Oliver Mundell

16 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects primary school buildings to have enough space to allow multiple classes to be able to meet in the same room.

Answer · John Swinney: Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, it is the statutory duty of education authorities to manage their school estate, and provide adequate and efficient provision of school education.

16 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns regarding the need for roof repairs and a long-term roof replacement at HMP Dumfries, and what plans there are for further investment on the site.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows: SPS is developing proposals for replacing the roof over the health centre, prisoner reception, gymnasium and a section of the …

16 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many COVID-19 cases have been identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Statistics for the numbers of people who have tested positive since the start of the outbreak to date, are published here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/. All cases reported in published statistics were iden…

16 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns of parents at Canonbie Primary School regarding changes to the building to establish additional space to deliver increased nursery hours.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government’s 2017 publication A blueprint for 2020: the expansion of early learning and childcare (ELC) in Scotland - ELC expansion planning guidance for local authorities sets out a framework to support local authorities in developing plans for …

16 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to Canonbie Primary School to facilitate the changes required to accommodate a nursery classroom.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government has provided no direct funding to Canonbie Primary School to facilitate the accommodation of a nursery classroom. In May 2018, the Scottish Government awarded Dumfries and Galloway Council a multi-year capital funding settlement of £9…

15 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns of solicitors and the Faculty of Procurators of Dumfriesshire regarding plans to move all sheriff and jury business from Dumfries to Ayr Sheriff Court.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Faculty of Procurators of Dumfriesshire has written to the me about the plans to move jury trials from the Sheriff Court in Dumfries to Ayr. I have discussed the concerns raised in the letter with Eric McQueen, Chief Executive of the Scottish Courts and T…

15 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact assessment has been carried out regarding the decision to move business from Dumfries to Ayr Sheriff Court.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Impact assessments relating to the operation of the courts are a matter for SCTS. SCTS has informed Ministers that of Scotland’s 39 Sheriff Courts, 16 are linked to remote jury centres, with jury trials from the remaining 23 courts being transferred to allow…

15 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of the (a) assessments that have been carried out and (b) reports to ministers that have been produced regarding the future use of Dumfries Sheriff Court.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Assessments relating to the operation of the courts is a matter for Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). SCTS has informed Ministers that the introduction on remote jury centres is not a business as usual solution, but is an innovative solution with…

15 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to keep jury and sheriff business at Dumfries Sheriff Court beyond January 2021.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: While this is an operational matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, SCTS has confirmed the matter in Dumfries cannot be viewed in isolation to the recovery programme across the c…

9 Dec 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to accelerate projects that will support the economy in Dumfriesshire.

2 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has received in Barnett consequentials from the UK Government expenditure on the Local Restrictions Support Grant for (a) open and (b) closed businesses, and how this has been allocated, also broken down by the amount allocated to support self-catering businesses affected by …

Answer · Kate Forbes: The breakdown of consequentials to date does not provide the granular detail as to allocations received per the UK Government Local Restrictions Support Grant. Overall, we have been allocated £8.2bn in consequentials this financial year, which we will continu…

1 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports that dentists are charging NHS patients for additional PPE, and, if so, what (a) its position is on the practice and (b) action it has taken in this regard.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government has worked with NHS Scotland procurement teams to ensure a robust and sustainable supply of PPE is available to dental practices free of charge, providing it is used on NHS patients. To date we have not identified any instance in which…

1 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many property transactions, taking place within Scotland, await the formal issue of updated title deeds by the Registers of Scotland, where the updated title deed has not been made available to the property purchaser within six months of the date of completion of the property transac…

Answer · Ben Macpherson: This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that RoS receives and processes over 550,000 applications on average every year, of which 91% are completed in under 20 days. Their service standards differ depending on the …

25 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether self-catering premises in local authority areas subject to Level (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3 restrictions, whose businesses are directly affected by the impact of travel restrictions, are eligible to receive a COVID-19 business restrictions grant.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Strategic Framework Business Fund offers financial support to businesses legally required to close or to modify their operations. Self-catering businesses in Levels 1&2 or 3, affected by travel restrictions are not eligible for this support. Self-catering…

23 Nov 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what further support will be made available to help services respond to the needs of older people, in light of the COVID-19 restrictions.

23 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is making available to ice rinks, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: I recognise that this has been an enormously challenging time for the sport sector and we appreciate the sacrifices made by everyone over the past months to help us tackle the virus. I am aware of particular concerns around ice rinks and have asked sport sco…

11 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is making available to larger self-catering units that are unable to trade viably as a result of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Self-catering businesses were eligible for either £10,000 and £25,000 grants for businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure. This extended to 75% for subsequent properties. We provided an additional £1.5 m for self-catering businesses who didn’t meet the 1…

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact COVID-19 is having on NHS dental capacity, and whether it considers there are sufficient appointments available to meet demand.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Work has been carried out at pace to improve our understanding and risk management of COVID-19 transmission in dental settings, which has allowed for further progression with NHS dental remobilisation. Dentists have been able to provide the full range of NHS …

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the Chief Dental Officer prior to the announcement that NHS dental care would resume on 1 November 2020.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: I have had a minimum of twice-weekly discussions with the Chief Dental Officer throughout the pandemic. The CDO provides regular advice and updates on all aspects of the remobilisation of NHS dentistry, including on the decision to enable dentists to provide …

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to routinely test home carers.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for the Pandemic, published on 23 October, sets out plans to develop the testing element of Test and Protect over the next three months which focusses on building capacity within NHS Scotland and deploying expansi…

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients who are moved from hospitals to NHS-selected care homes at the request of the NHS and without family input should be asked to cover the costs of their care.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Decisions regarding the discharge destination of patients ready for discharge is not a matter for the NHS. These decisions are made by social work professionals under the terms of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, as part of a multi-disciplinary assessment…

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many outstanding enquiries the National Registers of Scotland has, and what action is being taken to reduce any backlog

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: National Records of Scotland (NRS) performs the registration and statistical functions of the Registrar General for Scotland and the archival functions of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, including maintaining the archives as one of Scotland’s five Nati…

3 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) provide funding and (b) put temporary planning restrictions in place to allow care homes to create covered outdoor areas for visiting purposes.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Visiting is vital to the wellbeing of residents in residential care and their loved ones and should continue to be supported as safely as possible. This is why we encourage care homes to apply our national guidance at a local level with oversight from Directo…

29 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports of significant delays in answering 101 calls.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Delivery of the police 101 service is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. Police Scotland have advised that this is an exceptionally busy time for the service and particularly for the Contact, Command and Control Division, with an unprecedented cal…

27 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests to host test events it has received from the conference and events sector since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: As at 4 November the Scottish Government had received 30 requests from the conference and events sector to host test events. The 30 requests comprise:7 football matches2 rugby matches3 horse racing meets1 golf event1 motor racing event5 business events9 perfo…

27 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to running test events in the conference and events sector since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has worked with stakeholders throughout the pandemic with a view to supporting the conference and events sector, including through the Events Industry Advisory Group, which was created in response to COVID-19. Test events have been par…

27 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has received in relation to bingo halls and the COVID-19 pandemic, and what considerations were taken into account when deciding the restrictions that would apply to them under the tiered system.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Scottish Government has received representations from the Bingo Association, Bingo Halls, Staff, customers, MSP’s and MP’s. We have been in close contact with the Bingo Association and have worked with them to ensure that Bingo halls have been able to open wh…

20 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32139 by Kevin Stewart on 14 October 2020, for what reason it did not publish a partial business regulatory impact assessment to accompany its plans to introduce short-term let licensing and planning control, in accordance with its Better Regulation…

Answer · Kevin Stewart: A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) will be completed for the short-term lets licensing order and control area regulations. This will be published when the statutory instruments are laid at the Scottish Parliament. The consultation paper Short …

14 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making it a requirement for developers to advertise projects that they have submitted to the Energy Consents Unit in local newspapers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: When applications are submitted to the Energy Consents Unit there is a requirement to advertise the application under Regulation 8 of the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990 and Regulation 20 of The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact …

5 Oct 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group last met, and whether it still expects to make its recommendations during the course of 2020.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Farming and Food Production – Future Policy Group (FFP-FPG) last met on 23 September and agreed that they need to meet further in order to finalise their Report. As an independent Group, it will be for the Group to determine when it is ready to publish it…