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: S5W-26603

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-26397 and S5W-26398 by Mairi Gougeon on 26 November 2019, what its position is on whether it is appropriate to continue the use of high concentrations of carbon dioxide to slaughter pigs, in light of findings by European Food Safety Authority, which suggest that at concentrations above 30%, it “is known to be aversive and cause hyperventilation and irritation of the mucous membranes that can be painful” and the paper by Raj and Gregory in 1996, which concluded that the animals show profound aversion to high concentrations and that this can lead to “severe respiratory distress”.

The Scottish Government permits slaughter methods which are both legal under EC Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing and are considered acceptable by the Humane Slaughter Association.

The opinions referred to in the question were available for consideration for several years prior to the passing of EC Regulation 1099/2009. However, we take the welfare of animals seriously, support research into slaughter methods and are represented on the steering group of a current research project into an alternative method of slaughter for pigs.

Question reference: S5O-03852

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with stakeholders, including the Scottish SPCA, regarding reforming its animal welfare legislation.

Question reference: S5O-03821

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update Scottish building regulations to enable mortgage lenders to provide confirmation that properties over 18 metres high that have cladding meet the relevant fire safety standards, as is the position in England.

While regulation and oversight of the mortgage market is an issue currently reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government continues to engage with UK Finance, the UK Government and others to seek a solution.

Lenders are asking for reassurances, they are not providing confirmation on cladding issues.

To be clear, building regulations apply only at the point building work is carried out and are not retrospective.

I can confirm that for new building work Scottish building regulations continue to set fire safety standards for cladding. Regulations were updated in October this year. This extended previous safety provisions for buildings above 18 metres to all buildings above 11 metres in height and also to certain non-domestic buildings regardless of height.

Question reference: S5W-26397

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out into alternatives to the use of high concentrations of carbon dioxide to slaughter pigs, in light of the recommendation by the Farm Animal Welfare Council in 2003 that this practice should be phased out.

Question reference: S5W-26398

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of pigs were slaughtered in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19 using concentrations of carbon dioxide of 80% or higher.

The proportion of pigs slaughtered in Scottish slaughterhouses in (a) 2017-18 was 69.2% and (b) 2018-19 was 77.2%.

	01-04-17 to ‎ 31-03-18	01-04-18 to ‎ 31-03-19
Total number of pigs slaughtered	267,821	339,553
Total number of pigs slaughtered with high concentration of CO2	185,442	262,114
Percentage of pigs slaughtered with high concentration of CO2	69.2%	77.2%

Source: Food Standards Scotland, November 2019

Question reference: S5O-03804

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to announce any further delays to the R100 programme before the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5T-01831

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm the amount of service fees reportedly waived by Prestwick airport for the US military.

Question reference: S5W-25263

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm that there will be no change to the timetable to deliver the R100 programme by the end of 2021.

Given the complexity of the procurement, legally, financially and technically, we have always acknowledged 2021 would be a challenging target to meet, having personally acknowledged this in debate and in responding to parliamentary questions and correspondence prior to and since the summer recess.

As with any procurement of this scale and value, where there is competition for contracts, the process is a complex one and we have had to build in a degree of flexibility to respond to a range of circumstances and bidders’ requirements during the competitive dialogue phase. This has included extending timelines and allowing for a pause at key parts of the process at the request of potential bidders to reflect changes in the external environment, such as the requirement to provide a revised ‘intervention area’ (listing all eligible premises), taking into consideration commercial coverage plans and changes to planned Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) deployment. This was in part due to direction from UK Ministers that future Gainshare activity be focused on full fibre solutions, resulting in greater than expected changes across the country.

We are very conscious of the strong interest among Members and their constituents in having as much clarity as possible on the rollout and stakeholders’ desire to have this as quickly as possible. Indeed one of the key lessons learned from the current Digital Scotland contracts is ensuring that the public has early clarity on deployment plans. We have committed to publishing clear deployment plans as early as possible, once the contracts have been awarded – this will ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible. However, I want to reassure you that procurement for R100 is progressing well, and we are intending to award a contract or contracts by the end of this calendar year.

Question reference: S5O-03631

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Grampian will receive its full share of NRAC funding in the next Scottish Government budget.

Question reference: S5W-25324

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01760 by Michael Matheson on 10 September 2019 (Official Report, c. 5), for what reason the cabinet secretary was unable to provide information regarding US military spending at Prestwick airport when this had been made publicly available by the US Defence Logistics Agency.