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: S6W-23549

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed speed cameras are currently (a) operational and (b) not operational, broken down by local authority area.

Across Scotland, safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily at locations where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions, and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding.

National management of the Programme is shared between Transport Scotland and Police Scotland. Operational delivery of the Programme is the responsibility of Police Scotland and is managed through three regional Safety Camera Units, North, East and West. The following data is based on information submitted by Police Scotland to Transport Scotland.

	East Unit		North Unit		West Unit		National
	Operation-al	Non-operational	Operation-al	Non-operational	Operation-al	Non-operational	Operation-al	Non-operational
Fixed enforcement locations	55	11	5	9	58	13	118	33
Fixed enforcement camera equipment	18	0	5	2	22	8	45	10

The locations of all safety cameras deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme can be viewed at: www.safetycameras.gov.scot/cameras/safety-camera-locations/ .

Question reference: S6W-23622

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12793 by Neil Gray on 12 December 2022, what information it has on how many Freedom of Information requests have been made to Historic Environment Scotland in 2023, and what percentage of those requests were answered on or within 20 working days.

Question reference: S6W-23623

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12784 by Neil Gray on 12 December 2022, what information it has on how many members of Historic Scotland there are as of 30 November 2023.

Question reference: S6W-23624

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12785 by Neil Gray on 12 December 2022, what information it has on what the total cost was for an (a) adult, (b) concession and (c) young person Direct Debit membership for Historic Scotland in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-23625

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12786 by Neil Gray on 12 December 2022, what information it holds on how many sites that are managed by Historic Environment Scotland and its predecessor agencies have been (a) open, (b) temporarily closed and (c) permanently closed in 2022-23.

Historic Environment Scotland is making good progress on its inspection programme which is due to conclude at the end of March next year. The Scottish Government supports Historic Environment Scotland’s approach that continues to put the health and safety of individuals first, reopening sites only when safe to do so.

The information the Scottish Government holds is that of the 70 sites that had access restricted due to High Level Masonry issues, there is now full or partial access at 53 of those sites.

As this is not the full information requested, I have also asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing . Details of the inspection programme and site re-openings are published on the Historic Environment Scotland website.

Question reference: S6W-23551

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the levels of food waste in each local authority area, in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-23554

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will give to local authorities to increase gritting services this winter.

Local Authorities are accountable to their local communities and have the financial freedom to operate independently, taking account of local needs.

As independent corporate bodies, it is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

Question reference: S6W-23552

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is meeting its commitment to reduce food waste by one third by 2025.

Question reference: S6W-23553

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with third sector organisations in relation to its commitment to reduce food waste by one third by 2025.

The Scottish Government has discussed food waste with a range of representative and third sector organisations. For example, an eNGO roundtable event took place with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Scottish Environment Link members, with representatives from: WWF; Friends of the Earth Scotland; Circular Communities Scotland; and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. Another example is ongoing support and engagement with WRAP UK - a climate action NGO – which has expertise in food waste reduction. We have also engaged with FareShare on food redistribution. This engagement is complemented by programme partners at Zero Waste Scotland who work with community food groups and wider third sector organisations on food waste reduction.

Question reference: S6W-23471

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to allocate additional funding to promote squash, in light of reports that squash has been approved as an Olympic sport for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Following the inclusion of squash in the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics, squash will now be eligible for the UK Sport investment process. UK Sport strategically invests in the summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and other major championship events to maximise the performance of UK athletes.

The Scottish Government is a strong supporter of Scottish Squash and recognises its contribution to raising Scotland’s profile on the international sporting stage, as well as promoting the wider benefits of sport and physical activity.

sport scotland, our national agency for sport, is investing up to £494,700 into Scottish Squash in 2023-24, an increase of 14.9% in investment from the previous year. sport scotland’s investment supports a wide range of activity that encourages and supports people to participate in squash at all levels, including school, club and coach development, and its performance programme. The additional investment in 2023-24 is specifically aligned to the continued development of a broader and more inclusive player pathway.