Parliamentary questions

Donald Cameron

1,854 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Sep 2022 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to improve the reliability and resilience of Scotland’s ferry network.

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided for the Young Islanders Challenge for 2021-22.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government did not allocate any finance for the Young Islanders Challenge in 2021-22. However, £28,500 was allocated to our delivery partner, Youth Scotland, to support the Young Islanders Challenge in 2020-21.

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that people in Scotland are aware of the 30 September 2022 deadline for using paper £20 and £50 notes.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Paper £20 and £50 notes will be withdrawn from circulation on 30 September. This change will have an impact on individuals and businesses within Scotland. The decision to withdraw these notes in Scotland coincides with the withdrawal of Bank of England £20 a…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to the Young Islanders Network for 2022-23, and how much funding will be allocated to it for the remainder of the current parliamentary session.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: To date the Scottish Government has paid £160,000 to deliver the Young Islanders Network.

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates it would cost to retrofit every street light to include an electric vehicle charging point.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much it estimates it would cost to retrofit every street light to include an electric vehicle charging point. Costs will be influenced by a range of factors including the location of and type of lamppos…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what measure it will monitor the efficacy of the Young Islanders Network.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: In addition to reporting requirements associated with our delivery partner’s (Youth Scotland) Offer of Grant and their own associated progress monitoring and reporting, the National Islands Plan itself has governance structures, including the NIP Delivery Gro…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Scotland will roll out the use of HeartFlow technology across all NHS boards, following its introduction in NHS Western Isles.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG), are part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and provide advice to NHS Scotland on the use of new and existing health technologies (excluding medicines). The SHTG made a recommendation in 2021 on the use of Heart…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many street light electric vehicle charging points are currently in operation, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Local Authorities are responsible for street lighting on public roads and footways that are within their statutory list of public roads, Motorways and Trunk Lighting are maintained by Transport Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold information on …

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Isle of Barra was not included as a proposed site as part of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme.

Answer · Ivan McKee: In the development phase of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme, we analysed future predicted coverage data supplied by mobile network operators. These indicated plans for commercial deployment on Barra. State Aid regulations then in force precluded S4GI deploym…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many street lights could presently be retrofitted to include electric vehicle charging points, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many street lights could presently be retrofitted to include electric vehicles charging points broken down by local authority area. Whilst electric vehicle charging technologies exists for such an appli…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to promote the UK Government consultation on mandatory water efficiency labelling to the general public in Scotland.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: The Scottish Government has worked with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on the mandatory water efficiency label proposals. The co…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it only chose Aberdeenshire as the location to pilot its £20 million scheme to explore ways of extending the public water networks to households that rely on a private water supply.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: Aberdeenshire is home to over 8000 (one third) of all private water supplies in Scotland, more than double those in Argyll and Bute, and almost triple those in the Highland Council region. Given the prevalence of water scarcity in the North East of Scotland a…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considered piloting its £20 million scheme to explore ways of extending the public water networks to households that rely on a private water supply in Argyll and Bute.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: Yes, Argyll and Bute alongside other local authorities that are home to large numbers of private water supplies were considered when deciding where to pilot private water supply first time connections scheme. The main purpose of this scheme is to focus on pri…

5 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its £20 million scheme to explore ways of extending the public water networks to households that rely on a private water supply.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: The initial phase of the project is nearly complete. This early work has sought to understand how we identify communities which have been affected by repeated water scarcity events, to establish the proximity to public water mains, to assess the water network…

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to amending the strategic guidance on the siting of salmon farms so that it recommends siting new farms in more suitable areas away from migratory routes, in light of recommendations 45 and 46 of the session four Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee's …

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-10883 and S6W-10888 on 21 September 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/…

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that waste collection and removal is given a high priority by the fish farm industry, in light of recommendation 29 of the Rural Economy and Connectivity’s 9th Report (Session 5), Salmon Farming in Scotland (SP paper 432).

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government is supportive of a circular economy and the exploration of waste capture systems. Innovation plays a significant role in addressing a range of challenges faced by the aquaculture sector including reducing environmental impacts, and it …

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on recommendation 52 of the session four Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee's 9th Report (Session 5), Salmon Farming in Scotland (SP paper 432), that "strategic guidance on the siting of salmon farms should also be viewed as a material consideration in planning…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) makes clear the planning system should maintain a presumption against further marine finfish farm developments on the north and east coasts, and that local development plans, or supplementary guidance, should take account of Mar…

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on whether it has initiated a spatial planning exercise with a view to developing strategic guidance specifying areas that are suitable and unsuitable for the siting of salmon farms, in light of recommendation 51 of the session four Rural Economy and Conn…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: In response to the priorities set out by the parliamentary inquiries in 2018 and the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, an adaptive spatially-based risk assessment framework to manage sea lice interactions between wild and farmed fish was developed. S…

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action (a) it and (b) SEPA has taken to review the environmental impact of fish health medicines on the environment, in light of recommendation 32 of the session four Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee's 9th Report (Session 5), Salmon Farming in Scotland (SP paper 432).

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG) published their Environmental Quality Standards recommendation for emamectin benzoate on 30 June 2022. The Scottish Government will now respond and consult on the implementation of the recent UKTAG environmental standar…

2 Sep 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to provide additional support to local authorities to enable planning committees to have access to appropriate training resources on applications for salmon farms, in light of recommendation 50 of the session four Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee's 9th Re…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government is currently progressing a programme of reform of Scotland’s planning system, including implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. The 2019 Act included provisions which prohibits elected members from carrying out certain plan…