- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 April 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it takes account of the length of roads for which a local authority is responsible for maintaining when allocating funding to local authorities for flood risk management.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not take into account the length of roads for which a local authority is responsible when allocating funding to local authorities for flood risk management.
The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 provides the framework for effective management of flood risk.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 April 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Environment and Forestry Directorate supports and funds an ongoing programme of research to specifically identify and monitor any risks associated with extreme sub-daily rainfall in urban areas.
Answer
The Scottish Government monitors the size of the challenge ahead by consideration of climate projections, flood mapping, modelling and analysis carried out by a number of key, expert partners such as the Met Office, SEPA and Scottish Water.
We recognise that our urban areas in particular face mounting challenges with surface water drainage and related flooding. This is why we must ensure that communities and places are water resilient and set-up for the climate challenges ahead. This will require a concerted effort across all sectors to ensure that new development is appropriately sited and designed and that existing buildings can transition to managing rainwater through blue green infrastructure instead of sewers reducing the pressure on our drainage systems.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce legislation to sanction residential park owners who do not supply timely and fully completed written statements to their residents.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce legislation to sanction residential park owners who do not supply timely and fully completed written statements to their residents. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 states that if the owner has failed to give the occupier a written statement, the occupier may apply to the court for an order requiring the owner to give him a written statement.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce an independent residential park evaluation and grading system to prevent park owners from rating their own sites.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce an independent residential park evaluation and grading system.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce legislation establishing an arbitration service at local authority level for residential park owners.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to establish an arbitration service at local authority level for residential park owners.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, following disruptions to the energy supply as a result of recent storms, what discussions it has had with Ofgen regarding whether residents of residential park homes will be (a) included on the priority contact list and (b) allowed access to any compensation schemes in the event of environmental emergencies in light of recent reports that park owners did not fulfil these obligations on behalf of their residents.
Answer
Resilience of the Electricity Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.
Access to the Priority Services Register is available to anyone that meets the eligibility criteria and individuals can register by contacting their energy supplier or network operator.
The issue regarding compensation schemes is something that would also be best directed to Ofgem.
We will continue to press the UK Government, industry and the regulator for assurance that increased resilience of the electricity networks in Scotland is a priority.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm if massage and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services are included in the definition of independent commercial wellness services, for the purposes of determining eligibility criteria for close contact business support grants.
Answer
Businesses offering only massage and complementary and alternative medicine services were not within the scope of the Close Contact Services Fund. The Close Contact Fund was targeted at businesses impacted by the necessary public health restrictions introduced to reduce transmission of the Omicron variant. The eligibility criteria for the Close Contact Services fund, which has now closed to applications, is available on the Scottish Government website: Close Contact Services Fund (closed) - Coronavirus (COVID-19): funding for businesses affected by Omicron control measures - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce legislation to ensure that electrical infrastructure in residential parks meets a 64-amp standard, which is approximately the present rate for a brick house, (a) in new sites and (b) when upgrading existing faulty cables on established sites, in order to ensure there is an adequate electrical supply to charge electric vehicles and power other household white goods.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not have a role in legislating on electrical infrastructure. The Electricity Act 1989 and the regulations under the Act are reserved to the UK Government.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the work it is doing to ensure that doctors are equipped to identify the early signs and symptoms of an eating disorder.
Answer
During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating. We are pleased to see that all our medical schools in Scotland are in discussions with Beat to deliver eating disorder training, or are already delivering it.
We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms Training for GPs and healthcare professionals, which will support them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder, and confidently intervene early. This training will be available from April.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to stimulate demand for competition between broadband and fibre infrastructure providers in local authority areas where there are only single operators.
Answer
Telecoms is entirely reserved to the United Kingdom Government, which means that the Scottish Government does not have the powers to intervene in commercial matters. Therefore, in the absence of further action by the UK Government, it is ultimately up to suppliers themselves to decide how and where they choose to stimulate demand for connections and/or services. However, we do work closely with communications providers and encourage new entrants into Scotland’s fibre infrastructure market – for example, by extending non-domestic rates relief to fifteen years for newly laid and lit fibre, ten years more than the UK Government currently offers.