Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-11856

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the purpose was of any financial assistance that it, or its agencies, provided to Stoneywood Mill pre-2022.

Arjowiggins has in the past received SE loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £163,400.

Breakdown of funding:

£ 12m loans and £100,000 equity* :

£7m loan/equity in July 2019 to support the management buy-out of the company (comprised of £6.9m loan and £100,000 equity investment)
£3.5m loan in July 2020 as gap funding required due to Covid-19 impacts
£1.6m loan in January 2022 to help the company mitigate numerous cost pressures (material costs, energy costs and Covid-19 impacts)
*PLUS £4,000.091 accrued interest to date (as of September 2022)
£163,400 in grants (all conditions met so not eligible for claw-back):
£125,000 environmental aid for predevelopment work on Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant replacement projects
£16,000 towards an energy efficiency audit
£5,000 Financial Readiness grant (pre MBO) to help fund financial projections and investment appraisals for a combined heat and power energy plant on the site.
£14,808 Workplace Innovation grant (pre MBO) to assist the company with the introduction of a management development programme following a senior management team restructure.
£2,592 consultancy support (pre-MBO) to explore succession options and explore the feasibility of employee ownership

Question reference: S6O-01574

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry to conclude.

Question reference: S6W-11853

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was recently approached by Scottish Enterprise to assist any potential buyer in the purchase of Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-11855

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was asked to provide financial assistance to any potential buyer of Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen, and arrived at the decision not to provide any such assistance.

Question reference: S6W-11854

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the level of any financial assistance requested by any potential buyer of Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen, which could have prevented the closure of the mill.

Question reference: S6W-11857

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what guarantees were associated with the reported financial assistance provided to Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen, by Scottish Enterprise pre-2022.

Question reference: S6W-11858

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects Scottish Enterprise to recoup any of the cost of the financial assistance that the body reportedly provided to Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen, pre-2022.

Question reference: S6W-11852

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was recently approached by any potential buyer of Stoneywood Mill, Aberdeen, for financial assistance.

Question reference: S6O-01480

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available in the context of its Covid Recovery Strategy to help high streets recover from the pandemic and ensure that there are no long-term scarring effects.

Question reference: S6W-11216

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) injury and (b) non-injury road accidents on the A90 have been reported in each quarter since 1 April 2017 between Ellon and (i) Peterhead and (ii) Fraserburgh.

Between Ellon (from & including the roundabout at the junction with the A948) to the junction with the A982 at Peterhead

Year – 2017	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
April – June	1
July – September	0
October – December	1

Year – 2018	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	2
April – June	4
July – September	4
October – December	1

Year – 2019	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	1
April – June	1
July – September	2
October – December	1

Year – 2020	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	2
April – June	0
July – September	0
October – December	1

Year – 2021	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	2
April – June	2
July – September	1
October – December	0

Year – 2022	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	0
April – June	0
July – September (to 9 Sept)	1

Between Ellon (from & including the roundabout at the junction with the A948) to the junction with the A98 at Fraserburgh.

Please note that the following figures also include the above figures as the section from Ellon to Fraserburgh includes the length of the A90 from Ellon to Peterhead.

Year – 2017	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
April – June	7
July – September	1
October – December	1

Year – 2018	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	5
April – June	4
July – September	5
October – December	4

Year – 2019	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	3
April – June	3
July – September	3
October – December	1

Year – 2020	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	4
April – June	0
July – September	3
October – December	4

Year – 2021	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	4
April – June	2
July – September	2
October – December	1

Year – 2022	Number of Personal Injury Accidents
January - March	0
April – June	0
July – September (to 9 Sept)	1

Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available at the time of retrieving the data from Transport Scotland’s accident manager system. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:

• Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.

• Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).

• Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.

• The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

• Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.

• From summer 2019, Police Scotland introduced a new system for recording traffic collisions. Due to improved recording and categorisation processes, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of casualties and accidents on Scottish roads that are classified as serious. The evidence from other police forces within the UK that introduced the same system is that this increase will be around 20%. This increase would not reflect an actual change in the severity of accidents occurring on Scottish roads, but would instead reflect more accurate recording.

• Statisticians within the Department for Transport have devised a method for adjusting the road casualty figures to ensure that they can be compared over time on a consistent basis. Transport Scotland’s Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties statistics publications will present both adjusted and unadjusted figures.