- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to extend the concessionary travel scheme to include free rail travel for under-22s as part of the nationalised ScotRail fares strategy.
Answer
The new statutory National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People currently covers bus travel only, as does the existing statutory National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People. The schemes do not extend to other modes of travel.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the anticipated timescale is for the electrification of the Maryhill railway line in Glasgow.
Answer
Our Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan requires a rolling programme of electrification to meet its target date of 2035. We continue to make good progress, including the current electrification work on the Barrhead and East Kilbride routes. Early development work for further routes is currently underway as part of our project pipeline approach and we will make further announcements on these at an appropriate stage of development.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is in place for local authorities regarding restrictions on school nativity plays.
Answer
Our reducing risks in schools guidance sets out the current COVID-19 mitigations in schools.
Current guidance reflects the best scientific and clinical advice, as well as the current state of the pandemic and the anticipated trajectory of infections. The restrictions, which limit non-essential visitors in schools and early learning and childcare settings, include attendance by parents for nativity plays and similar events. However, we know that many schools and settings plan to use other creative means to present these activities, such as streaming them online or holding them outdoors.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the pressure that existing NHS staff are reportedly under in carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities, how it is ensuring that mandatory staff training is provided to newly recruited staff.
Answer
The Staff Governance Standard, which has legislative underpinning, requires all health Boards to demonstrate that they are ensuring that staff are appropriately trained and developed and that resources, including time and funding, are appropriately allocated to meet local training and development needs taking into account the current priorities of both the service and service users.
Boards are expected to have systems in place to identify areas that require improvement and to develop action plans that will describe how improvements will be made. The Scottish Government also seek assurance from all Boards that they are meeting the Standard through the annual Staff Governance Monitoring exercise.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) strategy and (b) resilience planning was undertaken to account for the possibility of extraordinary events, such as Storm Arwen, occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures, such as lockdown.
Answer
Resilience structures in Scotland are designed to be adaptable and responsive to a wide range of risks.
Ministers regularly receive briefing on specific risks or emergencies throughout the year and the Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements constantly monitor for emerging issues and threats.
In the autumn of 2021, recognising the heightened risk of concurrent events – including COVID, winter weather, and supply chain issues – additional reporting and monitoring arrangements were put in place to ensure Ministers retain a close oversight of the complex and overlapping risk picture. Since 30 September, this has included daily reporting and weekly meetings of SGORR, with assessments on the key concurrent risks facing Government and planning activity being taken.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking, in addition to encouraging natural ventilation, to make classrooms safer learning environments for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
The Scottish Government Reducing Risks in Schools guidance contains a range of mitigations, such as use of face coverings, distancing requirements in schools and on school transport, and guidance for visitors and in-school events. This guidance is currently under active review, with input this week from the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues . A new version will be published this week. The guidance will remain under regular review and, where the scientific advice supports it, mitigations will be enhanced or removed as appropriate.
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Withdrawn
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 16 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a timeframe for the implementation of the Scottish dog control database.
Answer
The Scottish Dog Control Database Order 2021 comes into force on 31 December 2021 and provides for the establishment of the database.
Technical development of the database will be complete by 31 December; January and the first half of February 2022 will involve security testing of the database, and for users of the database to receive training.
From mid-February 2022, it is planned the database will be available as a live operational database.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many days were spent at sea on operational duties by the Marine Protection Vessels (a) Minna, (b) Jura and (c) Hirta in each year between 2018 and 2020, broken down by whether they were (i) within and (ii) outside the six nautical mile limit.
Answer
The number of days spent at sea for the Marine Protection Vessels is as follows:
| | Number of Days at Sea |
Vessel | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
MPV JURA | 285 | 322 | 299 |
MPV HIRTA | 297 | 318 | 305 |
MPV MINNA | 296 | 320 | 264 |
We are unable to separate patrol days between inside and outside inshore waters (inshore waters are generally considered to be the area covered by 6 miles from the baseline), as we do not record them in this way.
MPV Minna is an inshore/offshore vessel that generally focuses on territorial waters (0-12 nautical miles) while MPV Hirta and MPV Jura are offshore patrol vessels which spend the majority of their time patrolling territorial waters and offshore areas, apart from when transiting to patrol areas or where there is specific tasking to patrol inshore waters.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33611 by Mairi Gougeon on 4 December 2020, whether it will provide the information for (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22 to date regarding the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953.
Answer
Information on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 is provided in the following table.
Table 1. Offences of Protection of livestock from dogs, by local authority, 2012-13 to November 2021.
| | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | April-Nov 2021* |
Aberdeen City | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Aberdeenshire | 24 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 16 | 21 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 6 |
Angus | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Argyll & Bute | 11 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 18 | 8 |
Clackmannanshire | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 5 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 21 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 16 |
Dundee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
East Ayrshire | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
East Dunbartonshire | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
East Lothian | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
East Renfrewshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Edinburgh City | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
Falkirk | 8 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Fife | 9 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 2 |
Glasgow City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Highland | 15 | 10 | 15 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 8 |
Inverclyde | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Midlothian | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 2 |
Moray | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 7 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
North Ayrshire | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
North Lanarkshire | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 2 |
Orkney Islands | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Perth & Kinross | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
Renfrewshire | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Scottish Borders | 4 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 13 | 9 |
Shetland Islands | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
South Ayrshire | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
South Lanarkshire | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
Stirling | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
West Dunbartonshire | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
West Lothian | 3 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
Scotland | 125 | 98 | 109 | 174 | 175 | 170 | 168 | 151 | 163 | 103 |
Note:
* Data for 2012-13 to 2020-21 inclusive is sourced from the annual Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics. Data for April to November 2021 does not cover a full year and is sourced from monthly Recorded Crime in Scotland Official Statistics, and is therefore not directly comparable. The full 2021-22 reporting year will be published in 2022.
