Parliamentary questions
Mike Rumbles
1,089 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
17 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ScotRail services do not have the same cancellations and significant lateness regulated measure as rail operators in England and Wales.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The CaSl measure for Scotland is calculated in the same manner as England and Wales.
17 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06432 by Humza Yousaf on 1February 2017, whether it will provide a breakdown of the elements of the CaSL measures that are captured within PPM, and what additional indicators of this performance are available to rail users.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The CaSL (“Cancellations And Significant Lateness”) performance measure works as follows. A train is counted as being a CaSL failure if: • It is cancelled at origin. • It is cancelled en route. • The originating station is changed. • It fails to make a sc…
16 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in the Press and Journal on 16 August 2018 that 4G coverage is poor for many households in the Highlands and Islands, what its position is on whether improving 4G coverage for rural and remote communities should be a priority for investment.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Despite being a 'reserved issue', and, therefore, the legal and responsibility of UK Ministers the UK Government currently lacks a coherent plan to improve mobile coverage beyond the areas that will be served by commercial rollout. This means many rural and r…
16 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in the Press and Journal on 16 August 2018 that 4G coverage is poor for many households in the Highlands and Islands, whether it will provide a schedule of works planned to improve coverage across Scotland.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Telecoms is a reserved issue and Ofcom and the UK Government are responsible for setting national mobile coverage targets and the coverage obligations imposed on mobile network operators. No 100% coverage targets have been set by the UK Government or regulato…
16 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in the Press and Journal on 16 August 2018 that 4G coverage is poor for many households in the Highlands and Islands, what information it has on the technological innovations that have been made to improve 4G signals inside homes.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The legal and regulatory responsibility for ensuring 4G coverage are powers 'reserved' to the UK Parliament and UK Ministers under the Scotland Act 1998. Scottish Ministers are not able to intervene when commercial operators have proposals to deliver a commer…
16 Aug 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in the Press and Journal on 16 August 2018 that 4G coverage is poor for many households in the Highlands and Islands, when it expects to reach 100% coverage of 4G (a) indoors and (b) outdoors across the whole of Scotland.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Telecoms is a reserved issue and Ofcom and the UK Government are responsible for setting national mobile coverage targets and the coverage obligations imposed on mobile network operators. No 100% coverage targets have been set by the UK Government or regulato…
23 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many farm businesses in (a) Shetland, (b) Orkney, (c) the Highlands, (d) Aberdeenshire and (e) each parliamentary region are still waiting to receive 2016-17 CAP basic payments.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The number of farm businesses still to receive 2016 or 2017 payments under the CAP Basic Payment Scheme is set out in the following tables. The numbers will fluctuate as applications are processed and some found to be ineligible. Scheme Year 2016 Local A…
5 Jul 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the higher than expected workload required by the Beef Efficiency Scheme and the additional challenges faced by participating farmers from the exceptional weather in 2017 and 2018, whether it has considered paying participating farmers for years four and five of the scheme.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The exceptional weather of course did not only affect the participants in the Beef Efficiency Scheme, but we have where required dealt with any issues BES participants had in carrying out their commitments as a result of the exceptional weather. The commitmen…
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its policy and plans regarding the use of (a) cannabis and (b) cannabis-based substances for (i) medical and (ii) recreational use.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines and also drug control under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 are both reserved to the UK Government.
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the regions that will be targeted as part of the £54.5 million of funding to tackle fuel poverty.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Through its Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland: Area Based Scheme (HEEPS:ABS), the Scottish Government has distributed £49 million among the 32 local authorities across Scotland. This will support the authorities to design and deliver energy effici…
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its plans to promote equal opportunities (a) for women and (b) generally in the public sector, and what action it is taking to improve equal opportunities (i) for women and (ii) generally in (A) Police Scotland and (B) the NHS.
Answer · Christina McKelvie: The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (as amended) place a number of specific duties on listed public authorities including a duty to report progress on mainstreaming the equality duty, a duty to publish equality outcomes and a d…
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with farm businesses to (a) protect them from and (b) inform them of email/online fraud regarding the roll-out of annual CAP Basic Payments.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: As indicated in our response to S5W-17522 on 30 July 2018, the Scottish Government takes the threat of on-line fraud very seriously. Using a range of communication channels, steps have been and will continue to be taken to alert farm businesses to the dangers…
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions there have been for email/online fraud regarding the roll-out of annual CAP Basic Payments in each of the last three years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: (a) Information on number of arrests is not held centrally. The data the Scottish Government receives from Police Scotland is a general count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority. We don’t receive further detai…
26 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on any farm businesses that have been a victim of email/online fraud regarding the roll-out of annual CAP Basic Payments; how many cases it is aware of, and what information it has on the total value of any such fraud.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: As indicated in our response to S5W-17523 on 30 July 2018, the Scottish Government takes the threat of on-line fraud very seriously and has taken steps to alert farm businesses to the dangers of on-line fraud in relation to CAP payments. The Scottish Governm…
20 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that its Getting it Right for Every Child policy conforms to the new General Data Protection Regulation framework.
Answer · John Swinney: Scottish Government are confident that the policy is fully compliant with data protection regime. The Getting it right for every child approach is a relationship based approach that embodies the rights and empowerment of individuals detailed within the Genera…
7 Jun 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16581 by Humza Yousaf on 6 June 2018, whether it will provide an answer to the part of the question regarding when it was advised that it was unlikely that the contractual deadline would be met, and for what reason it did not include this informatio…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Abellio ScotRail did not notify Transport Scotland officials until ?17 May 2018 informing them that WABTEC Rail UK had indicated delays to the HST programme that would result in Abellio ScotRail not achieving the required output dates under Committed Obligati…
31 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S5M-15956, which received a holding response on 2 May 2018.
Answer · Shona Robison: S5W-15956 was answered on 5 June 2018.
23 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of Lyme disease have been diagnosed in each of the last five years, and what estimate it has made of the number of undiagnosed cases.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The following table shows the number of laboratory confirmed cases of Borrelia burgdorferi reported to Health Protection Scotland (HPS). These numbers are likely to underestimate the total number of cases of Lyme disease because current guidance recommends th…
23 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how the trend in the number of cases of Lyme disease compares with the rest of (a) the UK and (b) Europe.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The following table shows the most recently published (up to 2016) laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease for the UK: 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 England and Wales 797 813 863 905 959 1040 936 856 1060 1136 Sco…
23 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) specific training is given to health professionals and (b) action it is taking to raise public awareness regarding Lyme disease.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: Training resources for health professionals can be accessed through the NHS Education for Scotland website at: http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-theme-initiative/public-health/health-protection/gastrointestinal-infection-and-zoonoses/lyme-…
16 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing a rapid-reaction service, to compliment the work of the Partnership for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative, that would be tasked with maintaining community assets, including public agencies, local banks, post offices and police counters, by creat…
Answer · Keith Brown: While we maintain an open mind about the potential impact of any new ideas that might help our communities to thrive, and in light of the range of activities currently undertaken in these areas there are no plans at this time to establish such an additional n…
15 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16221 by Fergus Ewing on 10 May 2018, whether the remit of the National Council for Rural Advisers "to produce recommendations for a vibrant and sustainable rural economy" includes designing a new system of rural support to replace existing common a…
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The National Council of Rural Advisers (NCRA) was established as an independent group and will provide advice on the principles and policies that should underpin options for appropriate rural support beyond 2020. This may include recommendations that relate t…
15 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16221 by Fergus Ewing on 10 May 2018, by what date the National Council for Rural Advisers will complete its remit "to produce recommendations for a vibrant and sustainable rural economy".
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Further to my update to Parliament on 14 June 2018, I was delighted to welcome the publication on 12 June 2018 of the National Council of Rural Advisers discussion paper ‘A Rural Conversation: Together We Can, Together We Will'. Over the course of the summer,…
10 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment made by the managing director of the ScotRail Alliance to the Rural Affairs and Connectivity Committee on 9 May 2018 (Official Report, c.12) regarding the introduction of high-speed Edinburgh-Aberdeen service that "originally, we wanted to go above and beyond the…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Abellio ScotRail continues to require the HST overhauler (Wabtec) and the train owners (ANGEL) to deliver the 26 fully refurbished High Speed Trains (HST) units into passenger service onto Inter-city routes. Engagement between ScotRail and it's suppliers cont…
8 May 2018 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its position regarding the level of funding allocated to NHS Grampian.
7 May 2018 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail, in light of the company reportedly receiving record fines for its performance in the last financial year.
1 May 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15962 by Keith Brown on 1 May 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding how it had planned to pay for the A90 grade separated junction at Laurencekirk, prior to the announcement of City Region Deal funding, and where…
Answer · Keith Brown: There was no budget allocated for the A90 grade separated junction at Laurencekirk prior to the announcement of the Aberdeen City Region Deal. The announcement in January 2016 confirmed that the £24 million was additional investment by the Scottish Government…
26 Apr 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15959 by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018, whether it will answer the question that was asked regarding what the average annual funding is for NHS boards, broken down by per head of population, and how this compares with how much each receives, and fo…
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government uses the NRAC formula to allocate funding to NHS Boards. The Scottish Government is supporting all Boards which are behind NRAC parity, and has committed an additional £1.2 billion over a seven year period to those NHS boards below the…
26 Apr 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) remit, (b) function and (c) goals are of the National Council of Rural Advisers.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The National Council of Rural Advisors was established in June 2017 and: a) Has a remit to advise Scottish Ministers on the economic implications of Brexit from a rural perspective, and to produce recommendations for a vibrant and sustainable rural economy; …
24 Apr 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the education secretary last met the Director of Education and Children’s Services for Aberdeenshire Council.