Parliamentary questions
Douglas Lumsden
1,891 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how compulsory purchase orders are factored into the planning for large infrastructure projects, such as transport or renewable energy developments.
Answer · Ivan McKee: How compulsory purchase orders are factored into the planning for large infrastructure projects is a matter for the relevant acquiring authority (i.e. body with compulsory purchase powers) in the circumstances of the project. As set out in Circular 6/2011: Co…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the current average time is from the initiation of a compulsory purchase order to its conclusion, broken down by sector.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of orders submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published in December, includes comp…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of compulsory purchase orders issued in each of the last five years were contested, and how many of these contests resulted in changes to the original orders.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it shares (a) software licences and (b) professional memberships across departments to reduce costs.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government operates a Shared Services approach to IT. 52 Agencies and Public Bodies out with the core Scottish Government take IT services from a centralised IT Service called SCOTSConnect.The large customer base of over 21,000 staff and shared n…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether its (a) media and software subscriptions and (b) professional memberships align with its (i) net zero and (ii) sustainability targets.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government procures software subscriptions services through centrally tendered national procurement frameworks which fully consider and technically assess environmental and sustainability factors through the procurement framework evaluation proce…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has terminated any software subscriptions in the last five years and, if so, for what reason.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government have terminated software subscriptions for several operational reasons. These include non-renewal on contract expiry, replacement with more modern services and the loss of business requirement to run the software.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on software subscriptions in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) software type and (b) provider.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Modern software subscriptions are usually multi-year deals to spread cost and maximise the return on investment. Most agreements include elements of support and integration costs. As the Scottish Government has over 400 validated instances of software, to ext…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on newspaper subscriptions in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) publication and (b) directorate.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. Costs are recharged to requesting cost centres. The contract allows for newspapers to be bought according to requirem…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that it complies with licensing agreements for software subscriptions.
Answer · Ivan McKee: All Scottish Government licensing is managed and maintained to ensure our legal and regulatory obligation under procurement arrangements are met, as well as meeting our Cyber Security commitments.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) each of its departments and directorates has spent on professional memberships in each of the last five years, broken down by organisation.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Professional memberships are funded by each Directorate - i.e. the home location of the job and the person.Our financial systems do not hold central or aggregable data on how much each Directorate or Division spends on memberships.In most cases this would be …
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has policies or guidance for departments on spending for (a) newspapers, (b) software subscriptions and (c) professional memberships.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The guidance on spending on newspapers allows for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional …
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the usage of its (a) newspaper subscriptions, (b) software subscriptions and (c) professional memberships to assess whether they are delivering value.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The contract allows for newspapers to be bought according to requirement and cancelled when not required, for example…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what newspapers it subscribes to, and for what purposes.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: For details of newspapers purchased, I refer the member to the response provided to S6W-33494 on 31 January 2025.Newspapers are taken for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional issues; and to support policy and operational delivery…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to renew or change its professional memberships as part of its organisational strategy.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has adopted a professions model. All our jobs are now aligned to profession and related job family and job type. We are starting to apply related expectations into how we design jobs and recruit people for jobs. For some professions an…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what professional memberships are held by (a) it and (b) each of its departments and directorates, broken down by organisation.
Answer · Ivan McKee: All our professional memberships are held by and apply to individuals so the Scottish Government as a body does not hold professional memberships.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to maintain transparency in the process of issuing compulsory purchase orders.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 governs the making and confirmation of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs). It sets out requirements relating to the issuing and publication of notices regarding the making of a CPO, its subm…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an assessment of how improving the energy efficiency of its buildings could contribute to its overall net zero targets.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Feasibility studies have been conducted on all buildings owned by the Scottish Government to look at options for installing renewable energy and to improve the buildings fabric in line with net zero standards.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many surgical procedures have been cancelled in each of the last five years due to a lack of available surgical kits, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows: 12 month to March (Financial Years)NHS BoardApr-23Apr-22Apr-21…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many surgical procedures have been cancelled in each of the last five years due to a lack of post-operative beds, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows: 12 month to March (Financial Years)NHS BoardApr-23Apr-22Apr-21…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its buildings have been retrofitted with energy efficiency improvements in each of the last five years, and what the associated costs were.
Answer · Ivan McKee: 2020 – 2 buildings £4,874,5342021 – 5 buildings £6,605,9392022 – 1 building £929,7052023 – 1 building £290,0182024 – 0 buildings £0No energy efficiency projects were implemented in 2024 due to emerge…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many surgical procedures have been cancelled in each of the last five years due to a lack of surgical screws or other necessary equipment, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows: 12 months to NovemberNHS BoardNov-24Nov-23Nov-22Nov-21Nov-20NH…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure compliance with future changes to energy efficiency standards for public buildings.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has committed to conduct any future new build or major refurbishment projects following the Net Zero Public Buildings Standard and will ensure its buildings comply with changes to energy efficiency standards where applicable.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its buildings currently meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B, and what actions are being taken to improve the ratings of lower-performing buildings.
Answer · Ivan McKee: 6% of buildings owned by the Scottish Government meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B.Feasibility studies have been conducted to look at options to improve the lower performing buildings.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which regions of Scotland have had the most compulsory purchase orders issued in the last five years, and for what purposes.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its buildings currently use energy from renewable sources, and what proportion this energy represents of its buildings' total energy use.
Answer · Ivan McKee: All buildings owned by the Scottish Government use electricity supplied via a REGO tariff (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin).6 buildings have solar PV which contributes approximately 5% of each building’s electricity use. 1 building has an air sour…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many surgical procedures have been cancelled in each of the last five years due to a lack of available staff, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS board directly for information.
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its buildings are rated within each Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) category, based on the most recent ratings available.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Buildings owned by the Scottish Government on the Core estate fall into the following EPC categories.A – 0 BuildingsB – 1 BuildingC – 4 BuildingsD – 5 BuildingsE – 2 BuildingsF – 3 BuildingsG – 2 Buildings
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to address the causes of surgical cancellations at NHS Grampian, including staff shortages and equipment availability.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government is not aware of any specific issue other than some local stand down of orthopaedics to allow for orthopaedic trauma cases to proceed. Cancellations were predominantly due to cannot attend and did not attend or unwell to proceed with li…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set for improving the energy efficiency of its buildings, and by what date it anticipates that these will be achieved.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the delivery of national emissions reduction targets, directed by our new Carbon Management Plan. As part of ongoing maintenance and upgrades within our buildings, we aim to incorporate energy efficiency impr…
16 Jan 2025 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or heat pumps, are installed across its buildings, and how these contribute to the overall energy efficiency of the estate.
Answer · Ivan McKee: There are 6 buildings with Solar PV, 1 building with an air source heat pump, 2 buildings with biomass heating.The solar PV provides approximately 5% of each of the building’s total electricity use.The air source heat pump replaced a gas boiler.The biom…