Sharon Dowey

28 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of ScotRail services have (a) arrived and (b) terminated at (i) Newton-on-Ayr, (ii)Troon and (iii) Barassie railway station on time in the last 12 months.

Answer · Graeme Dey: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04086 on 16 November 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-commit…

28 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of ScotRail services have (a) arrived and (b) terminated at (i) Newton-on-Ayr, (ii)Troon and (iii) Barassie railway station within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the last 12 months.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government does not hold the requested data as the franchise agreement does not obligate the franchisee to provide this information. The member may wish to contact ScotRail for the requested information. Performance information for ScotRail is …

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many social enterprises have been supported by the Cultural and Creative Social Enterprise Network since it began operating.  

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04069 on 9 November 2021 asking the Scottish Government how many social enterprises have made use of the cultural and creative Social Enterprise Network since it began operating. All answers to written Parliam…

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many social enterprises have made use of the cultural and creative Social Enterprise Network since it began operating.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: There are currently 146 social enterprises on the list of current members of the Culture and Creative Social Enterprise Network (SEN) on the SEN website . The number of social enterprises that have made use of the Culture and Creative SEN services over th…

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what qualifies as "appropriate" in the context of its plans to introduce appropriate remuneration for board members of national culture and heritage public bodies, as referred to in A Culture Strategy for Scotland.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: "Appropriate" means in accordance with public sector pay policy as it applies to board members of public bodies. The public sector pay policy document is revised on an annual basis.

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to introduce appropriate remuneration for board members of national culture and heritage public bodies, as referred to in A Culture Strategy for Scotland.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The position of Chair of Creative Scotland has attracted remuneration since the organisation was established on 1 July 2010 though no incumbent to date has chosen to accept that offer. From 1 October 2019 members of Creative Scotland other than the Chair hav…

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for the Arts Alive programme were (a) received and (b) successful in 2020-21, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The 2020-21 Arts Alive programme received 52 applications and 42 were successful. The applications comprised of:32 applications for school sessions, from 31 applicants, covering 35 schools. 32 applications were successful.20 applications for school residenci…

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school pupils have received music tuition through their local authority, broken down by local authority, in each year since 2011-12.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government does not collect this data. Data on local authority instrumental music services is collected by the Improvement Service. Their reports can be found at www.improvementservice.org.uk .

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government in how many local authorities free music tuition is available for school pupils.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Instrumental music tuition is now available free of charge in all Scottish local authorities following agreement between Scottish Government and local authorities as part of the implementation of the Scottish Government's100-day manifesto commitments. The Sc…

27 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school pupils in Scotland have paid for music tuition, provided by their local authority, since April 2021, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government does not hold this data for the 2020-21 academic year. Data on local authority instrumental music services is collected by the Improvement Service and their report on the 2020-21 academic year will be published shortly at www.improvem…

27 Oct 2021 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Barr Environmental has received a £99 million fine for having not paid tax on disposed waste.

19 Oct 2021 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated for the upgrade of the A77 in its Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-2026.

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will disclose the locations of tower blocks with combustible cladding, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Shona Robison: We are currently undergoing a pilot program of Single Building Assessments across Scotland with 16 buildings in Glasgow, 8 buildings in Edinburgh and 1 building in Aberdeen. The purpose of the Single Building Assessment is to establish if there are any poten…

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to FOI request FOI/202100240457, what assessment it made that resulted in its decision to withhold information on the basis that concerns over home safety were outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the privacy of individuals who provided personal information.

Answer · Shona Robison: In relation to the EIR request 202100240457, the information was collected via a portal that included a privacy notice where applicants were made aware that the information they provided would not be shared outwith the Scottish Government.

15 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to FOI request FOI/202100240457, whether it will consider revisiting its decision to withhold information on the locations of tower blocks with combustible cladding.

Answer · Shona Robison: This EIR was reviewed and the outcome of that review will be published on the Scottish Government website.

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the request by the Scottish Human Rights Commission for a human rights analysis of vaccine passports.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03671 & S6W-03672 on 17 November 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chambe…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether a human rights assessment has been carried out of the COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme, and, if so, what the conclusion of the assessment was.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Our COVID Status Certification scheme is a necessary, proportionate, and a limited measure targeted towards activities that are a higher risk. This is an alternative to the potential closure of higher risk venues. We have taken an equality and human rights a…

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the briefing paper from the Scottish Human Rights Commission, COVID-19 Status Certificates: Human Rights Considerations from April 2021; whether it has addressed the recommendations made in the briefing, and, if not, whether it plans to do so.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Our COVID Status Certification scheme is a necessary, proportionate and limited measure targeted towards activities that are a higher risk. This is an alternative to the potential closure of higher risk venues. We value the work of the Scottish Human Rights …

7 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported repeated occurrences of anti-Irish chants and behaviour of some individuals at Scottish football grounds.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government is committed to eliminating sectarianism, racism and all discrimination from our national game. We believe that there is no place for discrimination of any form in football or society in general and the Scottish Government condemns tho…

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the ambition set out in its Suicide Prevention Action Plan to reduce suicide rates by 20% by 2022.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government launched its Suicide Prevention Action Plan (SPAP) ‘Every Life Matters’ in 2018. It contains a target to “reduce the rate of suicide by 20% by 2022 (from a 2017 baseline)” and outlines 10 actions to help achieve that goal. The baselin…

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards are in place to ensure the £250,000 provided to the Humanitarian Emergency Fund to help with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is not misspent.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: On 2 September 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture announced that £250,000 would be made available from the Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) to provide critical help for the people of Afghanist…

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £250,000 provided to the Humanitarian Emergency Fund in relation to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has been spent to date.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: On 2 September 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture announced that £250,000 would be made available from the Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) to provide critical help for the people of Afghanist…

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to South Ayrshire Council, including from any emergency funds, to tackle the reported increase in applications from people presenting as homeless in the area.

Answer · Shona Robison: In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated £176,000 from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund. To date, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over and above its regular grant paymen…

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to South Ayrshire Council to tackle child poverty in order to meet the Child Poverty Delivery Plan, in light of reports of the levels of child poverty in South Ayrshire being higher than the Scottish average.

Answer · Shona Robison: Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and we are making considerable investment to increase family incomes and reduce household costs. In 2020-21 we spent £2.5 billion in targeted support for low-income households, including nearly …

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to South Ayrshire Council in light of reports of an estimated funding gap of between £59 and £69 million for the period to 2029-30.

Answer · Tom Arthur: Decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets and/or Spending Reviews. In 2021-22, South Ayrshire …

6 Oct 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to create a Peace Institute by 2022, including its (a) location, (b) cost and (c) remit.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Discussions on creating a Scottish Peace Institute are at an early stage and its location, cost and remit are yet to be determined.  

20 Sep 2021 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on the Scottish Government's work with the UK Government to create freeports in Scotland.

3 Sep 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the situation at Tarbolton Moss Landfill Site, and what plans it has to clean up the site.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: Although not responsible for the site, the Scottish Government has agreed to fund the first phase of work at the Tarbolton landfill site, which will begin to reduce the environmental and amenity impact of the site. As part of this first phase, work to remove …

3 Sep 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timetable of operations regarding the fulfilment of SEPA's environmental obligations relating to Tarbolton Moss Landfill Site.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: It would not be appropriate for Scottish Ministers to comment on the day to day operational matters of SEPA as independent environmental regulator. However, I understand that SEPA intend to provide you with a written update regarding the Tarbolton Moss Landfi…

25 Aug 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to introduce proposals for Compulsory Sales Orders.

Answer · Tom Arthur: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02179 on ? 1 September 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-comm…