- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what resources are being developed to help (a) individuals and (b) households improve their flood resilience.
Answer
The Scottish Flooding Forum, funded by Scottish Government, already makes a broad range of resources available to individuals and households. These cover preparation and protection, what to do if flooding occurs, recovery and guidance on actions communities can take together. The SFF also have an online Property Protection Advisor tool.
If someone lives in an area that may flood they can also contact the Scottish Flooding Forum enquiry telephone line for advice, information and support to protect their property.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that its international offices are not used to promote the case for Scottish independence.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s international network offices do not have a role in developing policy on options for Scotland’s constitutional future. Nevertheless, it is the role of the Civil Service to support the elected government of the day in developing and implementing its policies. That is the case for work on independence as it is for the rest of the government’s work.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what interim measures are being implemented to reduce emissions from diesel passenger trains before 2045.
Answer
Decarbonisation of Scotland’s Railway is undertaken on a phased basis. The line to Barrhead was decarbonised in December 2023. The line to East Kilbride is next, completing in December 2025. Other lines will follow.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the results of the Instrumental Music Service Survey 2024 to be published.
Answer
The survey is not a Scottish Government survey. It is carried out by the Improvement Service on behalf of Heads of Instrumental Tuition Scotland (HITS).
For further information please contact the Improvement Service at [email protected]
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much the A96 Corridor Review has cost, broken down by financial year.
Answer
Please see the following table with breakdown of costs by financial year for work undertaken on the A96 Corridor Review:
Financial Year | Total Cost excluding non-recoverable VAT |
2022-2023 | £3,265,047.17 |
2023-2024 | £2,362,603.37 |
2024-2025 | £745,417.93 |
Note: 2024-2025 figures are up to 19 December 2024, date of request.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its policy and guidelines regarding people with alcohol use disorder in the justice system, with a view to addressing any gaps in implementation.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.
This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.
Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost was of the recent replacement of the heating and window control systems in MSP offices in the Parliament building.
Answer
The works referred to in your question is part of an existing project to upgrade the Parliament’s Building and Energy Management System (BEMS). The BEMS is a business-critical tool which provides visibility and control of building services, principally the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and domestic hot water systems in all areas of the Holyrood site. The new BEMS replaces an existing system which was installed 20 years ago and at end of life.
The estimated total value for the BEMS project is £3,900,000. This information is published on the Scottish Parliaments Contracts Register under the contract reference NIC-SER-486 at the following link - Contract register | Scottish Parliament Website.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S6W-31550 by Claire Baker on 11 December 2024, how many email and domain accounts for MSP spouses who are not in paid employment by MSPs there are on the Parliament IT system, and what the average annual cost is of administering any such accounts.
Answer
In line with data protection legislation the personal data processed by the SPCB is minimised to only that which is necessary, and there is no business reason to hold spousal information of those who work for MSPs in an unpaid capacity. The average annual licencing cost to provide email and productivity applications to Parliament network users is approximately £280 per user.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has spent on electric hand dryers in the Parliament building in each of the last three years.
Answer
The general maintenance of hand driers is included within the Building Maintenance Contract and the only spend is on replacement parts or replacement hand driers if they fail. Below is spend for last 3 financial years and note on current year.
· 21/22 – No Spend
· 22/23 – No Spend
· 23/24 – £1560.87 – Spend is on parts & machines only as labour is included within planned maintenance.
· 24/25 – No spend to date.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost of maintaining the Parliament's bees has been in each of the last five years.
Answer
The total cost of maintaining the Parliament’s bees on-site for the last five years in total is £20,219.68. This includes the installation and maintenance of 15 beehives since March 2020.
The costs per year are given in the table below:
Hoods Honey Costs per year | | |
Year | Ex VAT | Gross Amount |
2023/24 | £ 4,349.90 | £ 5,219.88 |
2022/23 | £ 3,199.92 | £ 3,839.90 |
2021/22 | £ 3,199.92 | £ 3,839.90 |
2020/21 | £ 3,600.00 | £ 4,320.00 |
2019/20 | £ 2,500.00 | £ 3,000.00 |