Rachael Hamilton

11 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it gives to local authorities to ensure that ford river crossings are maintained or, if they are deemed unsafe, replaced with suitable alternatives.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic. This includes any ford…

11 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to the owners of properties that are accessed by a ford river crossing to ensure that they are connected to the road network.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area, including ford river crossings, and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement o…

11 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the environmental impact of (a) building and (b) upgrading ford river crossings.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area, including ford river crossings, and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement o…

10 Sep 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Scottish Borders Council.

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether revenue that a local authority receives through a transient visitor levy should be ring-fenced to support the tourism sector in that council area.

Answer · Kate Forbes: We heard strong arguments through the National Discussion on Tourist tax, held at the end of 2018, that money raised by any levy should be spent on tourism related activities, including responding to tourism pressures, in the local authority area that imposed…

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has undertaken of the potential impact of transient visitor levies on the tourism sector.

Answer · Kate Forbes: A partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment was published with the current consultation paper and we will be undertaking a number of impact assessments before the legislation is introduced.

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken an assessment of which local authorities are expected to introduce a transient visitor levy when they have the power to do so and, if so, which they are.

Answer · Kate Forbes: It will be for individual local authorities to decide whether or not to apply a levy if they consider it appropriate for local circumstances.

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any research that it has undertaken on the potential impact of a transient visitor levy on the income of local authorities that adopt one.

Answer · Kate Forbes: To date the government has not carried out any research on the impact on local authority income. It will be for individual local authorities to decide whether or not to apply a levy if they consider it appropriate for local circumstances.

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, aside from the public consultation, which industry leaders, trade bodies and other stakeholders it consulted before it made the decision to introduce its Transient Visitor Levy Bill to the Parliament.

Answer · Kate Forbes: We have not as yet introduced a Transient Levy Bill to Parliament. A number of businesses and business representative organisations participated in and contributed to the Scottish Government’s National Discussion on Tourist Taxes, held at the end of 2018, bo…

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how transient visitor levies will impact on the local government settlement.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Transient Visitor Levy will not be a national tax and it will be for individual local authorities to decide whether or not to apply levy if they consider it appropriate for the local community. Money raised by those local authorities who introduce a levy …

5 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects its Transient Visitor Levy Bill to be introduced to the Parliament.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government has committed in its Programme for Government to introduce the Transient Visitor Levy Bill this parliamentary year.

26 Aug 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it manages increased passenger numbers on public transport during major events.

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in extending the pilot of the One Card library scheme beyond the north east.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: It is expected that access to the One Card Library scheme will expand later this year. The Scottish Library and Information Council are delivering the project with support from the Scottish Government, and the expansion will be informed by the learning from t…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the tourism sector as a career option.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government invested £100,000 to develop a campaign to promote tourism as a career of choice, to be launched in 2020, building on Skills Development Scotland's Tourism Skills Investment Plan, that aims to address existing and future skills challen…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the development of its culture strategy.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Building on the national culture conversation which began in 2017 and the public consultation in 2018, ongoing engagement with key stakeholders has been continuing to develop the final strategy which the Scottish Government intends to publish later this year.

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given toward the redevelopment of the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in the last 12 months.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is supporting the Citizens Theatre regeneration project which will secure the future of one of Scotland’s most iconic buildings and leading producing theatres. The Citizens Theatre has received significant support from the Scottish Gov…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the development of a cultural youth experience fund.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that no-one’s background is a barrier to taking part in cultural life and to giving young people all over Scotland a chance to take part in the arts, as demonstrated through our Time to Shine youth arts strateg…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given toward projects in Malawi in the last 12 months.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Details of financial support given to projects and other initiatives in or in support of Malawi can be found at the Scottish Government webpages attached. Support to Malawi is provided under our International Development Fund: Malawi Development Programme 2…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consider holding an inquiry into the 2018 fire at the Glasgow School of Art.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: As noted in my response to the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee’s report on the 2018 fire at the Glasgow School of Art, the Scottish Government is keen to ensure that we learn from the terrible events of last June and that we do what we…

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support active tourism.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We are investing in facilities, including providing £1m to support mountain biking at Glentress, and supporting feasibility work at the remaining 7 Stanes sites, in order to enable further investment through the Borderlands Growth Deal. Through support for ac…

9 Jul 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) rural and (b) urban state schools in each local authority area have closed and not reopened in another form in each year since 1999, also broken down by postcode area.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is unable to identify all instances of schools that have “not reopened in another form” from the data it holds. Therefore, information has been provided on all schools that closed between 1999 and 2018. Data for 2019 has not been prov…

24 Jun 2019 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its forecast is for income tax growth in the coming years.

11 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to extend the cap on transitional relief for non-domestic rates.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government put in place a transitional relief from 2017-18 to cap the annual year on year increase in rates bills at 12.5% real terms, for all but the largest hospitality across Scotland and Aberdeen city and Shire offices. In 2018 the Scottish G…

11 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to future-proof NHS Borders for the impacts of an ageing population, including what funding is in place to meet any rise in demand.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Medium Term Financial Framework for Health and Social Care published last year recognises the increasing demand and expectations placed upon our frontline services, including the impact of an ageing population, and is clear that the status quo is not an o…

11 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the financial position is of the Scottish Borders Integration Joint Board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: For the 2018-19 financial year, the Scottish Borders Integration Joint Board (IJB) will report a balanced financial position, subject to audit review. For 2019-20, the IJB is due to consider the budget at its next meeting on 19 June 2019. The total budget fo…

3 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what power it has under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 to ban smoking in (a) playparks, (b) outdoor sports facilities and (c) other similar outdoor areas by means of regulations under section 4 of the act.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Section 4 of the act does not provide powers to ban smoking in (a) play parks, (b) outdoor sports facilities and (c) other similar outdoor areas by means of regulations. We will monitor the on-going implementation of COSLA’s guidance on smoke free public are…

28 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated through the Pupil Equity Fund for dyslexic assessments since 2017, broken down by local authority.

Answer · John Swinney: Pupil Equity Funding was introduced in 2017 as a new way of working to close the attainment gap, by providing money directly to the schools, and headteachers, that know their young people best, giving schools the power to choose where to target support and in…

28 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which colleges and universities will employ the 80 additional mental health counsellors committed to over the next four years; how many each institution will employ, and how many of the posts will be (a) full-time and (b) part-time.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) are currently working on a financial allocation to both sectors for the 2019-20 academic year in conjunction with the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group. Allocations will be informe…

24 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how forestry impacts on wild aquatic life, and what measures it is taking to alleviate the impact of any (a) acidification, (b) siltation and (c) eutrophication of the aquatic environment arising from this.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Forestry’s impacts on the water environment are complex, with well managed woods and forests often having beneficial impacts – for example by moderating extreme flows and temperatures. There are well understood legal and best practice standards in place to s…

22 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent passive smoking.