Angus MacDonald

5 Jul 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, with regard to the extra £9 million awarded to Future Pathways, Scotland’s In Care Survivor Support Fund, to support adult survivors of childhood abuse, how much is earmarked to go to the charity, Wellbeing Scotland/Open Secret, for the support services that it provides to survivors.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Future Pathways is committed to ensuring that survivors of in care abuse and neglect experience continuity of support and have worked closely with the Scottish Government and Wellbeing Scotland to ensure this. Future Pathways and Wellbeing Scotland are meetin…

2 Jun 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made regarding plans to support B&Bs that are not on the rates system and were not eligible to apply to the COVID-19 hardship scheme solely because they did not have a business bank account.

2 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23700 by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 June 2019, what progress has been made with developing the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s integrated authorisation framework.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The integrated authorisation framework covers a number of different regimes which are being transferred into the framework in a phased manner. Work was progressing well on bringing the other regimes into the integrated authorisation framework, however as a r…

2 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23699 by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 June 2019, for what reason the report on the impact of the spreading of sewage sludge has not been published, and by what date it will be.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Due to other prioritised work streams such as EU Exit, Circular Economy Bill and the current Covid-19 situation, publication of the report has been delayed. The report will be published as soon as resources allow.  

20 May 2020 · Inspired Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to respond to the recommendations by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) in its publication, Opinion on the Welfare of Animals during Transport.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government published the Opinion of the Farm Animal Welfare Committee on the welfare of animals during transport on 17 April 2020. The Opinion and the Scottish Government’s response can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/fawc-opinion-…

18 Mar 2020 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support Falkirk district's tourism industry.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government continues to work with regional partners in the development of the Falkirk Growth deal and partners envisage a strong tourism offer for Falkirk arising from this. At present though, our time and resources are being spent helping the e…

10 Mar 2020 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on discussions with Falkirk Council and West Lothian Council regarding upgrading the A801 Avon Gorge crossing.

4 Mar 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how measures in its Budget for 2020-21 will help Scotland to meet its climate change ambitions.

25 Feb 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council regarding its revenue budget and capital programme for 2020-21.

21 Feb 2020 · Inspired Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on approvals from the AECS (Agri-Environment Climate Scheme) 2019 application round.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: As a direct result of delays caused by the UK Government postponing its budget to accommodate the 2019 General Election, we were unable to determine the domestic budget available for the 2019 AECS round in December. That meant we could not confirm to applican…

11 Feb 2020 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee last met.

30 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing grants for riparian schemes on salmon rivers.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Forestry Grant Scheme already supports planting native broadleaved riparian woodland in a range of situations and can be used to provide cooling shade and improve the habitat along salmon rivers. Since 2016 the Forestry Grant Scheme has supported the pla…

28 Jan 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to provide full DNA traceability to the Scotch Beef brand.

22 Jan 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest data linkage project report.

18 Dec 2019 · Inspired Question

To ask the Scottish Government for an update on the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) 2019 application round.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: AECS is funded in part from domestic funds as well as from European Union funding. As a direct result of delays imposed by the postponement of the UK budget earlier this year for the General Election, we are unable to determine the domestic budget available f…

18 Dec 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed the Falkirk and Grangemouth Investment Zone with the UK Government.

10 Dec 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest teacher number statistics, and what steps it is taking to retain teachers at all levels of education.

9 Dec 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is working with international partners to tackle climate change.

3 Dec 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the development of future trade policy post-Brexit.

2 Dec 2019 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is providing to the multi-agency approach to the major gas outage affecting over 8,000 households in Falkirk district.

27 Nov 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the rural economy secretary’s offer to lead the end year fisheries negotiations in Brussels has been accepted by the UK Government.

20 Nov 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how homeless people may be assisted this winter by the removal of the requirement to be found “unintentionally” homeless as a precondition of receiving local authority accommodation.

18 Nov 2019 · Inspired Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the role that Scottish Natural Heritage plays in protecting, enhancing and promoting Scotland’s nature, mitigating climate change and supporting sustainable development.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is a significant Scottish public body and they play an important role in coordinating delivery of Scotland’s biodiversity strategy, which is integral to tackling climate change. SNH also supports the achievement of a number of …

12 Nov 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason complaints regarding The Open University, which is registered as both a charity and a university, cannot be referred to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

29 Oct 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the continuation of Scottish seed potato exports in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

22 Oct 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress Transport Scotland is making with the upgrade of the A801 Avon Gorge crossing.

17 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made toward completing the Land Register of Scotland by 2024, and what information it has regarding how many local authorities have not engaged in registering publicly-owned lands in their area.

Answer · Kate Forbes: This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises that they continue to work with public and private landowners to complete the Land Register of Scotland by 2024. As of 30 September 2019 the Land Register has 36.6% of land mas…

9 Oct 2019 · Inspired Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the appointment of a preferred bidder(s) for the R100 contracts.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The £600 million R100 programme is a vital investment in our infrastructure. It will help to deliver a future-proofed network, making Scotland one of the best connected places anywhere in Europe. Procurement for R100 has been split into three lots – North, C…

18 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to (a) Weslo Housing Management and (b) the Paragon Housing Association in each year since 2016, and for what purposes.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Since April 2016 to end August 2019, the Scottish Government has provided £1.323m to Paragon Housing Association and £2.703m to Weslo Housing Management. Funding Received (£m) Applicant 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020* Total Paragon Housing As…

10 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the cost of participation in the proposed deposit return system is likely to be more or less than full cost recovery from glass producers under the proposals for extended producer responsibility that are under consultation.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Work to develop detailed proposals for reform of UK-wide packaging producer responsibility arrangements is ongoing, building on the outputs of the public consultation which concluded on 13 May. The final costs of that scheme are not yet known but it is clear …