- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent Samaritans' report, which recorded a disparity in suicide rates across local authorities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2017
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of small wind turbines on lampposts as a source of renewable energy and what support it can provide to local authorities that want to invest in this.
Answer
As set out in our draft Energy Strategy innovation is key to underpinning a stable, managed energy transition in ways that are capable of reaching all communities and to drive the local energy system. Local authorities are best placed to understand what innovation would suit their area and what is required to meet their low carbon commitments.
A number of urban renewable energy initiatives, including intelligent street lighting, have been explored through a feasibility study by the Scottish Cities Alliance, the findings from this will be available to Local Authorities once the study has finalised.
We are encouraged that there are Scottish companies Scottish companies competing in this area and advise that if they have not done so they seek assistance from our enterprise agencies; Scottish Enterprise, or Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to tackle (a) online identify fraud and (b) other cyber-crime; what guidance it issues to businesses regarding protecting themselves, and what information it has on how much has been lost by (i) people and (ii) businesses.
Answer
The growth of the internet has transformed the way we do business, socialise and provide key services. It also offers significant opportunities for those with criminal intent. With 80% of cybercrime preventable by getting the basics right however, it is essential that we all take steps as individuals and businesses to ensure that we take appropriate steps to minimise the risk and safeguard online information and processes. This can be achieved through patching, good password and access control management and regular system backups.
The Scottish Government published 'Safe, Secure and Prosperous: A Cyber Resilience Strategy for Scotland' in November 2015 which sets out 4 priority themes, 2 of which are: awareness raising; and education, skills and professional development. The strategy is being taken forward with key partners through the establishment of a National Cyber Resilience Leaders Board. Some of the work already taken forward includes the development of a toolkit to help businesses get the basics of cyber resilience right and awareness raising workshops across Scotland. A Digital Scotland voucher scheme supports businesses to improve their knowledge, understanding and strategy towards handling cyber security and protecting valuable information. Awards of up to £1500 are available to businesses in Scotland to help them check their current systems meet Cyber Essentials UK Government Standard.
It is not possible to accurately quantify possible losses for a number of reasons such as non-reporting of incidents but available data suggests that 50% of the worst breaches were caused by inadvertent human error and that cybercrime costs UK businesses £34bn per year.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 7 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent Scottish Funding Council statistics that recorded a 0.4% decrease in the number of full-time university applications from young people in the 20% most disadvantaged communities in 2015-16.
Answer
These figures are for 2015-16 entry to university and predate the work carried out by the Commission on Widening Access. More recent UCAS figures show clear progress on access, with a record entry rate of 10.9% in 2016 for 18 year olds from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland and an increase in the application rate for the same group in 2017.
The Scottish Government is committed to fair access to higher education and has committed to implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Widening Access in full. This includes the target to ensure that by 2030, students from the 20% most deprived backgrounds should represent 20% of entrants to University.
Sources: UCAS Undergraduate 2016 End of Cycle Report and UCAS UK application rates by the January 2017 deadline:
https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-analysis-reports
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comment by the President of the Centre for Economics and Business Research that an independent Scotland would face “Greek-style austerity".
Answer
The Scottish Government does not accept the claims made by the President of the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The key risk to Scotland’s economy and the public finances stems from a hard Brexit which could reduce Scotland’s GDP by £8 billion per year and cost the country 80,000 jobs after
10 years, compared to remaining in the EU.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution on 21 February 2017 (Official Report, c. 18), what its plans are for dealing with future business rates increases in light of the 12.5% cap being for one year only.
Answer
The measures to introduce a 12.5% cap on business rate increases for hotels, pubs, restaurants and cafes and Aberdeen / Aberdeenshire offices will apply for 2017-18 and we will consider if any future support is required in due course.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what impact it believes that a reduction of overall revenue funding by £4.6 million to North Ayrshire Council will have on its ability to deliver of public services.
Answer
Taking next year’s local government finance settlement, including the extra £160 million announced on 2 February, plus the other sources of support available through actual and potential increases in council tax income and the support through Health and Social Care Integration, the overall increase in spending power to support local authority services amounts to over £400 million or 3.9 per cent in cash terms, or £249.7 million or 2.4 per cent in real terms. North Ayrshire Council's overall increase in spending power to support local authority services amounts to over £26.7 million or 9 per cent in comparison to 2016-17.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the availability of affordable housing on the Isle of Arran.
Answer
Our commitment to invest over £3 billion to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament – 35,000 of which will be for social rent – presents a huge opportunity to meet the housing needs of communities across Scotland.
Funding is allocated to local authorities through a Resource Planning Assumption (RPA) system. This gives each council the flexibility to apply the available Scottish Government funding to its strategic housing priorities within its geographic area. For North Ayrshire Council the RPA for the current financial year is £9.106million. Their strategic priorities are set out in their Strategic Housing Investment Plan 2017-2022, available on their website and includes a development of 26 units on the Isle of Arran.
In addition to the RPA allocations to councils, we also have our £25 million rural housing fund and the £5 million islands fund. Both funds aim to increase the supply of affordable housing of all tenures in rural Scotland and will contribute to our 50,000 affordable homes target.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many (a) residential and (b) commercial premises have access to superfast broadband.
Answer
Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2016 indicates that speeds of 30 Mbps or above are now available to 83% of premises in Scotland, up from 73% in 2015. Superfast coverage for SMEs is currently 72%, up from 55% in 2015
A link to the report is provided below:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2016
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2017
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 1 March 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments by Esteban González Pons MEP, at a meeting that was attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, that “If the UK leaves the single market, then Scotland will also be outside of the single market” and “if once [the] UK leaves [the EU] and then Scotland decides to leave the UK, then you can join the queue after Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Turkey, to join the EU”.
Answer
The Scottish Government believes that the best option for Scotland is to become a full member of the EU as an independent country. As Jacqueline Minor, head of representation for the European Commission in the UK, said earlier this month, not only is there, no reason, that Scotland wouldn’t be accepted into the normal EU accession process but also that the country would be, starting from a point different from other applicant countries, due to its current EU membership.
Our paper, Scotland’s Place in Europe, sets out proposals that would mitigate the worst effects of being taken out of the EU against our will. It highlights the importance of remaining in the Single Market and sets out a route to protect Scotland’s interests, even if the remainder of the UK chooses to leave. The proposals in this document are a significant contribution to on-going efforts to build consensus and represent a compromise on our part. We expect the UK Government to show similar flexibility.
