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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-03601

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many cross-border farm businesses are still awaiting balancing payments for 2015 payments, and what the reasons are for the delays.

Of the 93 cases for which the Scottish Government is the paying agency, 87 have been paid in full as of 17 October 2016, and the remaining 6 will be settled by the end of this month. All elements of the business’ application must be confirmed as eligible by each administration involved. By their nature, these cases are more complex than single country cases because they have to be judged against the specific CAP rules in each part of the UK in which they have made a claim.

Question reference: S5T-00125

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it made of the reported level of support for independence ahead of the decision to bring forward the draft Referendum Bill before Article 50 has been invoked.

Question reference: S5W-03335

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding sediment management and extraction in the River Esk.

Question reference: S5W-03310

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff it employs, broken down by local authority area.

Figures on Scottish Government staff headcount are collated regularly for the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey published by the Office for National Statistics, at Scotland level. The same Scotland-level headcount data are also published as part of the Scottish Government Workforce Information quarterly release.

These reports show that, at 30 June 2016, there were 5,416 directly-employed staff in the Scottish Government core directorates.

When this Scotland-level information is broken down by local authority area using management information from the HR system, we find that these staff are based in offices in 20 local authority areas in Scotland and 2 overseas offices, and that the staff headcount by the local authority area of the office is as follows:

Local authority	Staff headcount
Aberdeen City	265
Aberdeenshire	86
Angus	5
Argyll and Bute	42
City of Edinburgh	3,723
Dumfries and Galloway	34
Dundee City	22
Falkirk	45
Fife	2
Glasgow City	729
Highland	127
Moray	16
Na h-Eileanan Siar	33
Orkney Islands	16
Perth and Kinross	115
Scottish Borders	41
Shetland Islands	15
South Ayrshire	47
South Lanarkshire	25
West Lothian	20
Outside Scotland	8
Total	5,416

There are no staff based in Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Stirling, and West Dunbartonshire.

Question reference: S5W-03296

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of transport infrastructure feasibility studies that it has commissioned in each year since 2007, and how many of these were in the Dumfries and Galloway area.

The Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), commissioned in 2007, gave thorough consideration to the strategic transport infrastructure needs of Dumfries and Galloway. STPR was the first nationwide, multi-modal, objective led and evidence based review of the existing performance and future requirements of Scotland’s national strategic transport networks. This considered 20 strategic transport corridors across Scotland, including the following four which are within or pass through Dumfries and Galloway :

Glasgow to Stranraer and SW Scotland (A77 Corridor);

Stranraer to NW England and beyond (A75 Corridor);

Glasgow to NW England and beyond (A74(M) Corridor); and

Edinburgh to NW England and beyond (A7 Corridor).

Over the past 8 years, we have invested over £65m in a major road improvement projects to improve safety and journey times on the trunk road network in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S5W-03302

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many permanent warning signs there are on the A75.

Question reference: S5W-03303

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many miles of central double-white lines there are on the A75.

Question reference: S5W-03301

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many miles of the A75 are dual carriageway.

Question reference: S5W-03300

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many square metres of land in Dumfries and Galloway are owned by Transport Scotland, also broken down by the land adjacent to the A75 between Dumfries and Gretna.

Question reference: S5W-03341

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcomes were of the recent timber summit held near Moffat.

The forestry summit at Moffat was attended by a broad cross section of the industry who shared their views on how best the Scottish Government can assist them in growing the £1 billion sector. Topics covered included planting targets, transport, skills and the Future of Forestry in Scotland consultation.

A similar summit to explore opportunities and barriers is being held with the forestry sector in the north of Scotland on 24 October 2016.

The discussions at these summits will help inform how we drive forward the rural economy. I intend to hold further meetings next year to discuss progress.