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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: S6W-11603

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, what public partners its officials are meeting with regarding the Tarbolton Moss landfill site and on what dates these meetings (a) took place and (b) are due to take place.

Scottish Government officials are in regular communications with public partners including SEPA, South Ayrshire Council, and The King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer.

In addition to the regular communication, officials from Scottish Government have met representatives from SEPA, and South Ayrshire Council on the following occasions: 1 July 2020, 8 December 2020, 4 February 2021, 22 March 2021, 28 January 2022, 15 February 2022, 3 March 2022 and 29 June 2022. Further meetings will also be held shortly.

Question reference: S6W-11604

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, what actions are being implemented for the long-term restoration of the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

Question reference: S6W-11601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, when the work by the environmental consultant will commence at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

With funding from the Scottish Government, in December 2021, SEPA contracted an environmental consultant to manage the construction of a leachate management system at the former landfill site at Tarbolton Moss, to prevent the ongoing discharges of landfill leachate to neighbouring watercourses and make it possible for leachate disposal to the public sewerage system. The design phase is now complete. As the answer to S6W-11600 on the 4 November 2022 updates, we are working with public partners to begin work to implement leachate management as soon as possible. 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 .

Question reference: S6W-11600

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, when it expects work to commence at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site and what the timeline is for the work to be carried out.

The Scottish Government has made funding available to support public partners to implement the first phase of works at Tarbolton. In July, SEPA commissioned work, which was successfully completed, to remove Giant Hogweed from the site. We are working with public partners to begin work to implement leachate management as soon as possible. In order to move forward with this work, we are seeking to address complex legal issues associated with the ownerless status of the site.

Question reference: S6W-11602

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, whether it is the case that SEPA found no increase associated with the migration of landfill gas or impact to groundwater from leachate at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

SEPA continues to monitor ongoing environmental risks at the site and completed its latest survey in August 2022. This found no significant increasing trends associated with the migration of landfill gas or impact to groundwater from leachate.

SEPA publishes monitoring updates and the latest update (August 2022) will be available shortly here: Tarbolton Moss Landfill | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Question reference: S6O-01523

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the steps it is taking to encourage more GPs to work in rural practices.

Question reference: S6W-11286

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has determined what support will be given to the Scottish Council on Global Affairs in 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-11290

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what upgrades to the A77, excluding maintenance works, are planned for 2023.

Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested approximately £64 million on five separate road schemes on the A77 including the recent completion of the £29m Maybole bypass which opened in January 2022.

The Scottish Government continues to invest in the A77 and its safe and efficient operation with the following minor improvement schemes planned for construction in 2023:

Layby improvements;
Glengall (slope stability works);
A77 Whitletts (studs, lighting and signals);
A77 Dutch House Roundabout and general road Improvements; and
A77 Cairnryan drainage improvements.

Question reference: S6W-11285

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08830 by Keith Brown on 8 June 2022, whether it will provide an update on its plans to create a Peace Institute by 2022, and what the (a) location, (b) cost and (c) remit of this body will be.

It is important that we build on our existing peace work and increase our knowledge and experience to strengthen Scotland’s peace offer. That is why we are actively considering options from the expert research we commissioned. The Scottish Government is committed to Scotland being an active and responsible global citizen and our priority now is to ensure that our future peace offer is an appropriate and responsible contribution to the existing activity underway in Scotland and internationally. I look forward to updating Parliament with our plans in due course.

Question reference: S6W-11284

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its Humanitarian Emergency Fund spending for the last 12 months.

Our independent Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) Panel, supported by the HEF Secretariat, have prepared an Annual Report on HEF spend across 2021-22. In the interests of transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government will make this available on our website in due course.

In the meantime, I am able to confirm the Scottish Government's £1 million Humanitarian Emergency Fund was activated four times in the 2021-22 financial year. Additional funding of £4.4 million was provided to respond to crises in Ukraine and Malawi. A breakdown of funding allocations in 2021-22 is available in the following table.

Crisis Location	Activation Type	Recipient Organisation	Funding Amount
South Sudan	HEF Stream 2	Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF)	£120,500
South Sudan	HEF Stream 2	Christian Aid	£120,500
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 2	Tearfund	£120,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 2	Christian Aid/Islamic Relief	£240,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 1A	Disasters Emergency Committee	£192,000
Afghanistan	HEF Stream 1B	SCIAF	£48,000
Burkina Faso	HEF Stream 2	Tearfund	£123,000
N/A	HEF Secretariat Admin fee	Disasters Emergency Committee	£36,000
Malawi	Additional funding - Storm Ana flooding response	British Red Cross	£400,000
Ukraine	Additional funding - Ukraine humanitarian response	SCIAF	£500,000
		British Red Cross	£500,000
		Disasters Emergency Committee	£2,000,000
		UNICEF	£1,000,000

To date, the HEF has been activated twice in the 2022-23 financial year. We have provided £250,000 to assist people affected by the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. This was split equally between Christian Aid, for work in Ethiopia, and Islamic Relief, for work in Somalia.

The Scottish Government have also committed £500,000 to respond to the floods in Pakistan, with £250,000 coming from the HEF and a further £250,000 from the Climate Justice Fund. £400,000 of this has been committed to the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal, with the remainder split equally between the two non-DEC members of the HEF Panel, Mercy Corps and SCIAF.