- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16560 by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018, how the amount allocated to each local authority to assist with the cost of road repairs following the 2017-18 severe weather compares with the amount that each advised they required.
Answer
As the Scottish Government did not receive any estimate of how much each local authority required to assist with the cost of road repairs following the 2017-18 severe weather it is not possible to provide any comparison with their share of the extra £10 million, the distribution of which was agreed by COSLA and Council Leaders, provided for winter maintenance and road repairs.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16560 by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018, whether the additional £10 million that has been allocated is (a) instead of or (b) additional to the Bellwin Scheme.
Answer
As explained in the answer to question S5W-16560, the additional £10 million was allocated to local authorities in lieu of any money they may have received through the Bellwin Scheme.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16560 by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018, what information it has regarding why no local authority proceeded to apply for funding under the Bellwin Scheme, and whether it is aware of any that were considering such a claim prior to 6 April 2018, and, if so, (a) which council and (b) how much they were considering.
Answer
The Scottish Government acted swiftly and decisively in confirming an additional £10 million provided to all 32 local authorities for winter maintenance and road repairs. This provided early certainty and removed the need for any local authority to compile a claim under the Bellwin Scheme saving local authorities a considerable saving in administrative costs without any guarantee that any claim would be eligible under the terms of the Scheme. The Scottish Government had received an initial notification from 18 local authorities registering that they may have wished to make a claim under the Bellwin scheme if their extra expenditure to assist with the immediate, and unforeseen costs in dealing with the aftermath of the emergency incident had exceeded 0.2% of a local authority's budgeted net revenue expenditure for 2017-18. The 18 local authorities concerned were as follows: Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian Councils. No actual claims or estimated claims had been received by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16560 by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018, what information it has regarding the average time it takes for local authorities to apply for assistance under the Bellwin Scheme.
Answer
Local authorities have four months from the date of the incident to submit any interim Bellwin claim to the Scottish Government and 8 months from the date of the incident to submit a final fully audited claim. These dates can be extended with the agreement of Scottish Ministers. The average time is therefore in excess of eight months for any claim to be finally settled which in this case would have been 1 November 2018 at the earliest.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018
Question to be taken in Chamber.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications it has (a) received and (b) approved from local authorities seeking funding through the Bellwin Scheme for road repairs following the severe 2017-18 winter weather; how much it (i) has provided and (ii) expects to provide, broken down by local authority, and whether the scheme remains open for claims to be made.
Answer
The Scottish Government activated the Bellwin Scheme on 2 March 2018 to provide councils with emergency financial assistance for any eligible costs resulting from the severe winter weather. While 18 local authorities formally notified the Scottish Government of a potential claim, none of the local authorities submitted a final claim.
As announced on 6 April, an additional £10 million funding was allocated to local authorities for winter maintenance and road repairs in lieu of the Bellwin Scheme. The additional funding was paid to local authorities on 15 May and removes the strict eligibility criteria and full audit process involved when submitting a Bellwin claim.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the cost to each local authority of road repairs following the severe 2017-18 winter weather, and what assistance it has offered to each council.
Answer
Local authorities have a statutory obligation to repair and maintain local roads, therefore individual councils must determine the funding that should be allocated on the basis of local needs and priorities.
Despite continued UK Government real terms cuts to Scotland's resource budget, we have treated local government very fairly and the £10.7 billion local government finance settlement in 2018-19 provides a real terms boost in both revenue and capital funding. While local authority budget setting is the responsibility of individual authorities the total funding they have available will increase by almost £342 million in 2018-19
In addition, the Scottish Government has allocated £10 million to assist with the cost of winter maintenance and road repairs following the severe winter weather. The allocation for each local authority is as follows.
Local Authority | Allocation £m |
Aberdeen City | 0.267 |
Aberdeenshire | 0.820 |
Angus | 0.279 |
Argyll & Bute | 0.333 |
Clackmannanshire | 0.082 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 0.542 |
Dundee City | 0.155 |
East Ayrshire | 0.218 |
East Dunbartonshire | 0.157 |
East Lothian | 0.181 |
East Renfrewshire | 0.136 |
Edinburgh, City of | 0.480 |
Eilean Siar | 0.172 |
Falkirk | 0.244 |
Fife | 0.582 |
Glasgow City | 0.563 |
Highland | 0.940 |
Inverclyde | 0.096 |
Midlothian | 0.149 |
Moray | 0.231 |
North Ayrshire | 0.213 |
North Lanarkshire | 0.438 |
Orkney | 0.120 |
Perth & Kinross | 0.391 |
Renfrewshire | 0.312 |
Scottish Borders | 0.401 |
Shetland | 0.134 |
South Ayrshire | 0.214 |
South Lanarkshire | 0.509 |
Stirling | 0.247 |
West Dunbartonshire | 0.113 |
West Lothian | 0.280 |
Scotland | 10.000 |
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 May 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2018
Question to be taken in Chamber.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2018
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 10 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of its paper, Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare Evaluation Report 2017, what progress it expects to achieve in increasing the number of settings that offer funded places (a) outwith school hours and (b) during the school holidays in each of the next three years.
Answer
Under our new Funding Follows the Child approach, which will be introduced in 2020 as part of the national roll-out of the expanded early learning and childcare (ELC) entitlement to 1140 hours, local authorities will retain statutory responsibility for ensuring that the funded ELC entitlement is available to all eligible children in their area. As part of this local authorities are required to consult with representative groups of parents and carers in their local area to seek their views on how they should make ELC available.
All local authorities have developed expansion plans, which set out how they propose to deliver the expansion to 1140 hours by 2020. These expansion plans include details of how they intend to increase flexibility, including increased operating hours and year round provision, whilst ensuring the provision remains of a high quality. As these plans are implemented we expect to see further increases in the number of ELC settings operating outwith school hours, and year round.
Some families have already benefitted from participation in Scottish Government expansion trials, which have included a focus on innovative and flexible models of delivery, as well as from the early phasing of the expanded entitlement in some authorities. This includes access to more flexible provision outwith school hours and in school holidays. We expect this trend to continue to increase over the next 3 years as authorities prepare for 2020.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 10 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the average length of time is to build a nursery.
Answer
As part of their expansion planning, local authorities will consider how to make full use of existing buildings and how they might enhance the use of partner provider assets prior to building new nurseries. Each new build project will have its own specific requirements but the average construction period for a new build nursery is likely to be in the region of 6 to 12 months.
