- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Affordable Housing Supply Programme can be placed in special measures.
Answer
I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-24138 on 16 January 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether Forestry and Land Scotland will review its proposed forestry car parking charges in light of the proposed uplift in the agency's budget, as set out in the 2024-25 Scottish Budget.
Answer
The 2024-25 Scottish Budget settlement for Forestry and Land Scotland does not impact the use of car park charges at sites on Scotland’s national forests and land as part of the agency’s sustainable forest and visitor management strategy.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the current underspend is in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
Answer
There is currently no projected underspend in the 2023-24 Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10494 by Roseanna Cunningham on 15 August 2017, which of the "42 formal Flood Protection Schemes or engineering works proposed for 2016-21" are currently (a) under construction and (b) at the planning or other stage of development, broken down by (i) expected completion date, including the reason for any date being beyond 2021, (ii) the number of properties that will be protected and (iii) the (A) initially forecast and (B) expected final cost of each.
Answer
Information has been shared in response to similar questions many times (at least annually) since Roseanna Cunningham answered on 15 August 2017, most recently in response to Willie Rennie MSP on 9 November 2023.
Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies included 42 formal flood protection schemes. Local authorities were expected to start work on development of these schemes by 2021.
Flood protection schemes can have significant impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and so require careful and detailed planning and consultation, it was recognised that construction work may not be completed within the 2015-2021 timeframe.
15 of the flood schemes have now been completed.
Schemes (a) under construction are as follows:
Scheme | (ii) Properties protected | (i) Completion Date | (iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1) | ( iii B) Estimated final cost (£ million) (2) |
Upper Garnock | 600 | 2024 | 15.5 | 18.5 |
Hawick | 970 | 2024 | 37.4 | 78.6 |
Campbeltown | 770 | 2024 | 9.3 | 15.2 |
Millport Coastal | 657 | 2024 | 12.1 | 48.6 |
Stranraer | 350 | 2024 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
Schemes (b) under development are as follows:
Scheme | Stage | (ii) Properties protected | (iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1) | ( iii B) Estimated Final Cost of Scheme (2) |
Kilmacolm – Glenmosston Burn | Confirmed (3) | Not held | 0.5 | 0.5 |
Comrie | Confirmed (3) | 189 | 15.7 | 40.0 |
Quarrier’s Village | Confirmed (3) | 60 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Dumfries - Whitesands | Confirmed (3) | 166 | 18.9 | 37.5 |
Water of Leith (Coltbridge, Gorgie, Saughton) Phase 3 | Confirmed (3) | 75 | Not held | Not held |
Mill Burn Millport | Confirmed (3) | 124 | 1.1 | 1.7 |
Musselburgh | Under development | 2500 | 8.9 | 95.9 |
Milnathort | Under development | 79 | 1.9 | 0.9 |
Dumbarton - Gruggies Burn | Under development | 370 | 14.5 | 20.0 |
Newton Stewart/ River Cree | Under development | 270 | 7.5 | 19.1 |
South Kinross | Under development | Not held | 3.2 | 15.1 |
Bridge of Allan | Under development | Not held | 4.4 | 17.0 |
Callander | Under development | 30 | 2.4 | 4.7 |
Haddington | Under development | 320 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
Stirling | Under development | 810 | 26.2 | 85.6 |
Grangemouth FPS | Under development | 2980 | 111.5 | 420 |
St Andrews - Kinness Burn | Under development | 133 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
South Fords | Under development | 58 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Scone | Under development | 44 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
(1) Note: Initial costs as provided by local authorities in 2016-17.
(2) Note: Final Scheme costs are the latest estimates provided by local authorities. Differences between these latest estimates and initial cost estimates arise as a result of inflationary pressures and because flood protection schemes are put forward for prioritisation at various stages of their development to fit with Flood Risk Management Planning cycle set out in the FRM Act. Costs are revised over time as designs are finalised and more detailed investigations are carried out and as new information emerges.
Schemes will only be taken forward for construction if they receive the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals so the expected completion date is not yet known.
More detailed information on each of the schemes can be obtained from the relevant local authorities whose responsibility it is to develop and deliver flood protection schemes and who are best placed to answer specific questions on each of the schemes.
(3) Note: Formally confirmed under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009).
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) longest and (b) average time spent on remand was for people under the age of 18 in (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22, (iii) 2022-23 and (iv) 2023 to date.
Answer
Data covering the period 2020-23 is available via the published National Statistics on the Scottish Prison Population.
Period | a) longest | b) average (median) days |
i) 2020-21 | 301 | 17 |
ii) 2021-22 | 263 | 8 |
iii) 2022-23 | 387 | 9 |
In line with prison statistics reporting conventions, we provide here the average expressed as the median rather than the mean due to the long-tailed shape of the distribution.
Information about time spent on remand for the period iv) April 2023 to December 2023 is only available via Scottish Government collections of management information. The values provided by this source are not directly comparable with those provided by our National Statistics data.
Using this management information, the longest time spent on remand by under 18s was 242 days in 2023 Q2-Q4, and the average (median) time spent on remand was 8 days.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of homicide have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty, in each year since 2018.
Answer
Of the people convicted for homicide (Murder or Culpable homicide) between the years 2017-18 and 2021-22, with 2021-22 being the most recent year for which data are available, none of them received a main penalty of (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer.
(f) Police antisocial behaviour penalties are limited to certain antisocial behaviour offences as laid out in section 128 of the Antisocial Behaviour (S) Act 2004, of which homicide is not included.
The ‘Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22’ statistical bulletin contains information on convictions and main penalty by crime type. Tables 3 and 7(a) in the Main Bulletin Tables can be found under supporting documents here: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have had energy efficiency measures installed in each year since 2019 to date.
Answer
We record data on energy efficiency measures installed as part of Scottish Government programmes, but do not monitor the measures installed by households acting independently. According to the 2019 Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS), 55% of households had an Energy Performance Certificate band of D or lower. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fieldwork for the 2020 SHCS was suspended and the methodology for the 2021 SHCS was also impacted. Future SHCS publications will provide more information to measure progress.
The number of energy efficiency measures installed through SG funded delivery schemes are as follows:
Financial Year | Area Based Schemes – number of measures | Warmer Homes Scotland – number of measures | Social Housing Fund - number of measures | Total number of measures |
22-23 | 4,172 | 6,902 | 13,267* | 24,341 |
21-22 | 4,287 | 6,390 | 593 | 11,270 |
20-21 | 5,715 | 3,703 | 0 | 9,418 |
19-20 | 7,737 | 3,918 | 0 | 11,655 |
*Includes project with Wheatley Group installing 10,000 Connected Response devices in homes.
For Home Energy Scotland, these figures are per household (not per measure) and include a wider range of measures than just energy efficiency:
Financial Year | Home Energy Scotland Grants and Loans Scheme - Households Receiving Insulation and/or EE Measures |
22-23 | 739 |
21-22 | 607 |
20-21 | 424 |
19-20 | 295 |
We have recently published the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy ( heat-buildings-monitoring-evaluation-framework.pdf (www.gov.scot) ). This includes a proposed indicator ‘share of domestic properties achieving a good level of energy efficiency (equivalent to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C or better)’. We will report against this Framework for the first time in October 2024.
We record data on energy efficiency measures installed as part of Scottish Government programmes, but do not monitor the measures installed by households acting independently.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Transport Scotland’s reported decision not to fund Smarter Choices, Smarter Places from April 2024, what practical difference there will be between this and any other funding stream that will replace it.
Answer
The Scottish Government has ambitious plans to make it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for everyday journeys, with record levels of investment over this Parliament and significantly ahead of anywhere else in the UK. Our biggest focus is on delivering physical infrastructure on the ground. But we also have important programmes to support people to change behaviours and choose active travel, and to access a range of bikes, including adapted bikes. At present, and over the course of next year, to make sure that people in Scotland get maximum benefit from that investment, Transport Scotland is transforming the delivery models for active travel interventions across the infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes programmes. This will see the end of some long-standing programmes, funded on a year by year basis, and a shift towards funding and control moving to local authorities, as the strategic transport authorities for their area, and regional transport partnerships.
Part of the Active Travel transformation process has involved the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme closing, but behaviour change projects remain a high priority in our Active Travel programme. We are developing a new system of funding for 2024-25, and Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, and the third sector Active Travel Delivery Partners are all involved in the design of that solution and we continue to see a vital role for our delivery partners in turning our record investment into the transformative change we all want to see.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when its ministers were first made aware of reported concerns raised by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency regarding aspects of the design of MV Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa in relation to escape routes.
Answer
Ongoing engagement with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency(MCA) is standard practice with all shipbuilders.
Officials notified ministers on 28 June 2023 that changes might be required to aspects of the original design of upper deck escape routes on vessel 801.
An official application from FPMG was made to the MCA on 22 September 2023, and was approved by the MCA on 7 November 2023.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the 11% drop in acceptances onto nursing programmes in Scotland in the last year, as reported by UCAS.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been monitoring UCAS figures, which exclude Open University and Honours programmes, and we thank our Higher Education Institutions who have worked hard to promote their programmes by visiting schools, attending careers fairs and promoting the range of opportunities via their social media channels.
The attraction and retention of students into nursing remains a key focus for the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce - not everyone will begin their career by participating in an undergraduate programme and these are not the sole solution to filling workforce vacancies. That is why we are already considering alternative career pathways, such as apprenticeships and ‘earn as you learn’ routes, that can attract candidates and encourage existing staff to join supported education programmes that enable them to reach registration with the relevant professional bodies.