- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £574 million allocated to the NHS Territorial and National Boards Capital Investment in its 2022-23 budget, which was announced on 9 December 2021, has been (a) allocated and (b) spent to date, broken down by expenditure.
Answer
The capital budget of £574 million will be allocated in full to NHS Territorial and National Boards and it is expected that the budget by the year end will be fully invested and spent. This will cover basic maintenance, replacement of essential medical equipment, developing the National Treatment Centre Programme, delivering the Baird and ANCHOR centre in Aberdeen, the Parkhead Health and Social Care Centre in the East End of Glasgow and numerous other vital capital projects.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many working groups have been established by (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and (b) supporting ministers, in each of the last five financial years, broken down by the (i) total costs incurred in running these bodies, including expenses and (ii) number that have (A) formally completed their work and ceased to exist and (B) not met in the last six months but still exist.
Answer
The breakdown of the information requested is not held centrally the collation of this information would incur disproportionate costs.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a Net-Zero Ports and Infrastructure Programme fund, which has been identified by Scottish Renewables as key for supporting strategic port infrastructure and developing offshore renewable projects.
Answer
We recognise the importance of strong port infrastructure to support our offshore renewable ambitions. One of the primary recommendations of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s (SOWEC) Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) for Offshore Wind was the creation of a Scottish Floating Offshore Wind Port Cluster. The SIA made clear that the sector must work collaboratively to help focus activity and investment in Scottish ports.
New ScotWind leaseholders have joined existing Scottish offshore wind developers in signing up to a Collaborative Framework Charter, agreeing to work jointly together to build a pipeline of supply chain work. 24 developers have agreed to work together in the development and delivery of this Collaborative Framework. Through this grouping, i ndustry, enterprise agencies, and Scottish Government are working together to develop a Strategic Investment Model (SIM) which will support the recommendations of the SIA.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) repossessed and (b) empty dwellings have an unoccupied exemption from council tax, and how many have had that exemption for (i) six months or more, (ii) 12 months or more and (iii) two years or more.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it provided to local authorities to determine the short-term let licensing scheme fees, and whether it can intervene if it considers fees are unreasonably high in particular local authority areas.
Answer
Licensing fees must not be set at a level greater than the amount necessary to recover establishment and running costs. Guidance to licensing authorities on setting licence fees is contained within Chapter 3 of our short-term lets licensing guidance part 2: Supporting documents - Short term lets - licensing scheme part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Guidance sets out that licensing authorities are expected to have regard to minimising licence fee costs. It also encourages licensing authorities to offer lower fees for home sharing and home letting licences than for secondary letting. However, the exact fee levels are a matter for licensing authorities, and will likely depend on a number of factors such as volume of short-term let activity in their area, approach to physical property inspections and geography.
Licensing authorities must review their fees from time to time to ensure that revenue from fees remains in line with the running costs of the licensing scheme, as required by Paragraph 15(2)(a) of schedule 1 to the 1982 Act, as inserted by the Licensing Order.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the final recommendations from the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2).
Answer
The suite of final reports presenting the recommendations of the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will be published on the Transport Scotland website on Thursday 8 December 2022. This represents a key milestone for strategic transport planning in Scotland. Setting out a 20 year framework for capital investment to drive the change we need to achieve the Scottish Government’s strategic vision and move towards Net Zero – the majority of the 45 recommendations contribute directly towards achieving emissions reduction.
This marks the culmination of over three years’ intensive work.
The evidence gathering and robust objective-led appraisal work feeding in to this review has been informed by stakeholder engagement from the very outset. The public have been provided with several opportunities for involvement, not least the three month statutory consultation on draft versions of the reports during January to April 2022. All responses to this have been carefully considered and used to inform refinement of the final recommendations.
The intention was to publish a Delivery Plan for these recommendations, alongside the final report. However, due to the current huge lack of certainty around available capital budget and fiscal policy over recent months, this has not been possible as yet. As such the Delivery Plan will follow in 2023, which will include more detail on prioritisation and delivery timescales, however, I am pleased to note that work is already underway on 38 of the 45 recommendations.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a date set for the publication of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2).
Answer
The suite of final reports presenting the recommendations of the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will be published on the Transport Scotland website on Thursday 8 December 2022. This represents a key milestone for strategic transport planning in Scotland. Setting out a 20 year framework for capital investment to drive the change we need to achieve the Scottish Government’s strategic vision and move towards Net Zero – the majority of the 45 recommendations contribute directly towards achieving emissions reduction.
This marks the culmination of over three years’ intensive work.
The evidence gathering and robust objective-led appraisal work feeding in to this review has been informed by stakeholder engagement from the very outset. The public have been provided with several opportunities for involvement, not least the three month statutory consultation on draft versions of the reports during January to April 2022. All responses to this have been carefully considered and used to inform refinement of the final recommendations.
The intention was to publish a Delivery Plan for these recommendations, alongside the final report. However, due to the current huge lack of certainty around available capital budget and fiscal policy over recent months, this has not been possible as yet. As such the Delivery Plan will follow in 2023, which will include more detail on prioritisation and delivery timescales, however, I am pleased to note that work is already underway on 38 of the 45 recommendations.
- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to meet the psychological support needs of teenagers and young adults, aged 13 to 24, with cancer in (a) the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency, (b) Ayrshire and Arran and (c) Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to S6W-12515 on 8 December 2022 which outlines the national steps taken by the MSN to ensure there is sufficient psychological support for children and young people with cancer. 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/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the next steps are in implementing buffer zones outside abortion clinics in Scotland, in light of the UK Supreme Court judgement on this issue handed down on 7 December 2022.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether any changes to the current devolution settlement should only be implemented with the explicit democratic consent of the Scottish people.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022
