Parliamentary questions

Maurice Golden

1,697 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

1 Dec 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what the (a) claimant count and (b) unemployment rate in Dundee has been in each of the last five years, broken down by ward area.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The claimant count rate for Dundee City local authority and 2021 electoral wards within Dundee City are shown in table 1 for November 2018 to November 2022. The model based unemployment rate for Dundee City local authority are shown in table 2 for years Jul …

1 Dec 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many homes in Scotland have been insulated with support from government funding in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05818 on? 2 February 2022. 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…

1 Dec 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding awarded over the last year from the Social Enterprise Net Zero Transition Fund, including the environmental outcomes achieved to date from each project.

Answer · Shona Robison: A table providing a summary of awards made from the Net Zero Transition Fund (NZTF) and their objectives has been lodged with SPICE, BIB no. 63871. It is too early to outline the carbon savings/environmental impact just now, but we will be asking for this da…

1 Dec 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how projects funded through the Recycling Improvement Fund have delivered (a) increased frequency of recycling collections, (b) extended food and garden waste collections, (c) increased recycling capacity for problematic materials and (d) increased …

Answer · Lorna Slater: Proposed impacts of individual projects are captured at both assessment stage and subsequent monitoring stages of each project. The Recycling Improvement Fund has funded the following projects under these headings: (a) increased frequency of recycling colle…

29 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons it can learn from the reported use of an expert working group during the introduction of the UK Aggregates Levy, and whether it will consider establishing a similar working group during the introduction of a Scottish Aggregates Levy.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scotland Act 2016 empowers the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a devolved tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy. This is an environmental tax that aims to reduce extraction of primary – fresh or new – aggregate, mainly crushed rock, gravel and sand, …

28 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Circularity Scotland Ltd meets the requirements and could be designated as a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, in accordance with section 5 of the Act.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd, is a privately owned company. This arrangement is consistent with the polluter pays principle and is the same approach used by many similar schemes internationally. The Scottish …

25 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that any counterfeit and illegal goods seized by Trading Standards Scotland officers are recycled rather than incinerated or sent to landfill.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Trading Standards Scotland, when it takes possession of counterfeit and illegal goods, is subject to Section 34 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 which requires waste to be dealt with in line with the waste hierarchy. The Scottish Government has provided…

25 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total quantity of counterfeit and illegal goods seized by Trading Standard Scotland officers was in each of the past five years.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The regulation of consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government which includes the work of Trading Standards Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many ministerial appointments over the past five years to (a) public bodies and (b) NHS boards have declared a political affiliation, broken down by political party.

Answer · John Swinney: In response to how many ministerial regulated appointments that declared a political affiliation over the five years, a total of 37 individuals have noted political activity where a party was specified. The breakdown is as follows: (a) Public Bodies a total …

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) GP and (b) hospital appointments have been missed in each of the past five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Part (a) The Scottish Government does not hold data on missed GP appointments. Individual GP practices are responsible for their own appointment arrangements. Part (b) Information on consultant led new outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend…

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS patients have been treated in private hospitals in each of the past five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The total number of NHS patients that have been treated in private (independent) hospitals in each of the last five financial years and reported to PHS is presented in the following table. Number of NHS patients treated in Private (independent) hospitals 1 b…

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many times government vehicles have suffered damage from potholes and (b) much it has spent on repairs due to such damage, in each of the last five years.

Answer · John Swinney: We do not hold this information.

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, based on ratings used in the School Estate Statistics, what proportion of pupils have been educated in schools in (a) good, (b) satisfactory, (c) poor and (d) bad condition in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following tables show the percentage of pupils by school condition for each local authority from 2018 to 2022 as reported in the School Estate Statistics. Percentage of pupils by school condition - 2022 Good Satisfactory Poor Bad Condition not rep…

22 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated timeline on the forthcoming consultation process for the Review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland (The Sludge Review).

Answer · Mairi McAllan: The legislative changes recommended by the completed review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland (‘The Sludge Review’), are being implemented via the forthcoming Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF) regulations. The proposed …

22 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) source data and (b) calculation methodology was for the tonnage figures provided for drinks containers collected annually, as shown in Table 1 in the publication, A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland - Summary.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Zero Waste Scotland sourced this information from SEPA’s waste data tool ( Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk) , to which their researchers applied a compositional analysis to provide the detail found in the table.

15 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will clarify the role of Zero Waste Scotland in the governance structure of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has established the National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board to oversee the successful implementation of our economic strategy. As part of the Delivery Board’s work, it will engage with key delivery partners like Ze…

14 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish advice regarding the safest and most environmentally friendly ways to dispose of vaping products.

Answer · Lorna Slater: We are aware of the emerging issues around single-use vaping products. We will be discussing this with our local authority partners, who have responsibility for providing advice on responsible disposal of waste in their area.

14 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the environmental impacts of single-use disposable vapes.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government is aware of the environmental impact of single-use disposable vapes. Along with the other UK administrations, we are working on reforms to the extended producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)…

14 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many fires have been caused in local authority waste and recycling centres and in transport taking waste or recycling to such centres by lithium contained within disposable vaping products being crushed.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Neither SEPA nor the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service hold any central statistics that would indicate the number of fires caused in waste or recycling facilities by lithium contained within disposable vaping products being crushed. Scottish Government is awa…