Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-28468

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 11 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to remove asbestos from public buildings in each of the last three years.

The Scottish Government recognises the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health that it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when disturbed and advice from the Health and Safety Executive is that asbestos should remain in-situ providing it is in “Good” condition and even where damage is minor it should still be encapsulated rather than removed. The Scottish Government does not provide support to public authorities specifically for the removal of asbestos from their buildings as it is their statutory duty under UK Government legislation to manage issues relating to asbestos affecting their estate.

Question reference: S6W-28234

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the outstanding medium-term Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 (CAFS2) recommendations that are not due to be completed until after 2024, as listed in the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone: 2023/24 Progress Report, including for what reason they are outstanding in each case.

The Scottish Government published the annual Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 progress report on 17 June 2024, providing an update on progress on delivering the actions.

Of the twenty medium term actions, the timeframe for completing three of these actions has been extended beyond 2024. The reasons for this are as follows.

Action	Reason for extending
The Scottish Government will support investigation into the method of assessing risk of significant harmful ecological effects from atmospheric nitrogen (nitrogen deposition and elevated concentrations of ammonia and NOx), comparing critical loads/levels with dose-response or other options.	Commissioned research under our Strategic Research Programme will deliver a number of the CAFS2 actions by 2026. The James Hutton Institute are leading on the Nitrogen Impacts on the Natural Environment (NINE) project which will deliver the outcomes of these two actions by 2026.
The Scottish Government with support from SEPA and NatureScot will assess the potential costs of implementing identified improvements to the current site condition monitoring of designated conservation sites, to improve on current methods which don't detect air pollution effects.
Public bodies should incorporate travel from employee commutesas part of their corporate carbon footprint and will report these emissions via their public bodies duties reporting.	This action is being taken forward through new statutory guidance on public bodies’ climate change duties and climate change reporting which is due to be published in 2025.

Question reference: S6W-28469

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported number of NHS buildings containing asbestos, and how many have had asbestos removed in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-28467

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported number of school buildings containing asbestos, and how many have had asbestos removed in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-28416

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of food allergy training initiatives that it has funded for (a) nursery, (b) primary school and (c) secondary school staff in each of the past three years.

Question reference: S6W-28415

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 26 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of teaching staff at all levels with food allergy awareness training.

Question reference: S6W-28379

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether any further official data on incidents of dog theft have been collated since Police Scotland produced the document, Recorded Theft of Dogs in Scotland April 2019 – March 2021, in June 2021.

Question reference: S6W-28380

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 July 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to enable Police Scotland to record and retrieve information on incidents of pet theft more easily.

Question reference: S6W-28186

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help coordinate communication and support for Web 3.0 research, development and commercialisation between academia, industry, regulators and the public sector.

We recognise the pioneering research and private investment in Web 3.0 technologies across Scotland. Nevertheless, our focus in applying digital technologies for Public Service Reform is based on an understanding of end-to-end services and user needs, rather than committing to use particular technologies.

We invest expert staff time in continuing to advise and support Scottish Enterprise’s work coordinating private sector activity on Web 3.0 technologies, through its Digital Trust Scotland - Blockchain Taskforce. The work of Scottish Enterprise produced a report in May 2023, Blockchain In Scotland Landscape Overview , which demonstrates the comprehensive engagement we have through this Taskforce. Hence, through involvement in the Taskforce, we would expect to have opportunity to provide more support where there are gaps identified that clearly lead to economic impacts.

The Scottish Government’s CivTech Programme enables research, development and commercialisation between the public sector, industry, regulators and academia across a broad range of technologies, including Web 3.0 approaches where they are relevant.

Through open innovation challenges delivered by the CivTech programme a range of innovative start ups and SMEs have worked with Public Sector bodies including Scottish Government Departments, Local Authorities and Non Departmental Public Bodies to develop experimental technologies which use Web 3.0 approaches on a range of issues including,

tracking of Scope 3 Carbon Emissions,

Building Standards certification processes,

helping people access support they are entitled to and

high integrity approaches to Nature Finance.

The CivTech programme has a strong track record in developing innovative technologies to solving challenges faced by the public sector while creating jobs and opportunities for new innovative businesses.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding support to the Scottish GovTech Cluster, which aims to support collaboration within the technology sector focused on connecting government agencies, businesses, researchers, academia and all other groups and individuals wishing to use technology (including Web 3.0) to improve and transform public services. The Scottish GovTech Cluster are working to attract investment both from within Scotland and from outside the country matching businesses and researchers with funding opportunities and provide support to help them secure investment.

We recognise that one potential private investment channel available for Web 3.0 companies is digital assets - for example cryptographic utility tokens. Our Financial Services/FinTech team are currently addressing related policy questions around Digital Assets in Scots Private Law. We would expect this work give Web 3.0 businesses in Scotland more legal clarity about such funding mechanisms.

Question reference: S6W-28187

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to attract investment and start-ups in Web 3.0 technology from non-UK sources.

Scottish Government's CivTech Programme, has invested in diverse technologies that include Web 3.0, and has attracted over 90% of its participants from innovative start ups and SMEs, including participants from the USA, India, Finland, Greece, Italy and Spain, many of whom have gone on to set up Scottish bases. The Scottish Government has also provided funding support to the Scottish GovTech Cluster, which aims to support collaboration within the technology sector focused on connecting government agencies, businesses, researchers, academia and all other groups and individuals wishing to use technology (including Web 3.0) to improve and transform public services. The Scottish GovTech Cluster are working to attract investment both from within Scotland and from outside the country matching businesses and researchers with funding opportunities and provide support to help them secure investment.

We invest expert staff time in continuing to advise and support Scottish Enterprise’s work coordinating private sector activity on Web 3.0 technologies, through its Digital Trust Scotland - Blockchain Taskforce. The work of Scottish Enterprise produced a report in May 2023, Blockchain In Scotland Landscape Overview , which demonstrates the comprehensive engagement we have through this Taskforce. Hence, through involvement in the Taskforce, we would expect to have opportunity to provide more support where there are gaps identified that clearly lead to economic impacts.

We recognise that one potential private investment channel available for Web 3.0 companies is digital assets - for example cryptographic utility tokens. Our Financial Services/FinTech team are currently addressing related policy questions around Digital Assets in Scots Private Law. We would expect this work give Web 3.0 businesses in Scotland more legal clarity about such funding mechanisms.

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