- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of businesses with existing contracts to collect glass from commercial premises that may lose business as a result of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
During the development of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), a number of documents were produced, including the Full Business Case and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which look at the expected impacts to business and others of this scheme.
Scotland’s DRS represents a significant, transformative, change in the way in which waste is handled across the country. These changes present opportunities for waste handling businesses to work with Circularity Scotland and their primary logistics contractor Biffa, to help support the scheme.
Any companies which wish to participate in Scotland’s DRS activities should contact the DRS enquiries team at Biffa and this will be discussed with Circularity Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) City of Edinburgh Council and (b) the Ministry of Defence (MoD), regarding the sale and utilisation of empty MoD properties at Craigiehall, Edinburgh.
Answer
Scottish Government is pleased to be supporting City of Edinburgh Council to purchase Ministry of Defence owned properties at Dreghorn, Edinburgh as part of our Affordable Housing Supply Programme. The Council has also indicated interest in exploring the purchase of Ministry of Defence properties at Craigiehall, Edinburgh as one of a number of sites they are exploring. Officials have had outline discussions with them on this- including attending an initial site visit. City of Edinburgh Council are currently considering the site in more detail. Scottish Government has put in place a £50m Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund to bring additional properties into use to boost the supply of homes for those fleeing conflict in Ukraine and we have noted the Council’s interest in applying to this Fund, and/or the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, should they decide to pursue the site. As the strategic housing authority it is for the Council to enter into discussions with the Ministry of Defence on potential site purchases.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Transport Scotland report, Women's and girls' views and experiences of personal safety when using public transport, which was published on 7 March 2023.
Answer
The research on Women and Girls’ safety on Public Transport Scotland makes 10 recommendations Transport Scotland will continue to work with stakeholders and operators to identify actions in the recommendations and work towards progressing those. As part of this work a Summit is being organised to bring together stakeholders and experts to discuss the recommendations and identify any specific policy actions for Transport Scotland, as well as any actions for operators, police authorities and local authorities.
A number of partner organisations are working to specifically challenging men’s behaviour through a number of education and training programmes. Transport Scotland continue to support other policy areas on the systemic issue of gender based violence. The outcomes of this research have been shared with colleagues in the Scottish Government Violence Against Women and Girls Team who are working to deliver the Government’s Equally Safe Strategy.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any plans to develop Glasgow Central Station so that it is capable of acting as the northern terminus of the HS2 network.
Answer
The procurement of HS2 trains and their operation are the responsibility of the UK Government, and therefore the information provided within this answer reflects the information the Scottish Government has received from the UK Government to date.
Despite there now being no firm plans by the UK Government to bring HS2 to Scotland it has been previously proposed that Glasgow Central will operate as the northern terminus of the HS2 network from day one of HS2 operation. Since HS2 trains will be fully compatible with the existing rail network there is no expectation by the Scottish Government that the station will require any alteration to accommodate them.
The UK Government’s consideration of yet another delay to the planned opening of HS2 is lamentable. They should be bringing forward plans for an earlier opening so that the benefits to Scotland and the rest of the UK may be realised sooner and the overall cost be reduced.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in total have registered with the Deposit Return Scheme to date, and how this compares with the number of businesses that were expected to register.
Answer
More than 670 businesses have registered so far, representing 95% of products sold in Scotland.
The number of companies in the drinks industry inevitably changes over time and, at the outset of developing a deposit return scheme, approximately 4,500 companies were estimated to have an interest in the scheme.
However, significantly less would have to register – for example, once groups of companies registering under one registration are identified, the number of individual producers/importers is likely to be below 2,000.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that any bids that it receives for National Park status cover contiguous or overlapping areas, whether the Scottish Ministers will be able to consider combining those bids into one larger National Park.
Answer
The Scottish Government has committed to designating at least one new National Park in Scotland during this parliamentary session provided relevant legal conditions can be met. In the Spring we will publish a draft evaluation framework with proposed selection criteria before opening the nominations process for new National Parks later this year.
We are aware of several areas which are interested in National Park status, including some which have well established campaigns. Through the nominations process, we will ask interested parties to register their interest and submit a nomination. We intend to make support available to local groups and organisations wishing to submit a nomination, for example to help arrange and host local discussions and workshops.
All proposals for New National Parks that are received will be assessed against the criteria set out in the evaluation framework and a report will be prepared. A panel of experts will then review the evaluation report and will provide advice to Scottish Ministers on which nomination or nominations should be considered for National Park designation. In theory it would be possible for the panel to recommend that overlapping or contiguous areas are considered.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle chargers currently make
up the (a) public and (b) private network, in light of its commitment to
increase the public charging network to at least 6,000 charging points over the
next four years, as announced in its Programme for Government 2022-23.
Answer
There are currently 3,758 electric vehicle charging devices which make up the public charging network in Scotland. There are no publicly available statistics on the number of private charging devices in Scotland, such as those in workplaces, fleet depots and at residential properties.
The latest statistics quoted above are taken from Department for Transport’s ‘Electric vehicle charging device statistics’ published in January 2023. The next statistical release is due to be published in April this year.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish a comprehensive delivery plan for reducing car km by 20% by 2030.
Answer
The 20% Reduction in Car Km Route Map published on 13 January 2022, outlines the approach to meeting this commitment. Following a post-publication public consultation on the draft route map, Transport Scotland is currently working with local authority partners to prepare a final version of the route map for publication in the coming months.
The Scottish Government also publishes annual National Transport Strategy Delivery Plans which set out the actions being taken across the Scottish Government, including on the route map, to deliver on our transport vision, priorities and outcomes.
I further refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15653 on 21 March 2023. 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: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the number of (a) Scottish and (b) non-Scottish firms that have been set out in the specification or maker's list, as part of the contract for two vessels for Islay, awarded by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL).
Answer
Kongsberg have an agreement in place with Cemre Marin Endustri for Fin Stabilisers, with the production facility based in Dunfermline. Fifty-eight companies (overseas or based in England) are also set to provide products and/or services for the new build vessels. Forty of these companies have signed agreements, with the remaining 18 companies obtaining signed agreements as the shipyard build programme progresses.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 25 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it allocated from the Young Patients Family Fund to each NHS board in 2022-23, and what its proposed allocations are for 2023-24.
Answer
In 2022-23 the Scottish Government has provided £2,259,987 to NHS Boards as set out in the following table.
Health board | Allocated funding |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 51,173 |
NHS Borders | 3,396 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 23,671 |
NHS Fife | 62,140 |
NHS Forth Valley | 69,699 |
NHS Grampian | 134,755 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 1,064,440 |
NHS Highland | 42,975 |
NHS Lanarkshire | 80,820 |
NHS Lothian | 434,077 |
NHS Orkney | 23,672 |
NHS Shetland | 63,172 |
NHS Tayside | 205,997 |
NHS Western Isles | 0 |
The Young Patients Family Fund is a demand-led budget, and as with previous years, the Scottish Government will provide allocations to NHS Boards in 2023-24 based on amounts claimed, subject to relevant checks.