Parliamentary questions

Alexander Burnett

1,406 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed the current distribution and transmission network infrastructure standards and guidance, including those for vegetation management and overhead line designs, to identify any economic and efficiency improvements that could increase network resilience to severe weat…

Answer · Angela Constance: The Energy sector is reserved to the UK Government and therefore the resilience of the UK’s energy network is the responsibility of the UK lead Government department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The Scottish Government contributed to the…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what online resources and training it (a) has provided and (b) plans to provide to help individuals, community groups and the voluntary sector to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.

Answer · Angela Constance: Our emergency planning portal, ready.scot, was updated in June 2022 to include a new "Learn" section to support the public, community groups and voluntary sector partners by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, and helping them …

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment or review it has undertaken of any processes for sharing briefings and information during circumstances that challenge the usual methods of communication.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) places a statutory duty on responders to cooperate and share information. There are several technical layers of fallback capabilities in place for communication during circumstances that challenge the usual methods of commu…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with energy network operators and the wider utilities sector to review their processes for (a) establishing restoration plans and timelines during times of severe weather and (b) communicating regular updates to responders and the public.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Energy sector is reserved to the UK Government. This limits the Scottish Government ’ s ability to directly engage with energy network operators and ask for a review of their processes. However, the Scottish Government does regularly engage with UK Gover…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement it has had in the designation of assistance centres or pre-positioning of generator capacity to support communities during times of severe weather.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government does not designate assistance centres or make decisions regarding the pre-positioning of generator capacity. These issues are rightly for the front line responders, principally Local Authorities, to consider following any emergency. I…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Water has reviewed its emergency generator contingency plans in (a) general and (b) relation to pumping stations.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked its Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows: Scottish Water regularly reviews its generator strategy across the country for all water and wastewater treatment works to minimise …

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential for streamlining the mechanisms for coordinating requests for, and offers of, resources and assets at a national level during times of severe weather.

Answer · Angela Constance: The overall response landscape in Scotland is set out in our guidance document “Preparing Scotland - Responding to Emergencies”. A review of this suite of guidance is currently underway. The review, which is being undertaken in consultation with resilience p…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it has done to review and expand the materials and training available to support the establishment and operation of local Community Resilience Groups during times of severe weather.

Answer · Angela Constance: Our emergency planning portal; ready.scot, was updated in June 2022 to include a new ‘Learn’ section to support the public, community groups and Voluntary Sector partners, by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, and to strengthe…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what review it has undertaken of any arrangements for an emergency that involves the loss of both power and telecoms, and engagement with utilities companies and local planning where required to ensure linkage with national developments.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government’s Storm Arwen Review provided a detailed review of such a situation, and our two follow-up reports made clear that the organisations who are responsible for emergency planning and response in Scotland had formally incorporated those re…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the joint work that it has done with the Scottish Resilience Partnership, COSLA, the Improvement Service and local authorities to implement the Persons at Risk Distribution (PARD) system.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government and the Improvement Service continues to support Local Authorities with their local implementations of PARD. Support ranges from guidance on data preparation, through to examples on when PARD can be used. Scottish Government and the Impro…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities and health and social care partnerships are participating in the Persons at Risk Distribution (PARD) system.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: It is a matter for Local Authorities to decide whether they want to adopt PARD or use a different system. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a duty on Category 1 and 2 responders to share and access information to support decision making. To date, Scott…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements it will make in relation to increasing the amount of weather-related advice and information that it shares.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government, via its Ready Scotland digital channels, runs a year-long communications campaign with a specific focus on severe weather. The aims of the campaign are: to highlight risks associated with particular severe weather conditions and reco…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has undertaken on improving resilience plans to enable the strategic coordination of door-to-door welfare checks.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government continues to work closely with categorised responders, who are responsible under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 for assessing the risk of an emergency occurring, maintaining plans to ensure they can continue to perform their function…

10 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of the Community Asset Register to better assist local response arrangements and enhance prioritisation and mutual aid across the country.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has responsibility for the development of the Community Asset Register (CAR) and confirmed in October 2023 that a CAR ‘Action Plan’ has been developed to monitor progress of the actions required towards its improvem…

5 Oct 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government who pays for a public local inquiry into onshore wind farm planning applications exceeding 50 megawatts; how many of these public local inquiries there have been in the last 10 years, and how much each of these inquiries cost.

Answer · Gillian Martin: In the period 10-10-13 to 9-10-2023 there have been 43 public local inquiries held by the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) in respect of onshore wind farm proposals exceeding 50 megawatts which require consent under Section 36 of the Electri…

28 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many autistic people are currently being held in mental health hospitals; of those, how many (a) are under 18, (b) were admitted to hospital for treatment or assessment following offending, (c) have been in hospital for more than a decade, and what the average number of days that the…

Answer · Maree Todd: The latest data available on admissions and length of stay for people in Mental Health Hospitals is collected as part of the Mental Health & Learning Disability Inpatient Census and Out of Scotland NHS Placements Census, 2022 . At the census point 11 April…

28 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with a learning disability are currently being held in mental health hospitals; of those, how many (a) are under 18, (b) were admitted to hospital for treatment or assessment following offending, (c) have been in hospital for more than a decade, and what the average numbe…

26 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to resolve reported supply chain issues affecting the switchover of the LED street light network.

Answer · Gillian Martin: Streetlighting is the responsibility of local councils. We are not aware of any particular supply chain issues but we would be happy to consider this if the member can provide more information.

26 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Onshore Wind Sector Deal for Scotland excludes any reference to the WSP publication, A Review of Noise Guidance for Onshore Wind Turbines: Project Report, which was published in October 2022 on behalf of the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial…

Answer · Neil Gray: Under the lead of the UK Government, the ETSU steering group (which comprises of the four Governments of the UK) are considering how best to take forward the recommendations of the WSP report. Whilst these next steps are being agreed, there are no specific ac…

26 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20887 by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2023, whether there are any contractually provided consequences for non-performance regarding the delivery of the R100 programme.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The R100 programme comprises of three strands of activity – the R100 contracts, R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial build. The R100 contracts are gap funded meaning that the Scottish Government subsidises Openreach to …

25 Sep 2023 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to improve the durability of Scottish crops over the coming years.

19 Sep 2023 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what road safety improvement works have been planned for the A96 near Huntly.

14 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is a requirement for CCTV in state hospitals to capture or record audio, and, if not, whether there are plans to require this in the future.

Answer · Maree Todd: Under the Mental Health (Safety and Security) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 there is no requirement for CCTV in The State Hospital to capture or record audio. The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to require that CCTV captures or records au…

8 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities are liable for damages to vehicles caused by potholes where a pothole has been identified for repair but has not been fixed, and the local authority has failed to warn road users of the pothole.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places statutory responsibility for local roads on local authorities. It would not be for the Scottish Government to comment specifically on a local authority’s liability for damages to vehicles. However, in general a local auth…

8 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any requirements for local authorities to repair potholes identified for works within a certain timeframe.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places statutory responsibility for local roads, including the timeframe for repairing defects on local authorities. As such it is the responsibility of the local authority to determine how best to meet its duties on local roads …

7 Sep 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20478 by Jenny Gilruth on 5 September 2023, when the Strategic Board for Teacher Education will report on its study into issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Strategic Board for Teacher Education met on 4 September to consider their workplan including recruitment and retention issues. This work is ongoing and will be complemented by the project I am commissioning on education workforce modelling and research, …

28 Aug 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what penalties are imposed on Openreach when delivery dates of the R100 programme are not met.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Penalty clauses are not enforceable in Scots law and, as such, there are no penalties included in the R100 Contracts.

28 Aug 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any opt-out clauses were included in the R100 contract with Openreach to allow work to be awarded to other providers in the event that Openreach is unable to meet delivery dates, and, if so, whether it will provide details of any such clauses.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: There are no opt-out clauses included in the R100 Contracts. These are grant funding agreements which subsidise the supplier (Openreach) to deliver its own network to specific contracted premises. The Scottish Government continues to support other providers …

24 Aug 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support with legal fees is currently available for parents in custody battles in situations when court orders are ignored.

Answer · Siobhian Brown: If a person believes someone has not obeyed a court order for child contact or residence, they can make the court aware of this and ask it either to vary the order or to have the person in question ordered to appear before the court. It would then be for the …

21 Aug 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any limitations when making a representation to the Energy Consents Unit regarding a planning application.

Answer · Gillian Martin: Limitations when making a representations to the Scottish Ministers on applications made under the Electricity Act 1989 are set out in relevant regulations, namely the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990 and where an application concerns…