- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has appropriate levels of resources to respond to every incident in a safe and timely manner.
Answer
The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24. In recognition of the pay and inflationary pressures faced by SFRS, we have provided SFRS with additional budget cover of up to £4.4m on top of the allocation set in the 2023-24 budget announcement.
The Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022 sets out that SFRS should ensure that the capability of its assets and staff, combined with technological improvements, enable it to respond to incidents with the right resources at the right time across communities in Scotland. The deployment of the appropriate level of resources to deal with an incident is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the range of drugs available for prescribing to prisoners is consistent across all prison estates; whether it will outline any variations and what the reasons are for these, and what body is responsible for deciding what drugs are available for prescribing in each prison estate.
Answer
The range of drugs that exist for clinicians to prescribe to people in prison across all prison estates is the same as those available to NHS patients across the same geographical areas (Health Boards).
There may be some difference in what the first line and second line formulary recommendations are in each of the Boards, with these differences being attributable to local variation in assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness.
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is responsible for approving all medicines for use in the NHS in Scotland. Once a medicine has been approved by the SMC it is then considered for addition to the local formulary by the Boards Area Drugs and Therapeutic Committee (ADTCC). The ADTCC is a statutory committee of the Board with responsibility for the safe and effective use of medicines in that Board.
All medicines approved for use in the NHS in Scotland are available to all people in prison regardless of location, through the same processes that are available to the non-custodial population.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what salary and any benefits the incoming Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Rail Holdings will receive upon their appointment.
Answer
Remuneration for the incoming Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Rail Holdings will be published, in due course, on the Salary Publication section of the Scottish Rail Holdings website:-
Who we are — Scottish Rail Holdings
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it
plans to make road improvements to increase road safety at Toll of Birness on
the A90; what the evidence base is that indicates that any such road
improvements will increase safety specifically at that junction, and, if
(a) it has no such road improvement plans and (b) no evidence base exists,
whether it will confirm this.
Answer
Transport Scotland undertakes an annual assessment of the safety performance of the entire trunk road network, including the A90. This assessment considers accident patterns and rates in the form of Route Accident Reduction Plans (RARP), and screens all locations where three or more personal injury accidents have occurred in a three-year period. This ensures that full consideration is given to accidents that may be spread along a specific corridor. Further investigations are then carried out and, where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised for delivery.
Two interactive signs were erected in 2017 with a third interactive sign to supplement the northbound signs erected in 2021. These signs alert drivers to vehicles turning at the junction and encourage drivers to drive within the speed limit. Other work involved an additional northbound advance direction sign. There are currently no further road safety improvement plans at A90 Toll of Birness, however, this will be monitored through the Annual Road Safety Review.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a review of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045: Tackling the Nature Emergency in Scotland, in light of the new assessment report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and, if so, when it anticipates any such work will take place.
Answer
The draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy reflects the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and the close linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being and sustainable development in the same way as the IPCC’s 6 th Synthesis Report. We are currently reviewing the draft Strategy in light of the outcomes of COP15 and in doing so, we will take into account other significant developments such as the IPCC’s assessment report. A consultation on the Strategic Framework for Biodiversity in Scotland, comprising the Strategy and its first Delivery Plan, will take place in summer 2023, followed by publication of the final Strategy later in 2023.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Development Trusts Association Scotland since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS) engage with many areas of Scottish Government and this information is not collated centrally. However, core support is provided by the Third Sector Unit who have met with DTAS at various times since May 2021 to discuss their core funding and the Scottish Government’s Pockets & Prospects Fund which they manage along with the Scottish Community Alliance.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the level of information required from third sector organisations for grant applications has increased compared with previous years, and, if so, what the reasons are for this, and what consideration it has given to the ability of these organisations to access funding.
Answer
Scottish Government grant making is allocated across portfolios to various parts of the third sector to improve a wide range of outcomes. Some Scottish Government funding will be issued through third sector intermediary organisations. Each grant funding programme will have its own specific application criteria related to desired policy outcomes. This information is not centrally collated.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed a framework for distributing emergency funding in a fair and timely manner as set out in the Social Justice and Social Security Committee’s 8th Report, 2022 (Session 6), Robbing Peter to pay Paul: Low income and the debt trap (SP Paper 211).
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of working with partners to ensure that emergency funding meets need effectively.
To ensure local authorities have the capacity and resources required to deliver any new policy commitments, all new policy or changes to existing policy that have a financial cost for local government, including those put in place in an emergency, are approved through the formal financial governance process. This requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group and political sign-off from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the current average time is for claimants to receive a decision following an application for the Adult Disability Payment.
Answer
Official statistics covering processing times for Adult Disability Payment are published as a part of the regularly scheduled quarterly publication. The latest Adult Disability Payment statistical publication was published on Tuesday 14 March 2023 and the next publication will be published in June 2023. Information on the average processing time by month is included in table 9. This publication is available from
https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance .
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15940 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 March 2023, whether the decision not to purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles, and to instead opt for internal combustion engine vehicles, is consistent with its reported commitment to shift to zero emission transport.
Answer
As part of our pledge towards decarbonisation, the Scottish Government is working towards our commitment to phase out the need for all petrol or diesel cars in the public sector fleet by 2025 and for all other new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.
In line with this commitment, all internal combustion vehicles (ICE) procured since 2018 are light commercial vehicles and at time of purchase, there were no suitable fully electric (EV) or plug in hybrid (PHEV) alternatives available. These vehicles will be replaced at end of life with either EV or PHEV replacements.
No ICE cars have been procured since 2017.
