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: S5O-03623

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported 11% increase in crime in Dumfries and Galloway in 2018-19.

The biggest contributor to the increase in police recorded crime in Dumfries & Galloway was growth in drug possession – which could to some extent be due to operational decisions in prioritising enforcement. Nevertheless, the harmful impact problem drug use has on our communities is clear, and we have convened a Drug Deaths Taskforce to advise on what further changes, in practice or in law, could help save lives and reduce harm.

More broadly we will continue to bear down on crime through protecting police budgets and substantial investment in preventative programs. Through this we’ve seen the percentage of adults who are victims of crime in Dumfries & Galloway fall from 14.6% in 2008-09 to 6.2% over 2016 to 2018, one of the lowest levels in Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-03642

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact on Scotland of Northern Ireland having a different economic relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S5W-25366

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve care for people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland is under development with work being taken forward with specialist clinicians and third sector, including Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland and the British Lung Foundation representing patients interests.

The Plan will set out the main priorities in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory conditions, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Our expectation remains to publish the Plan in late 2019 for public consultation which will be open to all. It will be available on the Scottish Government's consultation hub at: https://consult.gov.scot/ .

Question reference: S5W-25383

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how its respiratory care action plan will help increase the number of specialist nurses available for people with (a) idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and (b) interstitial lung disease.

Question reference: S5W-25382

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how its respiratory care action plan will support the early diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis to help ensure that patients get early access to high resolution CT scanning.

Question reference: S5W-25381

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how its respiratory care action plan will ensure that there is an interstitial lung disease specialist in each hospital.

Question reference: S5W-25019

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects the £23.3 million of funding provided to the South of Scotland Enterprise Partnership for the financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20 to be allocated to projects in its entirety by the end of 2019-20.

The Scottish Government has made £23.3 million available across financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20 to support the activities of the South of Scotland Economic Partnership (SOSEP) and to establish the new enterprise agency. A list of projects and activities supported to date is included in our response to S5W-25017 on 25 September 2019. We currently expect the remainder of the budget available for FY 2019-20 to be fully allocated, subject to project applications coming forward that meet SOSEP funding criteria. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-25017

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which projects have been awarded funding from the South of Scotland Enterprise Partnership since it was established, and how much funding each project received.

The 24 projects that have been awarded funding since the establishment of the South of Scotland Economic Partnership are detailed in the following table.

PROJECT	LOCATION	DESCRIPTION	FUNDING AWARDED
JOHNSTON SCHOOL	KIRKCUDBRIGHT	refurbishing and developing the building to include a darks skies visitor centre and planetarium as well as community, child care and business space	£300,000
HAWICK CONSERVATION AREA REGENERATION	HAWICK	conserving and enhancing key properties to act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of Hawick town centre	£60,000
COMMUNITY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PILOT	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	helping community leaders across the south of Scotland to develop capacity and confidence to drive tourism projects in their areas that will generate income for local people	£30,000
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	building the capacity of communities in the south of Scotland to be more enterprising and encouraging and supporting social enterprise formation	£69,804
STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES PROGRAMME	PEEBLES, NEWLANDS, TWEEDSMUIR, STRANRAER, ESKADALE, KIRKCUDBRIGHT AND KIRKCONNEL & KELLOHOLM	building capacity within communities by supporting the recruitment of project officers to help develop sustainable economic projects	£228,000
ANNAN REGENERATION	ANNAN	supporting the cost of a team to drive forward the Annan Action Plan to mitigate the impact of job losses in the town following the closure of Pinney's	£250,000
SKILLS & LEARNING NETWORK	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	creating a digital and physical network across the south of Scotland, providing better access to training for a wider network of students	£6,680,747
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN TEXTILES	HAWICK	addressing a business critical issue in textiles sector by establishing a centre to deliver training that will deliver key skills required to support industry growth	£610,000
RURAL SKILLS & ENTREPRE-NEURSHIP PROJECT	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	addressing gaps in the accessibility and availability of rural training across the south of Scotland, including two mobile learning centres and online learning materials to support the deilvery of rural skills, tailored for the South	£156,600
RE-TWEED	EYEMOUTH	piloting a business incubator to help a minimum of 10 women start and grow their business	£19,200
COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE SUPPORT	DUMFRIES, STRANRAER, ANNAN/LANGHOLM, UPPER NITHSDALE, HAWICK, EYEMOUTH & EAST BERWICKSHIRE, GALASHIELS, JEDBURGH	piloting a place-based approach to community enterprise support in towns / localities that best fit the current regeneration priorities and local areas of need within the south of Scotland, including supporting financially sustainable projects and recruiting 8 Community Enterprise Managers	£510,000
CRAWICK MULTIVERSE	CRAWICK, NR SANQUHAR	developing and marketing multi-functional visitor facilities to make Crawick more accessible and provide the opportunity to host events all year round	£67,000
GROWING RURAL TALENT	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	Innovative project co-developed by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Funding Council, colleges, schools, local authorities and the National Farmers Union of Scotland to give young people the skills and experience to support their introduction to the agricultural industry and support their careers in farming	£289,000
BUILDING A BETTER GALASHIELS	GALASHIELS	delivering a number of high impact town centre improvement and marketing projects in Galashiels	£72,500
PHILIPHAUGH	SELKIRK	extending the estate's collaboration with local business and developing new attractions, including a cafe, play park, salmon viewing centre and golden eagle visitor centre to encourage more visitors to the area.	£154,484
DUMFRIES ICE BOWL CURLING ASSOCIATION	DUMFRIES	a feasibilty study to establish more detail around the proposal to improve the facility to increase footfall and enable its wider use	up to £20,000
NEWCASTLETON BUNKHOUSE	NEWCASTLETON	a feasibility study to establish the commerical and economic viability of a community-owned bunkhouse	£9,000
ARTICULATION PROJECT	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	supporting the development of a coherent regional model to deliver increased pathways to higher education for learners in the south of Scotland through articulation	£79,000
STRATHCLYDE UNI RESEARCH ON BUSINESS BARRIERS	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	collecting and analysing data of current barriers to business growth in the south of Scotland	£49,875
DUNS DEVELOPMENT TRUST	DUNS	a feasibilty study to establish more detail around the proposal to develop a carbon reduction and energy efficient project at the Volunteer Hall	up to £20,000
MIDSTEEPLE QUARTER	DUMFRIES	a feasibilty study to produce a strategic visioning document with focus on creative industries workspace and affordable town centre accomodation	up to £20,000
ROCK UK ADVENTURE CENTRE	NEWCASTLETON	a feasibilty study to plan the strategic development of the centre	up to £20,000
SCOTTISH SUSTAINABILITY CENTRE	DUNION HILL, NR JEDBURGH	a feasibilty study to develop a tourist attraction to bring together all aspects of sustainable living to educate, inspire and encourage people to make real changes towards a low carbon lifestyle	up to £20,000
YEAR OF SCOTLAND'S STORIES PROJECT	ACROSS THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND	a feasibilty study to develop proposals to draw together Peter Pan Moat Brae Project, Borders Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival and Abbotsford Trust for Walter Scott 250th anniversary and 2022 Year of Scotland Stories	up to £20,000

Question reference: S5W-25245

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects Pentland Ferries’ complaints to the European Commission regarding the (a) retendering of the Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS) contract and (b) extension of the Road Equivalent Tariff scheme to the NIFS routes serving Orkney to be resolved.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with the European Commission on Pentland Ferries’ complaints about the tendering of the Northern Isles Ferry Services and proposals for introducing Road Equivalent Tariff and involving commercial operators. At this stage, it is not possible to provide a precise date when these complaints will be concluded.

On the preferred bidder for the public service contract and reduced fares, I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-25428 on 20 September 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-25246

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will publish the updated Vessel Replacement and Deployment Plan.