- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding estimates of the number of people in the Glasgow region who have been affected by an underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance.
Answer
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is reserved to the UK Government. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes an estimate of ESA and other income-related benefits every six months, at a UK-wide level only. The latest figures published (covering 2018-2019) show that 94% of the total amount of Income Support or Income-related ESA that could have been claimed was claimed. On 8 July 2021 the DWP published their final update on cases that were potentially affected by underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance on transition from Incapacity Benefit. This information is also at UK-wide level, and shows that the UK Government has paid £613 million to those affected by the move from Incapacity Benefit to ESA.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will support the fishing industry to grow to meet any increased capacity within the catching and processing sectors.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what role it has in administering the UK Government’s Help to Buy ISA scheme in Scotland, and what (a) discussions it has had with the UK Government and (b) action it can take regarding reports that changes may be made to the access of scheme holders in Scotland to the 25% of their closing balance bonus payment.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no functions in relation to the Help to Buy ISA
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support public hire drivers in the taxi industry, and what action it is taking with local authorities to distinguish the nature and needs of private hire and public hire taxis in the sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has engaged extensively with local authorities and with a number of organisations representing the taxi sector including Unite the Union, the App Drivers and Couriers Union, the Scottish Association of Private Hire Operator and the Scottish Taxi Federation. Previously the Scottish Government provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. The Scottish Government is also calling on the UK Government to re-introduce schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant in order to make further support available. We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it can take to support taxi operators and increase the availability of drivers and taxis in Glasgow.
Answer
We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors. So far, the Scottish Government has provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. The Scottish Government is also calling on the UK Government to re-introduce schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant in order to make further support available.
The taxi and private-hire sector is one of a number of sectors experiencing labour market challenges arising from the pandemic, and is exacerbated by this being a largely self-employed sector. We are aware that Glasgow City Council, who are the independent licensing authority responsible for administration of the taxi-licensing regime, have held constructive talks with the trade to ascertain how the licensing authority can streamline the licensing process.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider providing grants to support taxi drivers to upgrade their cars to sustainable, low-emissions vehicles.
Answer
The Scottish Government currently offers a number of funding schemes, through Transport Scotland, to support businesses (including taxi owners) make the shift to low and zero-emission vehicles. Applications for these funds can be made through the Energy Saving Trust who administer the schemes on our behalf.
Available support includes:
- the Switched-on Taxi Loan scheme which offers an interest free loan up to £120,000 to enable taxi owners and operators to replace their current vehicle with an eligible ultra-low emission vehicle.
- the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Retrofit Fund for taxi owners operating within LEZs. This provides up to 80% grant funding to replace existing diesel engines to meet the Euro 6 standard for driving within a LEZ. The grant provides up to £10,000 per wheelchair accessible taxi installing re-powering technology, or £5,000 per taxi installing exhaust after-treatment systems.
- the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Support Fund, which is available to eligible microbusinesses and sole traders (including taxi operators), operating within a 20km radius of Scotland’s LEZs. The fund provides a £2,500 grant towards the safe disposal of non-compliant vehicles as an incentive to take older, more polluting vehicles off the road.
We acknowledge that working together is crucial, because we know that Scotland’s world-leading and legally binding net-zero target cannot be met by Government alone and a partnership approach between businesses, local authorities and communities will continue to be required to respond to the climate emergency and improve the air quality within our cities.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making to resolve the COVID-19 vaccine passport access issues for people who received each vaccination in different countries.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04301 on 6 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the current legal status of the drug, Paxlovid, in Scotland; how much of the drug NHS Scotland has (a) ordered and (b) stocked; what models it is aware of regarding its efficacy in reducing hospitalisations of patients with the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and what emergency processes are underway for scaling manufacture and distribution of the drug within a 48-hour period.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to closely monitor all emerging evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments and their clinical effectiveness. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is now assessing Paxlovid’s safety and effectiveness, and I cautiously welcome analysis of the final clinical trial results from Pfizer (which are yet to be published or verified) which show that Paxlovid cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by approximately 89% in high risk, non-hospitalised adult patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. If approved by the MHRA, this will represent another significant pharmaceutical option in our response to COVID-19.
On 20th October, the UK Government announced that 250,000 treatment courses of Paxlovid had been ordered, pending regulatory approval. On 22nd December, the UK Government announced that a further 2.5 million treatment courses had been ordered as part of efforts to reduce the impact of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant across the UK. If authorised by the MHRA, the intention is to initially deploy antivirals such as Paxlovid to individuals through a UK-wide national study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The University of Oxford has been selected to lead the study . This will enable collection of additional data to address limitations in the company-sponsored trials, for example the effectiveness of the treatments in vaccinated patients, as participants in the company trials were unvaccinated.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 23 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether a presumption in planning policy against the demolition of existing buildings will be incorporated into National Planning Framework 4 in order to meet the carbon reduction measures that were agreed at COP26.
Answer
The draft National Planning Framework (NPF4) includes a strengthened planning policy position that seeks to proactively enable the reuse of vacant and derelict land and buildings and which notes that demolition should be regarded as the least preferred option. Re-use of vacant and derelict land and buildings has multiple benefits, including contributing to climate change targets.
The draft NPF4 was laid in the Scottish Parliament in November 2021 for a period of scrutiny through to next spring. A public consultation on the draft is running until the end of March 2022 and responses are invited to help inform the final NPF4 which will form part of the development plan and therefore inform priorities in local development plans and day to day planning decision making.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 23 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with (a) Mears and (b) local authorities to expedite the backlog of repairs in asylum seeker accommodation.
Answer
Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. Asylum accommodation is delivered under Home Office contracts, with Mears Group holding the contract for Scotland. Responsibility under that contract includes meeting standards for undertaking any necessary repairs in accommodation.
The Scottish Government regularly engages with Mears Group, COSLA and Glasgow City Council across a range of asylum matters.
