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-29112

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28830 by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2020, what impact not keeping information regarding vehicles travelling at excess speed on non-trunk roads has on the veracity of how it formulates its policy on low-emission zones and, in light of reported concerns regarding this, whether it will consider now collecting such data.

Question reference: S5W-29113

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28830 by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2020, what impact not keeping information regarding vehicles travelling at excess speed on non-trunk roads has on the veracity of how it formulates its policy on the effectiveness of speed camera enforcement and, in light of reported concerns regarding this, whether it will consider now collecting such data.

Safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions, and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding.

These deployments take place across both trunk and local roads in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook. This is available to view at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook/ .

Question reference: S5W-29114

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28830 by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2020, what impact not keeping information regarding vehicles travelling at excess speed on non-trunk roads has on the veracity of how it formulates its policy on air quality and, in light of reported concerns regarding this, whether it will consider now collecting such data.

Question reference: S5W-29115

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28830 by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2020, what impact not keeping information regarding vehicles travelling at excess speed on non-trunk roads has on the veracity of how it formulates its policy on the safety of (a) active travellers, (b) ridden horses, (c) livestock and (d) the people responsible for maintaining and cleaning these roads and, in light of reported concerns regarding this, whether it will consider now collecting such data.

The Scottish Government is committed to achieving safer road travel in Scotland for all, through the delivery of Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020.

This includes various measures to encourage responsible driver behaviour and enhanced levels of speed limit compliance across Scotland’s road network. We are continuing to engage with a number of key road safety partners; including bodies representing active travel, horse riders and those responsible for maintaining roads.

In relation to future policy we are in the process of implementing a number of traffic counter sites throughout Scotland on both local and trunk roads to collect information on vehicle speeds. This data will be used assess speed compliance and provide intelligence to inform future road safety initiatives.

Question reference: S5T-02197

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Specialist Leisure Group entering administration, resulting in seven hotels across Scotland ceasing to trade, what further steps it is considering to support the tourism industry.

Question reference: S5W-29022

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many FTE staff working for Transport Scotland were dedicated to Active Travel on (a) 1 January and (b) 11 May 2020.

Question reference: S5W-29023

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates any delays in capital works relating to motorways and trunk roads in 2020-21 as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and, if so, what the projected impact is on the budget for any works in the current financial year.

Our key priority remains protecting the lives of everyone in Scotland as we continue to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. At this stage it is too early to assess the impact of the temporary closures of trunk road construction sites. However, once work is permitted to recommence in line with the Scottish Government’s construction sector guidance, our contractors will be required to review their programmes of work. There is likely to be some impact on cost and programmes but it is too early to determine at this stage in respect of the current financial year.

Question reference: S5W-28242

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has put in place for people who are accruing additional costs for (a) telephone and broadband services and (b) gas and electricity as a result of working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

All telecommunications legislation and regulation is reserved to the UK Government and we continue to work closely with them to ensure that our interests are represented and are engaging directly with industry stakeholders during this most challenging period for the people of Scotland and beyond. On 29 March a series of measures were announced by the UK Government and industry to support vulnerable customers including a commitment to work with customers facing financial difficulty due to Covid-19. Fixed line operators have removed data caps and mobile network operators have offered increased data allowances at lower cost and additional minutes, to keep customers connected at this difficult time.

Similarly all legislation and regulation of electricity and gas markets remains reserved to the UK Government. However, we clearly have a strong interest in these matters because of our legislative powers in respect of fuel poverty and we will continue to work closely on these matters with UK Ministers, industry and other stakeholders to ensure that Scottish consumers’ needs are fully represented in any measures taken to protect consumers. To support consumers in financial difficulty at this time, the Scottish Government has increased funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund by £45 million. This is available to consumers struggling to pay their energy bills through local authority crisis grants.

The Scottish Government also funds Home Energy Scotland (HES) – our award winning advice service which offers a range of support to consumers including free and impartial advice on how to reduce bills and make homes warmer, which can provide long term savings for customers also.

Question reference: S5W-28240

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has put in place to improve broadband connectivity in rural and island communities to support the increased number of people working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials are in regular contact with telecoms operators who inform us that their networks are coping with the additional traffic seen as a result of COVID-19 social distancing measures. The increased number of people working from home and home schooling has seen daytime usage on fixed line broadband networks double. However this increased usage remains below the levels seen normally during ‘evening peak’ demand that the networks are designed to handle. Clearly, with appropriate health and safety measures in place, maintenance and repairs to what is critical national infrastructure will continue during this period of constraints on construction activity, and consideration of new build work must only be undertaken in line with Scottish Government construction guidance in force.

Of course, thanks to the truly transformative results already delivered by the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, connectivity on Scotland's islands is much better than it would have been without public sector intervention. For example, superfast coverage in the Highlands and Islands currently stands at 80.8% of premises – up from just 16.4% when DSSB deployment began.

We continue to engage with the UK Government on these important matters and industry, with the latter having announced on 29 March a series of measures to support vulnerable customers including a commitment to work with customers facing financial difficulty due to Covid-19. Fixed line operators have removed data caps and mobile providers have offered increased data allowances at lower cost and additional minutes, to keep customers connected at this difficult time.

Question reference: S5W-28241

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued to businesses regarding health and safety requirements for employees who are working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Occupational health and safety is a reserved issue. Employers have the same health and safety responsibilities for home workers as for any other workers.

The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance for home working on its website:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/workers/home.htm?utm_source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_
campaign=coronavirus&utm_term=wfh&utm_content
=stakeholder-9-apr-20 .

Healthy Working Lives, part of Public Health Scotland, has also published advice for employers and employees on home working:

https://www.healthyworkinglives.scot/workplace-
guidance/managing-health-and-safety/home-
working/Pages/home-working.aspx .

Guidance on protection from Covid-19 in non-healthcare settings has been published by Health Protection Scotland:

https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container
/covid-19-guidance-for-non-healthcare-settings/ .