- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35358 by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 March 2021, how it plans to mitigate repair and maintenance costs on ferries.
Answer
Further to the answer provided to S5W-35358, the Scottish Government notes the significant investment CalMac makes in vessel maintenance. CalMac have contracts in place with a number of shipyards to undertake the annual dry-docking of vessels in the fleet. These contracts allow improved planning of the overhaul work as well as undertaking preventative works
The Scottish Government established a Resilience Fund in 2018/19, which is in addition to the annual expenditure for maintenance.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00712 by Kate Forbes on 22 June 2021, for what reason the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund is underspent in excess of £24 million, and what urgent action it will take to address the issues facing taxi operators and drivers as a result of the pandemic.
Answer
The original Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund budget was based on an estimated 100% uptake by eligible drivers. Local authorities directly approached all private hire and taxi drivers to invite them to claim the £1,500 grant, and a range of sector stakeholders also helped to raise awareness. Unfortunately some drivers chose not to take up that offer.
We moved quickly to meet the manifesto commitment to provide further support for the sector and have since allocated up to an additional £62 million for both taxi and private hire drivers and taxi and private hire operators, bringing the maximum support for the taxi sector during the pandemic to more than £90 million. Taxi drivers have already received an additional payment of £1500, with a total of £30,684,000 having already been paid to 20,456 drivers. Payments of up to £15,000 will be made to eligible operators in June/July 2021. We are again working with local authorities and sector stakeholders to raise awareness and encourage uptake.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that every child leaves school with the ability to cycle safely.
Answer
Since 2019-20, the Scottish Government has invested over £3 million in the Bikeability Scotland programme run by Cycling Scotland. Bikeability has three levels of competency which teaches children to ride and control a bike, learn to cycle on quiet streets and cycle independently on busier roads. All schools have the opportunity to participate in all levels of Bikeability, with access to free training resources and instructor training.
The most recent full academic year of delivery, pre-pandemic, was 2018-19. 47% of primary schools in 29 participating local authorities delivered Level 2 on-road training, with over 43,000 pupils receiving cycle training, an increase from 37% in 2015-16. This year, 31 local authorities are taking part in delivering Level 2 training.
17 secondary schools currently deliver Bikeability Level 3 training – to cycle independently on busier roads. In 2021-22, an additional 16 secondary schools will introduce this programme.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what further steps it is taking to introduce additional resilience in the publicly-owned ferry network, given the lack of an agreement on the leasing of the MV Pentalina between Calmac and Pentland Ferries.
Answer
We have secured the short term charter of the MV Arrow to help provide additional sailings on the Stornoway Ullapool route during peak times in the busy summer season. This measure reflects our efforts to help the Western Isles recover from the impact of Covid and the outage of the MV Loch Seaforth earlier this year.
We are also exploring other measures to alleviate the pressures currently experienced in the ferry network.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes that are due for completion in 2021-22 are subject to (a) delays and (b) cost increases because of the shortages of materials and price increases that were recently reported by the Federation of Master Builders.
Answer
There are a large number of affordable housing supply programme projects on site at the moment across the country and we are aware that some are subject to delays. My officials are therefore gathering local intelligence through the More Homes Division Area Team network, as well as maintaining links with the trade body Homes for Scotland, to monitor this. The Scottish Government is aware of concerns around price increases and supply shortages of construction materials. We are working closely with the construction industry through the Construction Leadership Forum, chaired by Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, to fully understand the current supply chain issues and, where possible, to put in place mitigating actions to address the issues that are being identified.
I will continue to be advised of developments in regard to materials cost increases and availability, as well as any impact being seen on the Affordable Housing Supply Programme going forward.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-34928 by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 February 2021, whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will spend the £580 million that was allocated for “ferry investment” in its Infrastructure Investment Plan.
Answer
Projects are listed in Annex D of the Infrastructure Investment Plan; some will need further funding beyond the five year period of the plan.
A National Mission with Local Impact: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when (a) ministers and (b) officials last met or corresponded with Amazon or its representatives, and what was discussed.
Answer
On 30 June 2021, I wrote to Jonathon McCreadie, Manager, Public Policy UK & Ireland at Amazon agreeing to meet him to discuss Amazon’s work in Scotland – the timing for which has still to be agreed. More recently, on 20 July, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture visited the set for one of Amazon’s Originals, which is being produced in Leith. This was an opportunity to visit the set and to discuss how Amazon might further support apprenticeships in Scotland.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to address the concerns of coastal communities regarding the (a) potential increase in damage to the marine environment, and (b) lack of public consultation, prior to, and as a result of, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development and Use Classes) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020.
Answer
A screening report in accordance with the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 was undertaken. This outlined that there were no significant environmental effects likely to result from this amendment Order. Consultation took place with local planning authorities and Strategic Environmental Assessment consultees, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Nature Scot and Historic Scotland. Permitted development rights do not allow for increases in biomass, that process is regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Increases in fish farm biomass require an application to be submitted by the operator to vary the CAR licence. As part of the determination undertaken by SEPA the application would be advertised for consultation.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of sexual harassment against residents staying in quarantine hotels have taken place since March 2020.
Answer
The contracts for the hotels, security and Corporate Travel Management are owned and managed by the UK Government. Scottish Government officials acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers, but do not have any contractual powers.
Officials foster extremely good relationships with and maintain regular contact with the network of managed isolation facilities in Scotland, including the hotel and security teams and the service provider Corporate Travel Management (CTM). This enables issues flagged by users of these services to be resolved quickly. Issues which cannot be dealt with by Scottish Government and the network of facilities locally are escalated to the UKG.
The International Passenger Coordination Team have agreed a protocol with Police Scotland to enable the facility team to contact them, when appropriate to do so. We have not had any reports of crimes being committed against guests.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 July 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many crimes against residents staying in quarantine hotels have been recorded since March 2020, and what the nature of the crimes committed were.
Answer
Whilst the UK Government (UKG) are the principle contract owners and managers of the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) and its suppliers; the Scottish Government acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers. The close working relationship the Scottish Government fosters with hotel and security facility teams enables any matters arising to be de-escalated quickly. There is a protocol in place with Police Scotland to assist, where appropriate.
The Scottish Government is not aware of any crimes of any nature being recorded in relation to managed isolation guests in Scotland.