Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-26627

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether a veterinary surgery is regarded as a public place for the purposes of the rules regarding XL Bully dogs, and, if so, what allowances have been made to allow muzzles to be removed for the purposes of examination by a vet.

Section 10 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 defines “public place” as any street, road or other place (whether or not enclosed) to which the public have, or are permitted to have access, whether for payment or otherwise and includes the common parts of a building containing two or more separate dwellings. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (legislation.gov.uk) .

A veterinary waiting room is likely to be considered a public place for the purposes of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 as the public are permitted access. Under the conditions of the exemption, dogs must be on a lead and muzzle when in public.

A veterinary consultation room, where access is limited to veterinary staff from the practice and members of the dog’s household, is likely to be considered a private space for the purposes of the Dangerous Dogs Act. In this instance, if the dog is kept securely in the consultation room and the veterinary staff feel comfortable to do so, the muzzle may be removed.

There will be a need for business owners, including veterinary surgeries, to ensure they carefully consider the legal requirements that have been introduced in relation to XL Bully dogs.

In addition, under section 3 of the Dangerous dogs Act 1991, if any dog is dangerously out of control in any place, including all private property, the owner, or person for the time being in charge of the dog, is guilty of a summary offence.

Question reference: S6W-26628

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the geographic coverage of police officers trained to handle dangerous dogs for the purposes of enforcing rules on XL Bully dogs.

As noted in my response to S6W-25097 on 16 February 2024, it is a matter for Police Scotland to consider the enforcement of the new safeguards in relation to XL Bully dogs and any operational issues that arise.

Every incident presented to Police Scotland is risk assessed. Incidents relating to dogs, including XL Bully dogs, follow the same process whereby the incident is assessed and then graded accordingly. This determines the response which includes working with partner agencies such as Dog Wardens and local vets where appropriate. In addition to working with partners, there are several tactical options at Police Scotland’s disposal dependent on the risk presented. This can involve the deployment of normal response officers, and/or specialist assets such as Dog Handlers, Operational Support Units, Specially Trained Officers (Taser) and Armed Response.

The Scottish Government is committed to ongoing engagement with Police Scotland, and other relevant stakeholders, in order to consider any issues, concerns, or barriers to effective implementation of the new safeguards in relation to XL Bully dogs.

The Scottish Government chairs a regular implementation forum with Police Scotland, local authorities and COSLA to collectively consider any operational/enforcement issues that arise.

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: S6O-03325

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting culture in the North East Scotland region.

Question reference: S6W-26512

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the research used as the basis for the reported comments of the Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work, during the March 2024 Scotonomics Festival of Economics, that Scotland will "potentially not even have the population capacity to deal with the amount of jobs" created by the energy transition away from fossil fuels.

The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific research on the question of whether Scotland’s population has the capacity to deal with the number of jobs created from the energy transition.

However, it is clear that Scotland is facing a set of long-term demographic challenges, including an ageing workforce, and perhaps the most stark projection is that as of 2033 Scotland’s overall population will begin to decline, and this is exacerbated by the impact of the UK's exit from the EU and subsequent loss of freedom of movement of EU members wishing to live, study and work in Scotland.

Scotland’s long-term demographic challenges will have impacts for sectors, particularly those that are expected to be fast growing, like net zero. Independent analysis commissioned by the Scottish Government and conducted by Ernst and Young (EY) suggests that with the right support there could be almost 80,000 jobs in the low carbon energy production sector and a net-positive impact for overall energy production jobs by 2050.

In our forthcoming Just Transition Plans, the Scottish Government will set out how we intend to support existing workers and new entrants to the workforce to take advantage of these opportunities and deliver a just transition to net zero by 2045.

Question reference: S6W-26214

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric school buses it has supported each local authority to purchase, in each of the past three years.

Local authorities receive funding via the local government block grant to enable them to meet their statutory obligations, including the provision of home to school transport. Local authorities are responsible for decisions about the purchase of vehicles. The Scottish Government’s guidance on home to school transport encourages local authorities to procure zero emission vehicles for use in home to school transport services. Local authorities and bus operators that provide home-to-school transport services were eligible to apply to our recent round of ScotZEB 2 funding. This programme provides funding to increase the number of zero emission vehicles and their supporting infrastructure by encouraging collaborative working within the bus sector.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of electric school buses purchased by local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-26213

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 16 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what targeted funding it is providing to local authorities to purchase electric school buses.

Local authorities receive funding via the local government block grant to enable them to meet their statutory obligations, including the provision of home to school transport. Local authorities are responsible for decisions about the purchase of vehicles. The Scottish Government’s guidance on home to school transport encourages local authorities to procure zero emission vehicles for use in home to school transport services. Local authorities and bus operators that provide home-to-school transport services were eligible to apply to our recent round of ScotZEB 2 funding. This programme provides funding to increase the number of zero emission vehicles and their supporting infrastructure by encouraging collaborative working within the bus sector.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of electric school buses purchased by local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-26212

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what material support it plans to provide towards a pilot scheme proposed by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh to establish air quality monitors in select schools in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of effective and comprehensive air quality monitoring. Although there are no specific plans to provide material support for this project, we welcome research which contributes to the evidence base around the health impacts of poor air quality.

All air quality objectives at each site in the Scottish automatic monitoring network are currently being achieved, and we are continuing efforts to further reduce air pollution through a comprehensive range of actions set out in our Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy, including the introduction of Low Emission Zones in our four biggest cities.

Question reference: S6W-26252

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to strengthen the ability of (a) local authorities and (b) other relevant bodies to enforce animal welfare regulations.

Question reference: S6W-26253

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of canine breeding services operating in Scotland over the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-26076

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25599 by Maree Todd on 4 March 2024, what the current trajectory and timeline are for clearing long waits for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in NHS Tayside.

Boards are being commissioned to produce updated trajectories for 2024-25 and these are expected to be submitted throughout April and May.

In the most recent data published on 5 March 2024, covering the quarter ending December 2023, Tayside had zero patients waiting over 52 weeks to start treatment in CAMHS and a total of 5 patients waiting over 18 weeks to start treatment, which accounts for 3.2% of the total waiting list (156).

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