Douglas Lumsden

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any skills shortages in the video game development sector.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Education Scotland supports all 32 local authorities to develop and deliver digital literacy, computing science and creativity learning - all of which are in-demand from the games industry.The Scottish Government is engaging with an industry led action plan a…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to video game development companies in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) funding stream and (b) local authority area.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government has not provided funding directly to video game development companies in the past five years through targeted schemes.

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what skills and training programmes it supports for the video game development industry, and how much funding has been allocated to these in each of the last five years.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have provided funding in 2022 and 2023 to support Scottish Games Week, which included an Education Symposium.The Scottish Government provided £49,425 in 2022 and £40,000 in 2023.Education Scotland pro…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what partnerships it has established between the video game industry and education providers to support training and upskilling.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have provided funding in 2022 and 2023 to support Scottish Games Week, which included an Education Symposium. This event brings together video game industry and education providers with an aim to share learning a…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available to the video game development sector, broken down by (a) grants, (b) tax relief, (c) loans and (d) other funding mechanisms.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government does not offer financial support (a-d) specifically for the video games industry. However, there is a large range of resources available through Scotland’s public sector and available to businesses in a variety of sectors which c…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) colleges and (b) universities in Scotland offer courses related to video game development, and what financial support it provides to these institutions.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Universities and Colleges are autonomous institutions, and the Scottish Government does not intervene in subject provision, or hold information on the number of courses related to video game development. The upcoming budget is providing over £2bn for co…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average length of sentence reduction has been for prisoners released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years.

Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:The table below shows the average length of sentence reduction for prisoners released under either the 2020 COVID 19 Early Release Schem…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many government-owned buildings have had solar panels installed, broken down by (a) department, (b) agency and (c) local authority area.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Scottish Government core owned estate has six buildings with solar panels installed.They are in the following local authority areas:The City of Edinburgh Council – 3 buildings (Victoria Quay, St Andrews House, SASA)Scottish Borders Council – 1 bui…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the early release of prisoners on public safety in each of the last five years.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government has utilised emergency early release legislation on two separate occasions in the last five years (May 2020 and June/July 2024).Public and victim safety is central to our decision making, particularly when releasing individuals early f…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of prisoners released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years secured (a) stable housing and (b) employment within three months of release.

Answer · Angela Constance: Data in relation to the housing circumstances and employment status of individuals released from custody is not available.Individuals serving short-term sentences are not routinely subject to any form of post-release supervision or monitoring, and those that …

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected lifespan is of any solar panels installed on government-owned buildings, and what the estimated cost is of their (a) maintenance and (b) eventual replacement.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The solar panels installed on core Scottish Government buildings have an output warranty of 25 years. The panels will continue to operate past 25 years, however their output will be lower than new panels. Maintenance costs are included in the overall building…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much VisitScotland has spent on marketing in each of the last five years, broken down by expenditure (a) within and (b) outside Scotland.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The following table summarises VisitScotland’s paid media advertising spend in the UK and Republic of Ireland and international markets over the previous five financial years.YearUK&RoIRest of the WorldTotal2018-19£470,000£2,103,218&poun…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years.

Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:The following table shows the number of prisoners who were released during the last 5 years under early release arrangements. The number…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what revenue it has received from agricultural leases or tenancies involving livestock farming on land that it owns in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: The Scottish Government received the following rental income from the agricultural and crofting tenancies £208,396.54 in 2020-21, £212,951.73 in 2021-22, £214,950.92 in 2022-23, £220,002.31 in 2023-24 and £220,147.55 in 2024-25.

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many heat pumps have been installed in Scotland to date, broken down by local authority area; how it monitors the number and location of heat pump installations, and what assessment it has made of progress towards its targets for heat pump installations.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: We publish an annual report of progress against our Heat in Buildings strategy. The most recent report was published in October 2024: Heat in Buildings: progress report 2024 - gov.scot. This includes estimates for number of domestic and non-domestic propertie…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated carbon emissions savings have been of wind turbines installed on land that it owns in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: We do not hold this information.

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many livestock are kept on land that it owns, broken down by (a) species and (b) location.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: 126 pedigree bulls are kept at the Scottish Government’s Knocknagael farm, near Inverness for the crofting cattle improvement scheme.We do not hold information on the numbers and types of livestock owned and managed by our farm and croft tenants.

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many deer are estimated to be on land that it owns, broken down by (a) species and (b) location.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Deer numbers in forested or woodland environments are very difficult to estimate due to dense cover and the mobile nature of deer.Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is the executive agency which manages Scotland’s national forests and land. The majority o…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much electricity has been generated by any solar panels installed on government-owned buildings in each of the last five years.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The electricity generated by solar panels on core Scottish Government owned buildings is2023-24 – 227,433 kWh2022-23 – 506,430 kWh2021-22 – 269,187 kWh2020-21 – 177,409 kWh2019-20 – 81,246 kWh

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many deer have been culled on land that it owns in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) species and (b) location.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is the executive agency which manages Scotland’s national forests and land. The majority of deer management on land owned by the Scottish Government is undertaken by FLS. Alongside land owned by the Scottish Government, …

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the livestock kept on land that it owns is farmed directly by (a) it and (b) under lease or tenancy agreements.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: The Scottish Government own 126 bulls to operate the crofting cattle improvement scheme, however for the majority of the year these bulls are kept on crofters own holdings.We do not hold information on the numbers of livestock owned and managed by our farm an…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what revenue it has received from deer culling activities on land that it owns in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is the executive agency which manages Scotland’s national forests and land. The majority of deer management on land owned by the Scottish Government is undertaken by FLS. Alongside land owned by the Scottish Government, …

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it uses when granting leases or tenancies for livestock farming on land that it owns.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: When leasing agricultural land, the Scottish Government endeavours to use the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group scoring matrix wherever possible.

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the prison population has been released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years, and what the reasons were for any such early releases of prisoners.

Answer · Angela Constance: In relation to the Coronavirus specific emergency early release process in May 2020, there were 348 individuals released early. This represented around 5% of the overall prison population at that time, which was 7,128 on 1 May 2020.In relation to the emergenc…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what revenue it has received from rental payments for wind turbines located on land that it owns in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: 2020 £22244.752021 £17596.712022 £18675.862023 £34395.192024 £35329.33

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of prisoners released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years were subject to electronic monitoring upon release.

Answer · Angela Constance: Emergency release regulations have been utilised twice within the last five years (May 2020 & June/July 2024), and on both occasions the same conditions of release were applied for individuals granted emergency early release, as would have been applied at…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to rehabilitation and resettlement services for prisoners released early in each of the last five years.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government currently provides over £3.4 million total in annual funding for the provision of voluntary throughcare to Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnerships (PSPs).For the early release programmes in 2020 and 2024, no additional fu…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand the installation of solar panels on government-owned buildings.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Installing solar panels on owned Scottish Government buildings will be considered as part of holistic approach to decarbonising our buildings. Feasibility studies will be carried out to look at the suitability of roof structures, roof orientation, available s…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners released under any early release programmes in each of the last five years were recalled to custody.

Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:When a prisoner is liberated from custody under emergency release arrangements such as the 2020 COVID 19 Early Release Scheme and the 20…

5 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects on the deer populations on land that it owns, and how frequently this is updated.

Answer · Jim Fairlie: Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), is the executive agency which manages Scotland’s national forests and land. The majority of deer management on land owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation is undertaken by FLS. Alongside land owned by …