Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-30601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape.

Post-School Education and Skills Reform is a 10-year transformation programme developed in light of James Withers’ Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, and which will help us to achieve the ambitions set out in the Post-school education, research and skills - purpose and principles - gov.scot (www.gov.scot),

This is one of the first and one of the largest programmes of public service reform to get underway, with five main strands of work currently progressing at different stages of development and preparation towards implementation.

For instance, we are taking forward legislation to deliver simplification of the funding body landscape as part of the 2024-25 legislative programme and have also commenced work on skills planning across government and with key partners.

Change of this magnitude requires careful collaboration with a wide range of delivery partners and will not happen overnight.

At my latest appearance at the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 4 September 2024 I reiterated my commitment to continue to update that Committee on progress with post-school reform at the appropriate times. Our programme to reform post-school education and skills is progressing well, and I expect to be providing a further update early in 2025.

Question reference: S6W-30680

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide (a) a breakdown of the cost to partners to kennel XL Bully dogs and (b) the total cost to the public to kennel XL Bully dogs since the ban was announced in January 2024.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for Police Scotland and local authorities.

The Scottish Government has ongoing dialogue with a range of partners regarding implementation of the new safeguards on XL Bully dogs.

My officials are continuing to engage with Police Scotland, local authorities, Scottish SPCA and other key dog welfare stakeholders about the impact of enforcing and implementation of the new safeguards, including ongoing consideration of kennelling provision and demand.

Question reference: S6O-03892

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to eliminate long waits in A&E departments across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30482

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29929 by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2024, how a Scottish Forestry scheme allowing applicants to access a reduced public grant alongside the Woodland Carbon Code will comply with (a) its additionality investment test and (b) international definitions.

The new category under the Forestry Grant Scheme for projects to receive lower levels of grant intervention is designed specifically to help projects meet the requirements of the Woodland Carbon Code investment test for additionality. By reducing the amount of grant funding, a project is better able to demonstrate that revenues from carbon credits are needed for the project to be financially viable. The Woodland Carbon Code additionality test is consistent with additionality tests applied by other leading carbon standards globally.

Question reference: S6W-30401

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30096 by Siobhian Brown on 1 October 2024, when it expects to complete the engagement with stakeholders to review the occasional licence fee.

As set out in the Scottish Government’s response to question S6W-30400 on 18 October 2024, planned engagement with stakeholders will commence in the next few months. No timescale has been set for concluding this work, but this would be agreed in discussion with said stakeholders.

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

Question reference: S6W-30400

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30096 by Siobhian Brown on 1 October 2024, whether it is giving consideration to implementing a scalable fee structure, particularly in relation to events such as the 152nd Open Golf Championship.

As noted in the answer to PQ S6W-30096, planned engagement with stakeholders will commence in the next few months. This will include assessing the various views offered in the responses received to the previous Scottish Government consultation on occasional licence policy.

As noted in the ‘Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 - fee review: consultation responses’ document on the Scottish Government website, some respondents suggested a scalable fee structure. i.e. the level of the occasional licence fee should be dependent on the size of the event.

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

Question reference: S6W-30288

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the potential impact of any reduction in grant funding to the Timberlink coastal shipping service will be on Scotland's journey towards achieving net zero.

Question reference: S6W-30289

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the cost of a formal impact assessment regarding any potential reduction in funding for the Timberlink coastal shipping service will be, and whether this cost would exceed the contribution that users of the service are reportedly being asked to make towards Timberlink.

Question reference: S6W-30273

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to limit free bus travel for any young people who abuse it for the purposes of engaging in shoplifting and other forms of antisocial behaviour.

The vast majority of passengers travelling under the National Concessionary Travel Schemes behave appropriately. However, there is a minority of people, of all ages, who abuse their entitlement, including to commit offences, and which can result in serious harm to bus employees and passengers. That is simply not acceptable.

Bus operators can already restrict access to their services in line with their own conditions of carriage and Transport Scotland is working with operators and other stakeholders to develop further sanctions and preventative measures including temporary suspension of concessionary cards, although this does have some complexities.

Question reference: S6W-30276

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any ongoing reviews or evaluations assessing the impact of antisocial behaviour by young people entitled to free bus travel.

A one year evaluation of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel scheme was published in December 2023.

The findings of the review were generally very positive, indicating that it is beginning to deliver progress towards its longer-term objectives. While personal safety continues to be a concern across all modes of public transport, the study also showed that young people generally felt safer travelling alone, or at night, than they had expected to before the scheme launched.

Evidence from the evaluation is being used to inform the development of measures to reduce antisocial behaviour on the bus network and we are committed to ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.

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