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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: S5W-13926

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the collapse of Carillion, what engagement it will undertake with the Ministry of Defence regarding the maintenance and repair of homes used by armed forces personnel and their families in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-14004

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that non-native, invasive species such as giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam have increased on river banks in Aberdeenshire due to greater seed distribution caused by Storm Frank in 2015, and what support can be provided to reverse this trend.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) recently funded a PhD study to look at long-term changes in riverside vegetation in Great Britain. This confirmed that the probability of occurrence of invasive non-native plants increased over time and with frequency of high flows, such as those caused by Storm Frank in 2015. Fisheries Trusts are coordinating action to control invasive non-native plants on a number of rivers in Aberdeenshire. On the River Deveron, invasive species control is part of the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative, funded by SNH and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Work on parts of the rivers Dee, Don and Urie has been funded with offset mitigation funding from the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project. Land managers can also apply for funding to control invasive non-native plants on their land through the Agri-Environment and Climate Scheme under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. Advice about other possible sources of funding can be found on SNH’s website, www.nature.scot.

Question reference: S5W-13923

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to profit warnings by Carillion in 2016 and the impact that this might have had on the delivery of infrastructure projects in Scotland.

The Scottish Government closely monitored the financial health of Carillion and worked with its agencies to advise on robust contingency measures which would look to ensure that there was no interruption to public services in the event of a Carillion insolvency. These measures ranged in scale and complexity depending on the nature of the contract concerned.

These measures were designed to minimise any exposure that the delivery of Scottish infrastructure projects had to an insolvency such as this.

Question reference: S5W-13928

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what obligations fall to the remaining partners of Aberdeen Roads Ltd for the ongoing maintenance, cleaning and gritting of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), and what mitigation measures Transport Scotland has in place to cover the long-term maintenance, cleaning and gritting of the AWPR in the event that any other partners of Aberdeen Roads Ltd withdraw from the contract.

The contract for the Design, Build, Finance and Operation of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route was awarded to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) in December 2014. As such, ARL is responsible for the funding, final design, construction and subsequent maintenance of the completed scheme for a period of 30 years on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. ARL’s current operations and maintenance sub-contractor is Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering (BBRCE), who is unaffected by the event of any partner withdrawing from ARL’s construction consortium and has a wealth of experience as a road maintenance operator both within Scotland and beyond. Both ARL and BBRCE remain committed to ensuring its operation and maintenance obligations are contractually delivered for the 30 year contract period.

Question reference: S5W-13925

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it will undertake with (a) the Federation of Small Businesses and (b) other stakeholders regarding the collapse of Carillion.

We have been working with Scotland's business organisations and other key stakeholders since 16 January to develop a shared understanding of the impact of Carillion’s collapse on supply chains and companies in Scotland, and to ensure continuity of employment, including for apprentices. They have helped raise awareness of our helplines for businesses and for employees, and their on-going support was acknowledged when the Cabinet Secretary for Finance met representatives from the Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors, Scottish Council for Development and Industry, Scottish Financial Enterprise, and Confederation of British Industry on 19 January.

Question reference: S5W-13927

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of jobs supported by Carillion in the north east of Scotland; whether any of these are under threat, and what support it can provide to minimise any job losses.

We continue to work closely with the official receiver to obtain accurate numbers of jobs supported by Carillion in the north east of Scotland. This will allow the Scottish Government to fully assess whether any of these jobs are under threat and what support can be provided to minimise any potential job losses. At this time we expect most jobs will be absorbed by alternative companies who will pick up the work that Carillion was contracted to deliver.

For those working on the AWPR Aberdeen Roads Limited, the project contractor, has been able to confirm that there are 76 Carillion staff working on the project. Where there is a position available offers of employment have already been made and are under consideration.

We have set up helplines which apprentices, employees and companies in the supply chain offering support and advice. Should it be necessary we stand ready to support any affected employees through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative which aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. In addition the Construction Industry Training Board has committed to putting support in place to help affected apprentices and Skills Development Scotland has contingencies in place to help modern apprentice in a potential redundancy situation. The official receiver will contact all apprentices to notify them of the implications of this situation.

Question reference: S5O-01745

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 31 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to eliminate rural fuel poverty.

This Government has always prioritised tackling fuel poverty, and is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland, no matter where they live, lives in a warm home that is affordable to heat.

We are currently consulting on a new, long-term fuel poverty strategy, including a new definition of fuel poverty, which takes account of the recommendations of the Rural Fuel Poverty Taskforce, and will inform the Warm Homes Bill that we plan to introduce to Parliament later this year.

We are on track to deliver our 2016 Programme for Government commitment to make half a billion pounds available for fuel poverty and energy efficiency over the 4 years to 2021, and by this date we will have allocated over £1 billion since 2009 to support these issues.

Question reference: S5W-13929

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to whether the remit of the proposed Scottish National Investment Bank could be widened over the longer term to include the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

The First Minister appointed Benny Higgins, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Bank, to lead work on an Implementation Plan.

The plan will develop detailed proposals for the remit, capitalisation, governance, operating model, regulatory timeline and financial risk management of the bank. It will outline proposals for the future activities of the bank and consider the future development of the institution. Mr Higgins will present his recommendations to the First Minister in February 2018.

Question reference: S5T-00890

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Oxfam report, Reward Work, Not Wealth, and what action it is taking to tackle inequality.

Question reference: S5O-01708

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support women’s football and rugby.