 in October.
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government to what extent the Community Needs Assessment of ferry services on the Clyde and Hebrides network will take account of employment and training opportunities at CalMac Ferries.
Answer
The community needs assessment process is focussed on identifying communities needs for travel.
However, the procurement process for the next CHFS contract will consider potential community benefits including employment and training opportunities .
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of (a) oil and (b) gas imports to Scotland from Russia, and what its position is on how much Scotland's economy relies on these imports.
Answer
Using official statistics, which are at a UK level, in 2020 indigenous gas production met more than half of UK demand with the remainder supplied via imports of gas, of which 5% came from Russia. In 2020, UK demand was met by imports of approximately 80% of crude oil and 47% of Petroleum products. Russian imports met an estimated 7.8% and 7.7% of UK demand.
In 2020, of the Petroleum products, Russian imports were predominately diesel, accounting for 33% of total UK Diesel imports.
In 2020, total gross trade in goods in 2020 (Imports and Exports) between the UK and Russia was £10.3 billion, which included the following imported from Russia: Refined oil (£2.3 Billion), Crude oil (£1 Billion) and Gas (£0.5 Billion).
