- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost of window cleaning services has been in each of the last five years.
Answer
Window cleaning services at the Scottish Parliament are carried out by both Mitie Cleaning and Environmental Services Ltd (general cleaning contract) and TRAC International Ltd (High-level Building Maintenance Contract). We do not hold information in a format which allows us to identify the costs of cleaning windows. Payments made under both contracts do not distinguish window cleaning from other cleaning services undertaken by Mitie or as part of the work regularly done by Trac. Information about suppliers for each business area within the SPCB, including the provision of cleaning services is publicly available in the Contracts Register on the Scottish Parliament website.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost has been of providing (a) tea, (b) coffee, (c) fruit and (d) biscuits in (i) the Members’ lounge and (ii) committee rooms, in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
We do not hold information on individual catering items that have been served at meetings, as meeting room hospitality is often ordered in a package format without specific item breakdowns being recorded. The costs for internal hospitality within the building cannot accurately be broken down to individual rooms or spaces.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many Parliament passes have been reported lost or stolen in each of the last five years.
Answer
The total number of Parliament passes that have been reported as lost or stolen for the last five calendar years are set out below:
- 2020 – 14
- 2021 – 12
- 2022 – 15
- 2023 – 20
- 2024 – 21
These numbers do not include passes that were reported as lost or stolen but were subsequently found.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost of PAT testing Christmas decorations in the Parliament building has been in each of the last five years.
Answer
Christmas tree decorations are stored and delivered onsite by our service provider, with PAT testing costs covered by the contractor.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost has been of maintaining any flags that it owns in each of the last 15 years.
Answer
No cost for maintenance of flags has been incurred in the past 15 years. If a flag is damaged it is replaced with a new one.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to revising the guidance on the Primary Care Improvement Plan reserves, with the aim of allowing for greater flexibility, including for the reserves to be allocated during the setting of annual budgets.
Answer
We are investing over £190 million annually in the implementation of primary care multidisciplinary teams through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) as well as additional funding for annual pay uplifts. The utilisation of PCIF funding held in reserve from the previous year to support in-year PCIF objectives is an approach we have now taken for a number of years. It is prudent to reinvest these public funds given the challenging financial context.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on hospitality for visitors to its buildings in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table summarises the value of hospitality costs on the Scottish Government’s financial reporting system for each of the last 5 full financial years.
2019-20 £s | 2020-21 £s | 2021-22 £s | 2022-23 £s | 2023-24 £s |
578,181 | 90,748 | 82,875 | 234,643 | 258,828 |
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason no financial provision was made in its draft Budget 2025-26 for the new national treatment centre in Aberdeen, in light of the increase in capital funding and the Finance and Public Administration Committee's call on it to "ensure it’s in the best possible position to ‘hit the ground running’ with infrastructure projects from the start of the next financial year."
Answer
As had been made clear, there remains challenge and uncertainty in the capital funding position.
All due consideration will be given as to which projects are affordable and deliverable and can be included within our revised infrastructure investment plan pipeline, following the outcome of the UK Government’s spending review and clarity on our longer-term capital funding position.
To this end, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan which will reflect needs across Scotland and support continued safe operation of existing facilities, as well as determination of longer term investment priorities.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it will conduct its review of the package of student financial support available for nursing and midwifery studies, and whether, as part of that review, it will explore any changes to reflect those who choose rural and remote work.
Answer
The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. The review aims to ensure that all PNM students are adequately supported to complete their studies, this includes students from remote and rural locations. A key aspect of the work associated with the review is to hear directly from PNM students about their experiences and opinions on financial support during their studies.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its Budget commitment to invest £5.11 million to restore rainforest.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s Draft Budget proposes a significant allocation for Natural Resources which includes funding for Atlantic Rainforest restoration, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to this important priority. Budget allocation at the project/programme level is still to be finalised and will be considered following passage of the Budget Bill through Parliament.