Parliamentary questions
Oliver Mundell
1,091 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Jul 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29576 by Michael Matheson on 16 June 2020, whether it will provide an update on the situation Scotland in light of plans to resume driving lessons elsewhere in the UK.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Following the announcement by the First Minister on the 9 th of July, it was confirmed that driving lessons will not resume before 31 st of July. An update will be made at the earliest opportunity to ensure driving instructors will be able to return to work w…
2 Jul 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to making balancing payments through the Bed and Breakfast Hardship Fund to businesses that have received small grant sums from other UK and Scottish government schemes.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government continues to support Scotland’s businesses by passing on every penny we receive from the UK Government and more. Our approach to supporting businesses is tailored to Scotland’s economic needs and we have developed a package of measures…
2 Jul 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20090 by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 November 2018, for what reason SEPA has reportedly refused to visit Pow Burn to investigate reported contamination and significant fish deaths following the related incident on 24-25 June 2020.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SEPA has had to adapt its approach to incident response in order to protect its staff, operators and the public. As a result SEPA is currently only deploying in the field to deal with the most significant incidents and where SEPA…
25 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any plans by NHS Dumfries and Galloway to permanently close community hospitals.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is not aware of any plans by NHS Dumfries and Galloway to permanently close community hospitals.
19 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on bringing forward plans to dual the A75 between Dumfries and the A74M to boost the area's economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government recognises that transport plays an important role in joining up communities and maximising the economic potential of South West Scotland, including the part that the A75 plays in connecting Dumfries with the wider trunk road network. T…
19 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the service that they can offer to communities and vulnerable groups, for what reason church halls are not eligible for support in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: On 18 March the Scottish Government announced that an additional £350 million would be made available to those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding has been made available to councils, charities, businesses and community groups and has been d…
19 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plans to build a new Dumfries High School.
Answer · John Swinney: It is the statutory responsibility of Dumfries and Galloway Council to manage its school estate. The Scottish Government works with Councils to provide additionality to their investment plans and work is underway on the Learning Estate Investment Programme (L…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make resources available to provide additional educational support to young people living in households without access to broadband.
Answer · John Swinney: Learning at home or school should be teacher led and schools and teachers should work with learners, parents and families to take account of and adapt to circumstances such as lack of internet access when setting home learning tasks. To support teachers to de…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of poor internet connectivity on plans for blended learning.
Answer · John Swinney: Digital technology plays a key role in successful delivery of any blended learning model. We know that this will cause issues for some of our most disadvantaged children and young people who do not have access to an appropriate device; do not have access to t…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an equality impact assessment of its plans for schools returning.
Answer · John Swinney: As part of the ongoing work of the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG), we published the Strategic Framework for Re-opening Schools, Early Learning and Childcare Provision in Scotland on 21 May. Alongside this, we published an Initial Impact Assessmen…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of young people of school age who live in households without broadband.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not routinely collect data on children living in households without broadband. The Scottish Household Survey 2018 noted that home internet access had reached an all time high of 87%. The Scottish Government has committed to inves…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make additional financial support available to people who rely on satellite broadband provision in order to help meet the additional costs associated with longer-term home schooling.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has committed to investing £25m to support digital inclusion amongst disadvantaged children and young people. We are in close discussion with local authorities through SOLACE, ADES and Cosla about how to deliver best value and impact o…
16 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to prioritise broadband upgrades for households with school-age children where there are inadequate connections.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Despite all regulatory and legislative responsibility for telecommunications resting solely with the UK Government, the Scottish Government has taken decisive action to greatly improve digital connectivity in Scotland. The £463 million Digital Scotland Superf…
15 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to allowing large family-run shops to re-open limited sections of their stores at the same time as smaller shops.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Following publication of the updated Route Map on 18 June, which outlines the order in which we will carefully and gradually lift lockdown restrictions, I can confirm that all street-access retail throughout Scotland is permitted to re-open from 29 June. Ret…
15 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of representations from Professor Chris Isles regarding the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Dumfries and Galloway.
Answer · John Swinney: We are making real and sustained progress in supressing the virus in Scotland but we must remain cautious and vigilant. COVID-19 remains a serious threat and any resurgence could rapidly undo the progress we have made. We do not want to keep any part of the …
15 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of the reported difficulties faced by domestic abuse victims who wish to exit a joint tenancy under The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016; if so, how it is addressing this, and what advice it would give to those affected.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is aware of reported difficulties faced by domestic abuse victims who wish to exit a joint tenancy under the Private Housing (Tenancies)(Scotland) Act 2016. We are engaging with the working group looking at preventing homelessness for …
15 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to review joint tenancy provisions under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government has developed a monitoring and evaluation framework to guide our examination of the impacts and outcomes of the new Private Residential Tenancy. This will compliment work to consider specific issues for joint tenants who experience dom…
3 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what advice it can give to customers in Scotland of the travel firm, TUI, who are reportedly being refused full refunds for cancelled holidays.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Passenger rights in relation to aviation are covered by European Regulations which, in the UK, are overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The following link to the CAA web site provides full information on passenger rights: https://www.caa.co.uk/Pas…
2 Jun 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government in which phase of the route map for exiting COVID-19 it expects driving lessons will be allowed to resume.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Activities permitted under the various phases of the route map for exiting Covid 19 are kept constantly under review. This will be in line with maintaining physical distancing and suppressing the spread of the coronavirus. In addition, due to the impact of co…
28 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to establish a hardship fund for dairy farmers in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has continued to engage with the dairy sector in Scotland including the NFUS, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and Dairy UK, throughout the Covid 19 period. Whilst we recognise that the sector has been impacted, it is cle…
28 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that child abuse survivors from Dumfries and Galloway are being told they they are ineligible for redress payments because records regarding who received council bursaries to attend St Joseph’s College in the 1970s are not available.
Answer · John Swinney: The statutory redress scheme for survivors of historical abuse in care is in development and has not opened for applications. Eligibility criteria have not been finalised and as such no advice has been, or could be, offered to survivors on what these will be.…
28 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the proposals from representatives of caravan park owners regarding the safe re-opening of sites, which have been closed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government fully recognises the value to our visitor economy of the holiday and caravan park sector and continues to engage with it through the relevant industry associations, including the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA). On 1…
26 May 2020 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to continue the Solway Barnacle Goose Management Scheme beyond 2020.
13 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported ongoing parental concerns regarding the safety of the schools' intranet service, GLOW.
Answer · John Swinney: As the national online service for learners, Glow is subject to rigorous assessment of the balance of benefits and risks. Education Scotland are acutely aware of the dangers of the online world and Glow seeks to provide all learners with a safer environment i…
11 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what specific action it is taking to support coach drivers and the coach holiday industry in Scotland during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government fully acknowledges the critical role that coaches play in supporting tourism, whether directly providing holidays, or taking passengers from cruise ships to visitor attractions. We have engaged directly with the industry through the C…
11 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to extending the neighbour notification boundaries for planning applications in light of COVID-19, and what its response is to concerns that, in some rural areas, people are finding it more difficult to access and find out about new planning applications.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: We have been in regular contact with representatives of Local Authorities during the COVID-19 emergency about the continued operation of the planning system, including the undertaking of neighbour notification and the publication of information about planning…
7 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, whether people can still access regular vitamin B12 injections.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Saving lives is at the forefront of the Government's response and in the interests of patients' safety, healthcare professionals have been re-deployed to provide critical care to seriously ill people and the risk of spreading infection has been minimised by r…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional financial support it is putting is in place during the COVID-19 outbreak for Scotland-domiciled students studying at universities in England, including the University of Cumbria.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: As announced on 8 April 2020, we have introduced a £5 million package of emergency financial support to help students facing hardship as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. This £5 million includes an additional £2.2 million for Scotland’s Higher Education …
15 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the impact of anaerobic digestion on the cost and availability of agricultural feed.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government most recently commissioned a review into the specific impact of anaerobic digestion and bio-energy on the availability of distillery by-product for use as livestock feed was published in July 2019 and can be found at the following web …
14 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to treating Ecclefechan Truckstop as a workplace canteen for HGV drivers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government has given the matter appropriate consideration and we have written to the Truckstop proprietor to clarify the position. All services that remain open during the current period must adhere to the emergency health protection legislation…