- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on excluding low frequency noise from environmental assessments for windfarm developments with larger turbines.
Answer
The assessment of low frequency noise for a wind farm proposal is considered on a case by case basis. Onshore wind turbine: planning advice (May 2014) sets out the policy position for assessing the effects of noise for wind turbine developments and requires proposals to be assessed in line with the framework ‘The Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms’ (ETSU-R-97) (Sept 1996) by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the section 36 application limit for windfarm proposals remains at 50MW, in light of this reportedly directly limiting windfarm proposals decided by local authorities.
Answer
No review of the 50MW threshold set within the Electricity Act 1989 has been undertaken. I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy at the UK Government and am currently pursuing Electricity Act devolution and Habitats Regulations devolution to allow Scotland a modern consenting regime for both onshore and offshore wind matters.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with COSLA regarding additional support for care homes to help with rising energy prices.
Answer
The Scottish Government holds regular meetings with COSLA covering a number of issues.
The increasing energy costs are a concern across a number of businesses in Scotland. Scottish Ministers are clear that the powers and resources needed to tackle this emergency on the scale required - access to borrowing, welfare, VAT on fuel and energy bills, taxation of windfall profits, regulation of the energy market - lie with the UK Government. The Scottish Government has continually urged the UK Government to use all the powers and fiscal headroom at its disposal to address the costs crisis.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much Advice Direct Scotland spent on external consultants in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-2022 and (d) 2022-2023 to date.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides funding to Advice Direct Scotland to deliver telephone and digital advice services including debt and consumer advice. Spend on external consultants is an operational matter and I direct the member to Advice Direct Scotland’s website or to their Chief Executive Officer for this information.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 8 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of Ukrainians who have arrived in Scotland under the various settlement schemes who have been waiting longer than (a) one month, (b) two months and (c) three months in temporary accommodation.
Answer
The Scottish Government is clear that we do not want to see people spending more time in temporary accommodation than is absolutely necessary.
Our priority is to ensure that people who have already arrived, and will arrive from Ukraine, are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support, then move into safe, sustainable longer term accommodation.
With regards to the matching in Scotland, the Scottish Government will be releasing some data on matching progress in due course.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to spend on the A77 in each of the next five years.
Answer
Current investment for A77 Trunk Road Maintenance is allocated on a rolling 1 and 3 year programme. Our programmes currently indicate an allocation of £7,03m for this financial year as well as a provisional maintenance spend for 2023/24 and 2024/25 of £5.4m and £5.74m respectively.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 30 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has an exclusive arrangement with ScottishPower Renewables for the development of windfarms on the Scottish forest estate through Forestry Land Scotland.
Answer
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) do not have an exclusive agreement with Scottish Power Renewables for development of windfarms on Scotland’s national forests and Land.
Scottish Power Renewables are one of a number of developers that FLS are working with in order to meet the Scottish Government’s objective of increasing electricity generation through renewable sources, including wind.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of which NHS boards provide free incontinence pads upon referral.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect this information but expects all NHS Boards to provide free incontinence pads where a patient has been assessed and deemed as requiring incontinence products. These products are provided by local NHS Boards continence service on prescription across Scotland.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 25 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many displaced persons from Ukraine who have been successful in a visa application through the Super Sponsor scheme to date (a) have (i) arrived, (ii) been placed in accommodation and (b) are awaiting placement in accommodation, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom the application process for all immigration routes is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.
The following link contains visa data and arrivals for the four nations of the UK, and includes a breakdown of data relating to visas sponsored by the Scottish Government: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority. The webpage includes the Devolved Administrations and Local Authorities datasets.
Scottish Government will be publishing a further breakdown of those placed in accommodation in due course.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people in Scotland have donated organs, having registered their wish not to do so on the NHS Organ Donor Register website, following a healthcare staff consultation with their family.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) have confirmed that, since the opt-out option was included on the NHS Organ Donation Register in 2015/16, no donations have proceeded in Scotland where a potential donor has registered an opt out decision.