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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-01927

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01111 by Humza Yousaf on 26 July 2016 and in light of Audit Scotland's report, Maintaining Scotland's roads: a follow-up report, which ranked Dumfries and Galloway second among local authorities for the percentage of roads deemed unacceptable, what steps it will take to liaise with the council to bring roads up to standard and whether it would consider providing additional ring-fenced funding for this.

A meeting of the Road Maintenance Strategic Action Group has been scheduled to discuss the Group’s response to the recommendations of the Audit Scotland report. We will continue to co-fund the Roads Collaboration Programme and use that forum to engage with all councils in Scotland to explore opportunities to share services.

With regard to funding, the Scottish Government has allocated over £10.3 billion to local government for 2016-17. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

On 22 August 2016, the Deputy First Minister and I hosted a groundbreaking Transport Summit in Dumfries at which a variety of important issues were discussed including the condition of both national and local roads in Dumfries and Galloway. We have committed to publishing a draft report of the summit within four weeks.

Question reference: S5W-01848

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage further investment in the Carstairs Junction area to accommodate the service demand until 2043 that was forecast by Network Rail in its report, Scotland Route Study.

The Scottish Government is funding Network Rail’s on-going development and detailed design of options to enhance Carstairs junction to improve line speeds and increase capacity and performance levels. Final decisions on investment will be subject to confirmation of the business case and affordability as well as agreement on a suitable funding model to reflect the distribution of financial benefits, the vast majority of which will accrue to UK Government sponsored cross-border franchises.

Question reference: S5W-01889

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on encouraging rail operators to give peak-time discounts to students who are 16-25 Railcard holders when travelling (a) for educational purposes and (b) to their part time employment.

Question reference: S5W-01382

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01000 by Angela Constance on 8 July 2016, whether it will undertake a review of whether it should assess how public authorities meet their obligations to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and service users.

Question reference: S5W-01148

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact that land reform could have on the establishment of productive woodland in forests.

The Scottish Government has an ambitious land reform programme, including implementing the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 and establishing the Scottish Land Commission to consider the effect of law, policies and practices in the management and use of land in Scotland to help from a wider evidence base for future land reform measures.

Through Forestry Commission Scotland, we are helping to empower communities across Scotland to use, manage and own woodlands.

Question reference: S5W-01328

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people resident in Scotland have received healthcare from the NHS in England in each of the last five years.

Information is provided in the following table on the number of finished admission episodes for patients resident in Scotland who have received healthcare from the NHS in England in each of the last five years.

Year	Finished Admission Episodes
2010-11	7,811
2011-12	7,574
2012-13	7,449
2013-14	7,201
2014-15	7,020

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Question reference: S5W-01146

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to (a) increase the role of and (b) give more powers to Forestry Commission Scotland and, if so, in what timescale.

The Scottish Government have committed to completing the devolution of the arrangements for the management of forestry in Scotland. As announced in June 2015 by the then Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, this will involve the transfer of Forestry Commissioners’ powers and duties, as they relate to Scotland, to Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with the UK Government and also the Welsh Government through a Forestry Governance Project Board to consider options to achieve this outcome. This has included issues related to legislative options to enable the transfer to happen, financial arrangements and the future of functions currently undertaken on a cross-border basis, such as forestry science. Further details will be made known in due course.

Question reference: S5W-01151

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform and the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity have met or plan to meet to discuss the forestry and wood processing sector.

Question reference: S5W-01150

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reviewing the time and cost of applying for an environmental impact assessment for landowners planting commercial woodland.

Question reference: S5W-01147

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are regarding (a) forestry policy, (b) forest enterprise and (c) the administration of trans-border forestry issues, including plant health and forest research.