- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many cars it currently (a) owns and (b) leases, and what the current annual cost of operating these vehicles is.
Answer
The Scottish Government fleet is made up of 187 vehicles, all vehicles are outright purchased and we don’t currently lease any vehicles.
The total cost of operating the fleet from 1 April 2024 to 31 December 2024 was £334,706.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25901 by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2024, what progress has been made on holding a public consultation in relation to section 8 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.
Answer
Officials continue to develop a public consultation on Section 8 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. However, it is important that any proposed secondary legislation is in line with the UK Government’s Parking Code of Practice, which sets standards for the private parking industry around parking charges and debt recovery fees. This Code of Practice was temporarily withdrawn in 2022 and an amended version has yet to be instated. Transport Scotland Officials are working closely with the Department for Transport, who have confirmed that further consultation will be required before it can be reinstated, but due to the change in the Westminster Government, they do not have a timescale for this to be undertaken.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether expressions of interest will be invioted to develop the air rights above (a) Charing Cross and (ii) High Street railway station in Glasgow to assess the potential for funding improvement of the (a) station infrastructure and (b) wider cityscape.
Answer
This is a matter for Network Rail as the landowner. Transport Scotland would be engaged by Network Rail as a mandatory consultee under its license condition 17 obligations, when considering the disposal of railway land and/or rights in railway land.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how the success of the Flood Resilience Strategy will be measured over the next decade.
Answer
The Strategy will be delivered via an implementation plan that will focus on the six priority action areas, including a range of core deliverables and outcomes, starting with the establishment of the Flood Advisory Service. That implementation plan will be developed with partners over the coming months.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria are used to select communities for inclusion in the Flood Resilience Strategy pilot programmes.
Answer
The National Flood Resilience Strategy does not make reference to ‘pilot programmes’.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what funding allocations have been made for the flood advisory service referred to in the Flood Resilience Strategy.
Answer
Developing a National Flood Advisory Service to improve Scotland’s flood resilience and embed best practice on a nationwide scale is one of the actions in Scotland’s first National Flood Resilience Strategy. The Service will provide support and advice on building flood resilience to delivery partners and communities and provide the governance framework for progressing high value flood actions such as flood protection schemes.
The implementation plan for the Strategy will focus on the six priority action areas, starting with the establishment of the Flood Advisory Service. That plan will be developed with partners over the coming months.
In addition to existing Scottish Government funding commitments to support Local Authorities with flood resilience, £15 million has been provided in the draft 2025-2026 Scottish Budget to support the delivery of the Strategy’s actions, wider flooding resilience and coastal adaptation work.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what comparative analyses of its international office spending relative to similar devolved administrations it has carried out, and on what dates.
Answer
There have been no comparative analyses undertaken of spending relative to similar devolved administrations.
However, the Scottish Government is in regular contact with the international networks of other devolved administrations to understand how they operate.
The Welsh Government has 21 international offices in 12 countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, which are responsible for trade and investment, government relations, tourism, culture and education.
The Northern Ireland Executive has diplomatic offices in Washington D.C, Brussels and Beijing. In addition, “Invest NI” has offices in locations across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East and Africa focussing on trade and investment.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what role peatland restoration plays in meeting the flood mitigation objectives.
Answer
In addition to contributing to our climate change targets and net zero ambitions by capturing and storing carbon, Scottish Government recognises that restoring Scotland’s peatlands will provide many additional benefits: including reducing risks of flooding and wildfires as well as supporting nature, biodiversity and improving water quality.
Scotland has a significant area of peatlands, and they are an important method of mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies. The Scottish Government has committed funding to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered alternative models of international representation to its international offices that could achieve similar outcomes at a lower cost.
Answer
When opening an international office, we consider a range of options to best represent Scotland’s interests while ensuring we are delivering value for money.
Working with the UK Government as part of the FCDO platform currently provides the preferred overall solution for our requirements and seven of our eight overseas offices are based within a British Embassy or High Commission.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered reducing the number of international offices to reallocate funding towards domestic services.
Answer
No.The Scottish Government’s international network delivers tangible benefits to our people, businesses and institutions, and accounts for less than 0.02% of the Scottish Government’s overall resource spending plans.