- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20098 by John Swinney on 4 December 2018, in light of the cabinet secretary's comment that he had "paused the publication of the revised presumption of mainstreaming guidance and research into the experiences of children receiving additional support for learning...to enable further reflection...of the report Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved: A report on the experiences of autistic children missing school", for what reason the recently published, Guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting, does not make reference to that report.
Answer
The Guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting was informed by a wide range of information and evidence including the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report. The guidance takes account of the matters raised in the report, and these are framed within the advice and guidance to schools and education authorities in relation to the implementation of the presumption to mainstream education. The document therefore focusses on the legislative and practice requirements, for pupils with additional support needs and particularly highlights the need to focus on the individual needs of pupils. This is consistent with the recommendations of the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report.
In addition, and as part of our wider response to the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report the Scottish Government has convened a short life working group to consider Autism in schools. The group includes a wide range of stakeholders and the conclusions of the group will be made public in due course.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns regarding illegal licencing practices by some caravan park site owners, whether it will review the maximum 10% commission entitlement to mobile home owners specified in the Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013.
Answer
The Scottish Government has carried out a considerable amount of work on mobile home issues since 2012. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Scotland) Order 2013 significantly enhanced the protection of mobile home residents in Scotland. As part of this work we conducted a full public consultation which included consideration of the commission rate and the decision was taken for it to remain at up to 10%. The key objective of the order was to provide better protection for site residents while ensuring the viability of privately owned sites. There are no plans to review the commission rate again.
A new site licensing regime for sites with permanent residents, set out in Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 was introduced on 1 May 2017. The new system puts in place a robust licensing regime which provides a range of measures to improve standards and further protect residents. This includes the introduction of a fit and proper person test for the licence applicant and anyone involved in the day to day management of a site. All existing licence holders were required to apply for a licence under the new system by May 2019.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that windfarms are decommissioned correctly and, in particular, where companies owning windfarms are in liquidation or insolvent.
Answer
As set out in paragraph 169 of the Scottish Planning Policy, it is for the relevant planning authority, before determining any application, to consider the need for conditions relating to the decommissioning of developments, including ancillary infrastructure, and site restoration, and to secure any financial guarantees where appropriate to cover all site restoration and aftercare.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 1 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) staff, (b) external legal and (c) other costs it incurred in its action against Ineos and Reach Coal Seam Gas regarding fracking.
Answer
The Scottish Government did not take “action against Ineos and Reach Coal Seam Gas” as has been asserted in the Member’s question.
However, on 09 January 2018 INEOS Upstream Ltd and Reach Coal Seam Gas Ltd announced their decision to seek a judicial review of the Scottish Government’s preferred policy position of not supporting unconventional oil and gas development in Scotland. On 19 June 2018, the Court of Session rejected their petition against Scottish Ministers.
The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the staffing costs of this specific legal case. Civil servants do not record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters as a matter of course. Dealing with this case was part of the normal range of duties undertaken by a range of civil servants across the Scottish Government. It is therefore not possible to say what the internal staffing costs for dealing with any particular matter is.
I can confirm that the fees paid to external legal counsel came to the total of £173,928. Court fees came to £1,200. All figures include VAT.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with setting up low emission zones in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Dundee and (c) Edinburgh.
Answer
We are working in partnership with Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh city councils to deliver our commitment to introduce low emission zones in these cities by the end of 2020. Aberdeen is in the early stages of developing their plans and will be collecting new traffic data to help inform their LEZ scenario testing. Dundee is developing options and objectives for their low emission zone with elected members due to be updated by the end of April. It is expected Edinburgh will publish their detailed LEZ plans in May.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 April 2019
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many acres of land are and (b) what percentage of (i) land and property titles and (ii) land mass coverage is registered in the Land Register.
Answer
This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that:
1. 2,750,488 hectares of land are registered and
2. the percentage of (i) land and property titles of 67.0% (ii) and 34.35% land mass coverage is registered in the Land Register as at 31 March 2019.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2019
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill (not EU Withdrawal (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill).
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2019
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 March 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01462 by Aileen Campbell on 29 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 3), what due diligence of Our Power was carried out, and whether Audit Scotland plans to review this.
Answer
The Scottish Government made commercial decisions about its support for Our Power based upon due diligence. These decisions were made alongside other lenders as part of a Securities Trust. The due diligence undertaken included obtaining independent expert advice about the commerciality, value for money and financial risk associated with the investment. The Scottish Government also took independent legal advice from solicitors specialising in commercial practice.
The Auditor General for Scotland is responsible for the annual audit for the Scottish Government and the wider work programme delivered by Audit Scotland.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 5 March 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21286 by Clare Haughey on 18 February 2019, what outputs will be published at each stage of the public consultation, and by what date these will be released.
Answer
The independent review of Learning Disability and Autism in the Mental Health Act is due to report to Ministers by the end of this year. However, interim documents will be published at the end of each public engagement phase and can be accessed on the review’s website: https://www.irmha.scot The full timeline for the review is as follows.
Stage 1 (Discover) was about understanding people’s experiences of the Mental Health Act. Evidence from stage 1 has influenced the review’s outcomes framework for mental health law for autistic people and people with learning disability. The outcomes framework will be available on the review’s website after 8 March 2019. The review team expect to publish an interim report based on the evidence gathered in stage 1 by 31 May 2019.
In stage 2 (Develop), the review is inviting a broad range of organisations and individual experts to help us explore the range of options for the law. The findings from stage 2 will be reflected in the consultation documents for stage 3. Those documents should be available by 30 August 2019.
In stage 3 (Consult), the review will run an open consultation where they ask people and organisations for their views on what they've found. The findings from stage 3 will be reflected in the final report, which will be published by the end of 2019.
As this is a review of the law, the review’s outputs will not include a review of any individual or institution. All of the review’s outputs must protect the identities of individuals.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 26 February 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-02764 by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 January 2019, what its response is to concerns that people living in newly-appointed potentially vulnerable areas have reportedly stated that they have been given insufficient opportunity by SEPA to comment and that the maps used have been inaccurate regarding the areas at risk.
Answer
SEPA carried out a three month public consultation on the identification of Potentially Vulnerable Areas (PVAs) commencing on 1 May 2018 and this was promoted in a number of publications and through social media. There was also a radio campaign broadcasting throughout Scotland over this 3-month period. To ensure the outputs of the assessment were a fair reflection of flood risk within their areas, SEPA invited all 32 local authorities and other Responsible Authorities to attend one to one workshops prior to the consultation. In Aberdeenshire, SEPA supported the Council to notify community councils of the consultation and SEPA directly contacted a number of communities/individuals who had previously expressed an interest in the consultation.
The identification of PVAs by SEPA is based on the National Flood Risk Assessment 2018. This uses SEPA's flood maps, which have been supplemented with information given by local authorities and Scottish Water to identify what is at risk of river, coastal and surface water flooding. Having defined PVAs the next stage is for SEPA and local authorities to further develop their understanding of the nature of flood risk in those areas and identify what actions should be taken to reduce it. The results will then be presented for further public consultation before being reviewed and finalised. The information will then be published in the next Flood Risk Management Strategy in December 2021.
