- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the level 4 tables that were published in conjunction with its draft Budget 2025-26 budget, for what reason it considers "£1.5 billion of ABR transfers processed" to be an "explanation of significant changes from previous year".
Answer
The Level 4 tables that were published with the draft Budget 2025-26 provide a summary of the changes from the previous year but it is not practical to list the full detail of all the changes associated with the Local Government Settlement, particularly where that detail is already available to the Scottish Parliament.
The specific details of the £1.5 billion of Local Government transfers processed at the Autumn Budget Revision 2024-25 are published in Schedule 3.1 of the Autumn Budget Revision 2024-25: supporting document.
The Finance and Public Administration Committee recommended that the Budget (Scotland) Act 2024 Amendment Regulations 2024, which give effect to the Autumn Budget Revision, should be agreed at their meeting on 12 November 2024. The regulations were subsequently approved by the Scottish Parliament on 4 December 2024.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what powers Historic Environment Scotland has to ensure that consultations are sought prior to any emergency demolition of listed buildings, so that the minimum works needed are carried out to make a dangerous building safe.
Answer
In the context of unauthorised work and listed buildings, Historic Environment Scotland’s role is advisory. Historic Environment Scotland has no legal powers in relation to enforcement and listed buildings in general, nor in ensuring that consultation occurs or that the minimum works needed to make a dangerous building safe are carried out. Legal powers related to enforcement and listed buildings lie with the planning authority and, in some circumstances, Scottish Ministers.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates work on the new Edinburgh eye hospital will commence.
Answer
The 2025-26 draft budget provides £139 million additional investment for health infrastructure, allowing some work to resume on delivering new acute facilities, including the Princes Alexandra Eye Pavilion.
NHS Lothian have been invited to progress the business case and design work, however, the exact timeline has not been established as to when construction will start or when the project will be completed.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding their protection from pollution and damage, what information it has on how many chalk streams there are in Scotland.
Answer
There are no chalk streams in Scotland. The Scottish Government, therefore, does not hold information on the protection of chalk streams from pollution and damage.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) suppliers that are registered to provide a service in Shetland to ensure that they are able to deliver connections in the areas that they have advised.
Answer
When registering to deliver services through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, suppliers are asked to provide evidence that they have already connected properties commercially. For Shetland, there are a number of registered suppliers who indicated that they were active in Shetland – Openreach, Converged Communication Solutions Ltd, Shetland Broadband LLP, Scotnet and BRDY. Shetland Broadband have already delivered connections using a fixed wireless solution, as have BRDY, using a satellite-based solution.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on the launch of the MV Glen Rosa in 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government did not allocate any separate direct funding for the launch of the MV Glen Rosa. All related costs and resource decisions were made independently by Ferguson Marine.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when the Out-turn report for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme between 2022 and 2024 will be published
Answer
The Out-turn report for the 2022-23 Affordable Housing Supply Programme will be published early in the New Year. The 2023-24 out-turn report is still in progress and we do not, at present, have an identified publication date.
Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of homes. They can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/
Other Affordable housing programme data is also available on our webpage Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31887 by Mairi Gougeon on 9 December 2024, whether it has considered using powers under section 36 of the Fisheries Act 2020 to place the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture into law.
Answer
The Scottish Government continually considers where regulation for farmed fish health is necessary.
We already have robust legislation, policies, and operational practices in place to ensure fish farmers are meeting statutory requirements on sealice reporting and management, mortality reporting, listed disease surveillance and containment of farmed fish. The aquaculture sector in Scotland shows a significant level of compliance with both legislative and voluntary requirements. Enactment in law of the finfish sector’s Code of Good Practice through existing legislative instruments would not necessarily significantly improve outcomes for fish health and, therefore, there are no plans for further legislation at this time.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that chalk streams are protected from sewage overflows.
Answer
There are no chalk streams in Scotland, however, we are taking action to protect Scotland’s water environment from sewage overflows.
Our waterways are in good condition. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) considers 86.5% of our water environment to be high or good quality - up from 82% in 2014. SEPA, which regulates discharges from Scottish Water’s assets to the environment, acknowledges the sustained investment made by Scottish Water across the period 2015-21 has been a key driver of this improvement
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any obstacles that exist for coastal communities seeking to undertake restoration of marine environments, including (a) planning and (b) financial.
Answer
In March this year we consulted on legislative proposals to facilitate marine nature restoration. In the consultation document we set out concerns raised by community groups and restoration organisations with regards to the complexity of the regulatory environment for restoration projects. In response to these concerns we developed proposals to address one element of the complex issues, and while there was broadly support for the proposals, there was a lack of consensus on the detail of the scheme proposed. We will continue to listen carefully to restoration groups and coastal communities throughout the development of the marine and coastal restoration plan, and will identify actions to address barriers to restoration as part of the plan.