- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 20 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S6W-20859 by Christina McKelvie on 7 September 2023, whether the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development agreed any action points with the Music Venture Trust at their recent meeting, and, if so, whether it will publish details of these.
Answer
I met with the Music Venue Trust on 20 September to discuss the current situation and challenges of grassroots music venues in Scotland. Actions included raising the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the sector with my UK Government counterpart to understand what can be done on reserved matters; discussing how the impact of rent increases is being handled across sectors with relevant Scottish ministers; and, providing a recommendation on the options for taking forward a roundtable discussion on a ticket levy in Scotland.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many school exam candidates received access arrangements for their exams in each year since 2017, also broken down by arrangement type.
Answer
The information requested relates to Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) data and is not held by the Scottish Government.
SQA has advised that the information requested is available from their website at: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/105160.12093.html .
Due to retention periods, this information is only available from 2018 onwards. The assessment arrangements data is broken down by arrangement type and not centre type.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 19 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop an artificial intelligence strategy in relation to the culture sector, and how it plans to ensure that any such strategy is safe and ethical in its implementation.
Answer
Scotland’s AI Strategy , published in 2021, set out a vision for Scotland to become a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. Creative Scotland were represented on the steering committee during its development.
The Scottish AI Alliance is tasked with the delivery of the strategy. They recently hosted a roundtable on encountering AI through art, and continue to host and promote events and engagement around the application and impact of AI in the culture sector.
As such, the Scottish Government has no plans to develop an artificial intelligence strategy specifically in relation to the culture sector.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 18 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan, in light of it being delayed from summer 2022 and spring 2023.
Answer
As confirmed in my evidence to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee on 5 October, we will publish our Culture Strategy Action Plan Refresh in the coming months, in line with our commitment in the current Programme for Government. The refreshed Action Plan will set out the workstreams we will take forward in response to the challenges that are brought about by the changed landscape the culture sector is now working in.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect rail services from extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall.
Answer
Over the next five year Control Period, the Scottish Government has committed to invest £4.2 billion in the Scottish rail infrastructure in line with our High Level Output Specification. This specification focuses on climate change adaptation and resilience as one of the strategic priorities and makes provision for enhancing the Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation strategy.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many young offenders are currently being held in young offender institutions, and how many of those young offenders are under the age of 18.
Answer
As of the morning of 9 October 2023 there were 165 young people held in young offender institutions in Scotland, five of whom were under the age of 18.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the topic of Scottish independence was discussed in the meeting between the First Minister and the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate on 24 August 2023.
Answer
As part of the Scottish Government’s efforts to drive global climate ambition and action ahead of New York Climate Week and COP28, the First Minister and I met with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, on 24 August. We discussed renewable energy, securing a Just Transition to a net zero and climate resilient future and our shared ambitions for COP28. The US Special Envoy asked about the constitutional position of Scotland, including independence, in the context of Scotland’s climate and net zero objectives. The First Minister set out the Scottish Government’s position on independence and the Scottish Government’s view of how this can be taken forward.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 3 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many Police Scotland vacancies have not been filled in the last year.
Answer
The Chief Constable has responsibility for the recruitment, deployment and HR issues of all police officers and staff under their control.
Around 1480 new police officers have taken the Oath of Office in the past 18 months with the latest intake of 200 recruits commencing training on 18 September. Recruitment to fill police staff vacancies took place up until 9 August 2023, when a recruitment freeze for some roles was put in place by Police Scotland.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm the number of (a) fatal and (b) serious road traffic accidents on the A83 between Arrochar and Campbeltown, in each year since 2018.
Answer
The following table presents the number of fatal and serious accidents for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 on the A83 between Arrochar and Campbeltown. Please note that the information on the total number of fatal and serious accidents for 2023 are only available up to the date stated in the table.
Year | Fatal | Serious |
2018 | 2 | 6 |
2019 | 0 | 16 |
2020 | 1 | 6 |
2021 | 1 | 6 |
2022 | 1 | 7 |
2023* to 06-09-2023 | 1 | 3 |
Data extracted: 20 September 2023. Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available at the time of retrieving the data from Transport Scotland’s accident manager system. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:
- Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.
- Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).
- Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.
- The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.
- Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.
- From summer 2019, Police Scotland introduced a new system for recording traffic collisions. Due to improved recording and categorisation processes, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of casualties and accidents on Scottish roads that are classified as serious. The evidence from other police forces within the UK that introduced the same system is that this increase will be around 20%. This increase would not reflect an actual change in the severity of accidents occurring on Scottish roads, but would instead reflect more accurate recording.
- Statisticians within the Department for Transport have devised a method for adjusting the road casualty figures to ensure that they can be compared over time on a consistent basis. Transport Scotland’s Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties statistics publications will present both adjusted and unadjusted figures.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many fines (a) it and (b) its agencies have issued to (i) publicly-owned and (ii) privately-owned water companies in each of the last five years, also broken down by the total value of fines issued in each year.
Answer
We are unaware of any fines issued by the Scottish Government to Scottish Water in the last five years; there are no privately-owned water companies in Scotland.
Following referral by relevant agencies to the Procurator Fiscal, fines issued in the period are set out below:
Referral by Scottish Environment Protection Agency:
2019 - £600
2020 - £19 000
2021 - £6 700
Referral by Health & Safety Executive:
2020 - £140 000
Additionally, there has been one enforcement undertaking of £53 800 accepted by SEPA in 2021 and a direct penalty of £10,000 to Scottish Road Works Commissioner in 2023.
