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-12514

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools in Dumfries and Galloway were inspected in each of the last five years.

The total number of Education Scotland inspections carried out each academic year for the last five years for Dumfries and Galloway :

Inspection Figures for Academic Years August 2012 to July 2017

Academic Years	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	Total
Total inspections	13	12	12	11	7	55*

*includesEarly Learning and Childcare settings, and Primary, Secondary, All through, Independent and Special schools.

All figures include short model inspections resulting in QI evaluations and 'try out' inspections not resulting in QI evaluations.

Question reference: S5W-12513

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what protection there is for home owners whose property is damaged by overflow from defective sewerage and road drainage systems.

Question reference: S5W-12535

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many current head teachers undertook General Teaching Council for Scotland-accredited headship training in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

The GTCS have accredited 3 programmes for aspiring headteachers. These are the Scottish Qualification for Headship, the Flexible Route to Headship and the Into Headship programmes. Only the Into Headship programme is currently operating and has recruited cohorts over the last three years.

The Into Headship programme is aimed at those teachers whose next post will be that of a head teacher, likely to be within two to three years. Details of numbers on that programme are outlined in S5W-12536 on 21 November 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-12538

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which ministers have met Dumfries and Galloway Council in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S5W-12546

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to further simplifying planning processes for additional residential properties as part of existing rural settlements.

As part of the Planning Review, we established a pilot programme of Simplified Planning Zones, funding 3 housing pilot projects which will support innovative housing delivery, including self and custom build. The pilots include projects on an island context, and in rural locations, including looking at how a plot passport approach can simplify planning for those wanting to build a new home in rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-12545

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment minsters have made of the reported ongoing issues with broadband provision affecting the Marrburn Exchange.

Our investment through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has been a major success, extending fibre broadband access to over 800,000 premises across Scotland. This includes 25,000 premises in the constituency of Dumfriesshire, with over 22,000 of these capable of accessing speeds of 24Mbps and above.

The programme was never intended to deliver 100% coverage or to upgrade every BT exchange, but to maximise coverage with the funding available. As a result, some areas will miss out and, unfortunately, the Marrburn exchange is within one of those areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to building on the success of the DSSB programme by extending superfast access to 100% of premises by 2021. The Marrburn exchange will be included in the intervention area for the R100 programme.

Question reference: S5W-12456

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation was carried out before spending funds in Dumfries and Galloway on dual language logos for police vehicles.

Question reference: S5W-12455

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on Gaelic branding for Police Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S5W-12399

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on ground investigation work at Enterkinfoot.

Question reference: S5W-12515

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the guarantee period for work carried out by utility companies on public roads.

We have just concluded a consultation on proposals to replace the current guarantee period of 2 years for shallow excavations, and 3 years for deep excavations, with a single guarantee period of 6 years regardless of the depth of excavation. The consultation closed on 12 November 2017. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation and will carefully consider the views given. We will publish that analysis and our response outlining next steps as soon as we can.