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-24211

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will replicate research carried by the Office of National Statistics in England, by collecting data on the number of suicides in the farming community in Scotland.

The following table provides figures for Scotland which are on the same basis as the statistics for England and Wales, which were made publicly available by the Office for National Statistics (on 21 January 2019).

Number of farmer (1) suicides (2) , aged 20 to 64, registered in Scotland, 2001 to 2017

	Scotland
	Males	Females
2001	3	.
2002	4	.
2003	2	.
2004	8	.
2005	3	.
2006	4	.
2007	5	.
2008	3	.
2009	2	1
2010	3	1
2011	6	.
2012	7	.
2013	3	2
2014	4	.
2015	1	1
2016	1	.
2017	.	.

Notes:

1. Standard Occupation Classification code '5111' for Farmers. This does not cover any other type of farm or agricultural worker.

2. Underlying cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes for intentional self-harm ICD-10 codes X60-X84 plus Y87.0 and events of undetermined intent ICD-10 codes Y10-Y34 plus Y87.2

Source: National Records of Scotland

Question reference: S5W-24055

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23853 by Michael Matheson on 26 June 2019, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding whether the high-speed train involved in the fire at Glasgow Queen Street station on 18 June 2019 had been overhauled and refurbished before entering service with Abellio ScotRail.

Question reference: S5W-23853

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-08323 by Humza Yousaf on 18 April 2017, whether the high-speed train involved in the fire at Glasgow Queen Street station on 18 June 2019 had been overhauled and refurbished before entering service with Abellio ScotRail.

Question reference: S5W-23759

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-03102 by Michael Matheson on 4 April 2019 (Official Report, c. 50), whether it will provide an update regarding its efforts to promote the transportation of food and drink by freight rail.

The Scottish Government is leading the way in supporting rail freight growth with an industry first regulatory target for Network Rail to work with partners to grow rail freight on the Scottish network. Our rail freight strategy identified Food and Drink as a key market for potential conversion and we are already seeing progress with Highland Spring’s rail freight project at Blackford being an excellent example of Government, the rail industry and third party investors working together to achieve modal shift to rail. I plan to chair a round table meeting with the rail and food and drink industries in October to allow further opportunities to be explored.

Question reference: S5W-23843

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in convening a group consisting of producer, consumer and environmental organisations to inform and recommend a new bespoke policy on farming and food production.

I can confirm that this group has now been established with membership representing producer, consumer and environmental organisations. The initial membership is listed below.

The first meeting of the Group is taking place today and it will make recommendations on future farming and food production policy built around the six principles set out in the January debate: Sustainability; Simplicity; Profitability; Innovation, Inclusion, Productivity.

Membership of the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group

Internal

Andrew Watson (Chair) Director – Directorate for Strategic Land Use and Rural Policy

John Kerr – Head of Agricultural Policy - Directorate for Strategic Land Use and Rural Policy

George Burgess – Deputy Director – Directorate for International Trade and Investment.

External

Martin Kennedy - National Farmers Union Scotland

Sarah Millar - Quality Meat Scotland

Lucy Husband - Scotland Food & Drink

Marion McCormick - Former Aldi Executive

Robbie Galloway - Scotbeef

Aoife Behan - Soil Association

Anne McCall - RSPB Scotland

Deborah Long - SE Link

Ian Muirhead - Agricultural Industries Confederation

Joyce Campbell - Sheep farmer, Entrepreneur

James Graham - Beef 2020 Industry Group and Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society

Lisa Buchanan - Crofter

Robert Graham - Grahams Family Dairy Group

Hugh Campbell-Adamson - Stracathro Estates

Alison Milne - Demperston farm

Lochy Porter - Angus Fruits

Question reference: S5T-01658

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new ScotRail timetable will alleviate delays and cancellations, in light of the 73% increase in compensation payments being made by the operator in 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-22973

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22768 by Clare Haughey on 2 May 2019, how much of the £1.4 million provided for combat stress is spent in the NHS Grampian area.

The majority of funding to Combat Stress is used to provide a national residential facility for veterans at Hollybush House, Ayrshire.

As a national service, veterans living in different parts of Scotland including those within the Grampian area, can be referred to Hollybush House as appropriate.

Combat Stress currently has 434 veterans listed for their services in Scotland with 30 of those residing in the Grampian region (Aberdeen and Moray).

Question reference: S5W-22765

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports in the Daily Express on 17 April 2019 that 2,000 post offices throughout the UK are expected to close in 2019, what information it has regarding which branches in Scotland are (a) due to close and (b) under a threat of closure, and what action it can take to prevent these closures, including what discussions it plans with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has no further information to that reported in the Daily Express on 17 April 2019; however, it does consistently and repeatedly make clear to both the UK Government and Post Office Ltd. that post offices are necessary for local communities and economies in Scotland, particularly in some of its more remote rural areas, and that existing services should be maintained rather than reduced.

Despite this being a reserved area, the Scottish Government does what it can to provide support and continues to:

fund Citizens Advice Scotland’s research into post office outreach services and how consumers can influence provision in rural areas; and
provide the most generous package of non-domestic rates reliefs anywhere in the UK:
Scotland's Small Business Bonus Scheme delivers the full 100% relief for rateable values up to £15,000 and 25% relief for those with a rateable value up to £18,000, which is significantly more generous than anywhere else in the UK;
Mandatory rural rate relief awards post offices with 100% relief if the property is in certain rural areas which have a population below 3,000, and the premises has a rateable value below £8,500.

The Scottish Government also ran the Post Office Diversification Fund, which provided £1 million in 2010-11, and a further £1 million in 2011-12.

Question reference: S5W-22916

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much ScotRail has paid to passengers in compensation in each month since April 2018, also broken down by what estimate it has made of how much potential compensation has been unclaimed.

From April 2018 to April 2019 ScotRail has paid entitled passengers a total of £1,119,818.35 through the Delay Repay Scheme.

It is not possible accurately to determine how much compensation is unclaimed.

Passengers can apply for compensation if their journey is delayed by 30 minutes or more and if they miss a connection because of a delay on a ScotRail train. Compensation is straightforward to claim by using the ScotRail app or at staffed stations and ScotRail’s web-site provides details of additional compensation that passengers may claim.

Question reference: S5W-22917

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what additional action the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is taking to prevent the outbreak of wildfires, such as the recent incident in Moray, which was the largest recorded in Scotland, and following reports that 2019 has saw more such fires across the UK than any other year; what ministerial meetings it had had or plans with the SFRS regarding this, and what additional support it is offering to the service to carry out this work.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is aware that the risks faced by communities are changing for many reasons, as referenced in the SFRS high level transformation plan, and this includes risks associated with climate change. SFRS must therefore prepare for new challenges as Scotland faces more extremes of weather (including increased flooding and dramatic wildfires, particularly in more rural parts of the country). A wildfires strategy is currently being developed by the SFRS and partners which will ensure that SFRS has the right resources in the right place at the right time to fight wildfires.

SFRS must continue to ensure that personnel are equipped and trained to deal with these emerging risks, and that their service delivery model has sufficient resilience and flexibility to support incidents that can occur over extended geographies and timescales.

Regarding the recent incident in Moray, I have once again been struck by the outstanding bravery and dedication of our firefighters to keep our communities and environment safe. Immediately after the Moray wildfire I spoke directly with the SFRS lead officer for wildfires.

The Scottish Government is working with SFRS and the Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF) to develop a wildfire risk scenario for Scotland and to improve Fire Danger Assessments. This will support individuals and agencies in planning for and responding to wildfire events and ensure that responders in Scotland are better placed to anticipate, assess, prevent and respond to and recover from wildfires.

Decisions on the allocation of SFRS resources are an operational matter for the service. In 2019-20 the Scottish Government has increased the funding to SFRS by £5.5 million to invest in service transformation plans. This is on top of the
‎ £15.5 million additional spending power provided last year.