Chamber and committees

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: S4W-17040

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) will happen to staff in the Scottish Animal Movement Unit and (b) safeguards will be put in place if monitoring of sheep and goat movements is transferred to the Scottish livestock traceability research team (ScotEID).

Question reference: S4W-17039

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering trials of recording sheep and goat movements by the Scottish livestock traceability research team (ScotEID) and, if so, for what reason.

It was agreed at the joint Scottish Government/Industry Group meeting on 2 July 2013 to complete the sheep and goat part of the ScotEID database system. This will involve a stepped and controlled move across from the Scottish Animal Movement System (SAMS) which was set up in 2002 to the new ScotEID database system which became operational during 2010.

It will allow all sheep and goat movement reporting to be recorded on a single system which is visible to the keeper, movements can be recorded and reported in real-time, at individual animal identity level, leading to improved traceability in the event of a disease outbreak.

The ScotEID system will enable keepers to report and record movements electronically as well as via paper, operate an online holding register, view all their movement data and if necessary refine any anomalies in their movement data.

Question reference: S4W-17021

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what rights members of a child's extended family have in relation to concerns about the child's welfare.

The Scottish Government recognises and appreciates the role that the wider family can play in children’s lives. The position on rights depends on the precise concerns the extended family have about the child’s welfare.

Under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, a person with an interest in a child, including a family member, may apply to the courts for parental responsibilities and rights in respect of a child and for court orders on matters such as residence or contact with the child. When considering whether or not to make an order under section 11, the court must regard the welfare of the child as its paramount consideration.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, currently before the Parliament, makes provision for additional support to be provided, by the local authority, to family members and others who apply for certain types of orders under section 11 of the 1995 Act.

We would urge anyone, including family members, who may have child protection concerns to raise these with the police or with social work departments.

Any person, including a family member, who has concerns about a child’s welfare has the right to make a referral to the Children’s Reporter.

Under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, where members of a child’s extended family have relevant person status, or deemed relevant person status, they are entitled to participate fully in any hearing held for the child. They also have a right of appeal where they disagree with the hearing’s decision, and the right to ask for any order made to be reviewed after three months.

Additionally, a person who does not have relevant person status may be invited, at the discretion of the panel, to participate in a hearing.

Finally, section 126 of the 2011 Act also provides certain rights of participation at specified review hearings for individuals who are not relevant persons but who have rights of contact with the child under a contact or permanence order.

Question reference: S4O-02429

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce measures to improve the safety of the A76 between Dumfries and Kirkconnel.

Question reference: S4W-16902

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-03867 by Keith Brown on 15 November 2011, what measures (a) have been taken and (b) are planned to improve road safety on the A76 at Ellisland Farm.

There are no safety measures specific to Ellisland Farm, however Transport Scotland has carried out a route accident reduction plan study along the entire length of the A76 trunk road from Kilmarnock to Dumfries and a range of road safety measures were recommended.

The recommended measures from the report were completed in March 2013 and included surfacing, high friction surfacing, signing, lining and bend assessment works to provide drivers with a consistent message when approaching challenging bends along the route. These types of measures have proven to be successful in reducing casualties when implemented on other trunk roads in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-16899

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) other accidents were recorded on trunk roads and motorways in the Dumfriesshire constituency in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012, broken down by road.

The following table provides the statistics requested.

Fatal

Serious

Slight

A701

2009	0	2	6
2010	0	1	11
2011	2	4	7
2012	0	0	6

A75

2009	2	2	18
2010	1	5	13
2011	0	1	12
2012	1	1	10

A76

2009	1	5	8
2010	0	4	13
2011	0	2	14
2012	0	4	8

2009	0	1	7
2010	0	2	0
2011	1	1	3
2012	0	0	4

M74

2009	1	12	20
2010	1	2	15
2011	1	6	17
2012	0	6	17

Question reference: S4W-16901

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what improvement schemes are proposed for the A76 between Dumfries and New Cumnock and when these will be implemented.

There are three roads structural maintenance schemes planned for the A76 between Dumfries and New Cumnock, as follows:

Route Scheme Name Implementation date

A76 Newbridge Farm to Cluden Water Bridge 7-10-2013

A76 Trigony to Thornhill South Gateway 14-10-2013

A76 Thornhill North Gateway 20-11-2013

Please note that the implementation dates are dependent on weather conditions.

Question reference: S4W-16996

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will consult on its proposals to introduce legislative reforms to end automatic early release for certain categories of offender at stage 2 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

The First Minister announced to parliament on 3 September 2013 in the Programme for Government statement that the Scottish Government will bring forward legislative provisions to end automatic early release for serious offenders. The announcement followed discussion with the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Parole Board officials.

The Scottish Government will engage with other key stakeholders, including victims’ organisations, over the coming months to discuss how the provisions will operate in practice before the legislative provisions are brought forward for consideration by parliament as part of Stage 2 consideration of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S4W-16863

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what funding was made available to NHS Dumfries and Galloway in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 to promote young people’s health and wellbeing and how this was allocated.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all children and young people to ensure they have the best start in life, are ready to succeed and live longer, healthier lives.

All NHS boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, are expected to ensure that resources are spent in a way that improves the health and wellbeing of the community and that delivers best value for taxpayers.

NHS boards receive funding allocations to meet the needs of their resident population. It is for boards to decide how best to utilise this funding to meet national and local priorities.

Question reference: S4W-16910

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government which elements of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s claim under the Bellwin Scheme to cover additional expenditure incurred by the snowstorms of March 2013 were deemed ineligible for assistance because they were not (a) incurred as a result of providing relief or carrying out works to safeguard life or property or prevent suffering or severe inconvenience, (b) of a revenue nature, (c) net of any receivable income from other sources, (d) of an uninsurable nature and (e) incurred within a two month period from the date of the incident and what the total financial value was of these elements.

Dumfries and Galloway’s claim under the Bellwin scheme following the severe winter weather in late March 2013 was submitted in two parts. The second part of the claim amounted to over £794,000 for repairing the damage caused to the roads by the severe snow storms. This part of the claim was ruled out because the expenditure was to be incurred outwith the two month period following the incident. The council, in submitting the claim accepted that this part of the claim was outwith the two month period.

This left the first part of the claim which amounted to almost £965,000 of which around £650,000 was in respect of the immediate snow clearing and providing an emergency response following the incident. Unfortunately, this did not breach the council’s published Bellwin threshold of £679,994 that they are expected to budget for (0.2% of their net revenue budget) to cope with emergency situations. The remainder of the first part of the claim (almost £315,000) was in respect of work on drainage, fencing, dyking, hedging, resurfacing, surface dressing and verge repair, none of which would fall under the eligible costs of the scheme as it was not work to safeguard life or property in the immediate aftermath of an emergency situation.