Parliamentary questions
Oliver Mundell
1,091 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
12 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the cost of each (a) maintenance and (b) improvement scheme on the A76 in each of the last three years, also broken down by the (i) location of each scheme and (ii) length of time each scheme was or has been in place.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 59095).
5 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to increasing the HGV speed limit on the A75.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: There are no current plans to increase the HGV speed limit on the A75 or any other trunk road as we believe that there is insufficient evidence in this area to justify a change. A 50 mph HGV pilot is ongoing on single-carriageway sections of the A9. However, …
5 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to review water rate exemptions for charities.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: In line with the commitment made in 2014, the Scottish Government is reviewing the water and sewerage charge exemption scheme to ensure that it is operating as intended. As part of that review, we have been liaising closely with the Scottish Council for Volun…
5 Sep 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what early intervention programmes are in place to address eating disorders.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government's mental health strategy 2017-27 commits to a number of actions to improve prevention and early intervention, recognising this is key to minimising the prevalence and incidence of poor mental health and the life time impact of mental i…
29 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether Ministers were aware, prior to approving funding for new social housing in Dumfries, that the land for the project at Parkhead, which was sold by Dumfries and Galloway Council to Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership, contained common good land.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government was not aware that this land was part of common good land when funding was agreed. It is for the Local Authority to identify strategic sites for housing and this particular site had been identified within the council’s Strategic Housin…
14 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of temporary traffic lights on the A76 in each of the last three years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The costs of temporary traffic lights on the A76 are not recorded as a separate cost but included within the overall cost of each individual maintenance and improvement scheme delivered by Transport Scotland’s Operating Company on the route.
4 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported shortage of carers in rural areas.
Answer · Mark McDonald: It is the responsibility of employers to ensure they employ enough suitable skilled staff to provide appropriate care for people using their services. We have taken action to protect and grow our social care services by investing £250 million to health and s…
4 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of any shortages of carers in each local authority.
Answer · Mark McDonald: The information referred to is not held centrally. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure they employ enough suitable skilled staff to provide care for those using their services.
3 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to review the current compensation scheme for damage to farmland from geese.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government made a commitment in 2016 to maintain its funding support to the five local goose management schemes until spring 2020, when the funding will again be reviewed. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) manages these schemes on behalf of the Sco…
3 Aug 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the goose management scheme in the Solway Estuary.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Local Goose Management Groups report annually on the delivery of their goose management schemes. These annual reports are reviewed by the National Goose Management Review Group (NGMRG) which is chaired by the Scottish Government. The annual report for the 201…
22 Jun 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the practice of self-certification of building standards in multiple-occupancy developments.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The building standards system under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 allows suitably qualified and experienced people to certify aspects of building design or construction as compliant with building regulations. Scottish Ministers have approved certification…
20 Jun 2017 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met representatives of Forestry Commission Trade Unions and what issues were discussed.
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of statistics, which suggest that there have been 2,371 accidents on the A75 since 1979.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Transport Scotland assesses the safety performance of the trunk road network, including the A75, on an annual basis by screening all locations where three or more personal injury accidents have occurred in the preceding three year period. Further investigatio…
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported driver shortage in the haulage industry.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government has been working with our national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), on the skills shortage in the haulage industry. SDS worked with key partners including RHA and commissioned a review of the Labour Market cond…
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken following the jobs summit in Langholm.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government is committed to helping communities across Scotland realise their growth ambitions, including Langholm. As part of this commitment, I held a roundtable in Langholm that drew together community and business representatives, local pol…
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support upland sheep farmers.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Safeguarding Scotland’s rural environment and rural economy is a key priority. However, due to the failure of the UK Government to negotiate a decent Pillar 2 budget, Scotland has been left at the bottom of the pile in terms of EU rural development funding. …
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many ministerial visits there have been in Scotland in the last 12 months, broken down by Parliamentary constituency.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Ministerial visits between May 2016 – April 2017: Aberdeen Central: 25 Aberdeen Donside: 12 Aberdeen South and North Kincardine: 3 Aberdeenshire East: 5 Aberdeenshire West: 2 Airdrie and Shots: 2 Almond Valley: 13 Angus North and Mearns: …
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Minister for Transport and the Islands will meet the Thornhill station action group.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: We are aware of current aspirations for a new railway station at Thornhill through discussions with the Local Regional Transport Partnership, SWestrans and as an issue raised at the Dumfries & Galloway Transport Summit held in August 2016. Subject to parliam…
23 May 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent steps it has taken to increase the number of affordable homes for (a) rent and (b) purchase in rural communities.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government understands how important good quality housing is for Scotland’s future prosperity and for the strength and diversity of our communities. That is why over the lifetime of this Parliament we are investing over £3 billion to deliver at l…
16 May 2017 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve safety at the junction 21 slip road on the M74 where it joins the B7076.
9 May 2017 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making with the establishment of a south of Scotland enterprise agency.
20 Apr 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what scientific data it used to devise the testing system for bovine viral diarrhoea and whether the information available is in the public domain.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The scientific data on bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) testing protocols and the use of tests in different circumstances are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals which are publicly available. Details of tests are available from the manufacturers of BVD…
20 Apr 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the method used in Ireland of two-year tissue tag testing for bovine viral diarrhoea.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: As part of our role in the industry led Scottish bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication scheme Scottish Government is in dialogue with a number of other countries, including Ireland, to share experience and best practice. However the BVD testing methods use…
20 Apr 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a regional model of bovine viral diarrhoea testing.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: A regional approach to bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication was considered in an earlier phase of the eradication scheme but ruled out due to the complexity of administering such a scheme in a country where many cattle move between businesses several time…
6 Apr 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it funds cold call advertising of boiler replacement schemes that it supports.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland are delivered through Home Energy Scotland, which is run by the Energy Saving Trust, the Scottish Government’s trusted energy advice provider. None of the Scottish Government energy effi…
3 Apr 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the impact of freshwater dredging.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of freshwater dredging. Dredging is regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities)(Scotland)Regulations 2011. These regulati…
23 Mar 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether feed-in tariffs can be claimed for biomass boilers that have not been granted local authority planning permission.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Currently, the only renewable fuel CHP technology supported by the UK Government Feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme is anaerobic digestion (excluding sewage gas). Solid biomass, sewage gas and landfill gas CHP are specifically excluded from the FiT scheme on the gro…
23 Mar 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which projects it funds to tackle hate crime and prejudice; what criteria it uses to determine which projects to support, and what analysis it carries out of their effectiveness.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government funds a number of projects which help to tackle hate crime and prejudice, and these are listed online at: https://beta.gov.scot/publications/equality-funding-2016-2017/. Bids to the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund are assessed in …
23 Mar 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it defines "an obvious error" by farmers in a single application form, and how many such errors were identified in 2016.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: An obvious error is one of a purely clerical nature that is obvious to us during a simple examination of a customer’s Single Application Form (SAF). It could also be an error we find during our coherence checks which reveals a contradiction in the information…
23 Mar 2017 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many farmers opted not to claim their entitlements under the single application form in 2016.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: We are still processing Single Application Form (SAF) 2016 so do not have a finalised figure for this. Information available to date shows that 155 businesses have not claimed their BPS entitlements when submitting their 2016 SAF.