- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 August 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what oversight it has over hosts' maintenance of charge points within the ChargePlace Scotland network.
Answer
As part of the ChargePlace Scotland grant award terms and conditions, the Scottish Government stipulates that the host shall ensure that charge points are maintained in a serviceable condition. This includes the requirement to repair out of service charge points within 48 hours, including a site visit when required, ensuring each charge point is covered by a 5 year warranty and annual servicing package. In addition, Transport Scotland officials meet with the ChargePlace Scotland Network Operator Manager on a weekly basis to discuss the ChargePlace Scotland network integrity.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 August 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 29 August 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on recent estimates from the City of Edinburgh Council, which show that it will be required to employ 700 workers and find additional space for 3,000 young people in order to meet the Scottish Government’s expanded childcare plans.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that the earliest years of life are crucial to a child’s development and have a lasting impact on outcomes in health, education and employment opportunities in later life. The near doubling of entitlement to Early Learning and Childcare from 600 to 1140 hours per year from August 2020 is one of the most important and transformational changes we are making during our current Parliamentary programme. The expansion will provide substantial new employment opportunities across Scotland with a range of roles across different qualification levels becoming available. This will support local economies and create employment opportunities for new entrants to the sector, as well as progression opportunities for existing staff who we know already play a vital role in giving children the best possible start in life.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 August 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 17 August 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent reply to an FoI request, which shows that over half of the cemeteries operated by the City of Edinburgh Council could be full within the next five years.
Answer
The City of Edinburgh Council is responsible for maintaining 39 cemeteries, 19 of which are classified as active. Of the 19 that are active, 10 have availability.
The City of Edinburgh Council has a cemetery usage strategy in place. The Council has informed the Scottish Government that they are working to find a long-term solution to the issue of reduced capacity.
In addition, the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 takes forward the recommendation of the Burial and Cremation Review Group to reduce pressure on burial grounds by enabling full and partially full lairs to be reused for new interments. The review group report can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2008/03/25113621/0
It is anticipated that the regulations for restoration to use will come into force in 2019, giving burial authorities flexibility for greater capacity within their burial grounds.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 July 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding the full reopening of the St John’s Hospital children’s ward to out-of-hours inpatients.
Answer
NHS Lothian has given an assurance that the Board is committed to increasing staffing levels and reinstating the 24/7 model for the Children's Ward at St John's Hospital. I recently wrote to the Acting Chief Executive of NHS Lothian to request a further report on the progress made by the end of the summer.
The Scottish Government continues to support NHS Lothian to ensure patient safety and work in partnership with the staff and others to resolve recruitment issues and deliver sustainable paediatric services.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 12 June 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy on 2 May 2018 that "the Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with all concerned...in the interests of consumers and businesses" (Official Report, c. 15), what the impact could be on communities of the LINK subsidy system for maintaining ATMs in rural areas and the outskirts of cities, such as Edinburgh, not being successful, and what action it can take on this issue.
Answer
It is still unclear what the practical implications of LINK's changes to the ATM interchange rate will be for consumers, businesses and communities in Scotland. The uncertainty surrounding the potential implications of changes, on top of the branch closure announcements is unacceptable. Our communities need to know that they will have continuing, secure, free access to cash to allow them to go about their daily lives.
The Scottish Government supports the protection of an ATM presence, particularly in areas of lower income, remote and rural communities, and those communities without ready access to alternatives such as bank branches and Post Offices.
The regulation of financial services remains a power reserved to the UK Government and Parliament under the terms of the Scotland Act (1998), and the Scottish Government is therefore unable to intervene in LINK's decision or to legislate or regulate on such matters. However, I have written to both the UK's Payment Systems Regulator and to John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, in support of the Which? and FSB campaign to protect the ATM network and in support of their call for a wider review of payment systems to ensure that Scottish communities continue to have access to a network of free-to-use ATMs.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what factors it has taken into account regarding its plans to increase removal fees for vehicles involved in accidents or that have broken down.
Answer
The charges for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles were last reviewed in 2005, and since then inflationary and operational costs of this work have increased. The Scottish Government believes that it is now time to review these charges to ensure that they are fair both to those carrying out the recoveries and to those whose vehicles are being recovered. The Government is therefore currently holding a public consultation, to ensure that interested parties have the chance to feed in their views. Chapter 6 of the consultation paper sets out a range of factors that have been taken into account in developing the proposals for revised charges, including suggestions for changes made by stakeholders.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its review of removal fees, what information it has regarding any rises in operator costs for the removal of vehicles involved accidents or that have broken down.
Answer
As paragraph 6.9 of the Consultation Paper states, how much operators’ costs have increased since 2005 is uncertain. Factors contributing to increased costs over the past 13 years include increased employees’ wages, and increases to fuel and equipment costs. The purpose of the consultation is to ensure the views of industry members and the public are taken into account when setting the charges that can be applied to this type of work. The Scottish Government will seek to ensure that the revised charges will be fair to both those whose vehicles are being recovered and to those carrying out this work.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland's recent report on victims' right to review, and complaints handling and feedback.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that foundation apprenticeships are offered by every school by 2020.
Answer
This Government is making significant progress on expanding the reach and number of opportunities within our Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) programme.
Despite the relatively recent introduction o f FAs in 2016, in a short period of time we have rapidly grown the number of opportunities from a standing start, to deliver an increase of over 600% in the numbers between 2016 and 2018.
The Scottish Government is committed to ambitious targets of 5000 FAs in 2019, and the further embedding of FAs in the curriculum of schools across the country. FAs are already available in schools in each of the 32 local authority areas.
- Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much it will cost to (a) implement and (b) administer the new tax bands.
Answer
Total operating costs for Scottish income tax incurred in 2017-18 are £0.5m. This includes the costs associated with the income tax rates and bands for 2018-19. We are working with HMRC to develop an estimate of operating costs in 2018-19 for Scottish income tax and will provide an update in due course. We continue to expect those costs to be a maximum of £2 million.
