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: S5W-20390

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14751 by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 March 2018, what account it takes of climate change when considering whether to fund new flood defence systems, and how many new systems in each of the last five years that it has provided funding for (a) have and (b) have not been subject to such consideration by it.

Question reference: S5W-20377

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14751 by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 March 2018, what its position is on whether local authorities should take account of climate change when considering new flood defence systems, and what information it has regarding how many new systems that it has provided funding for in each of the last five years (a) have and (b) have not been subject to such consideration by the relevant councils.

The Scottish Government provides guidance for responsible authorities on the economic, social and environmental aspects of option appraisal for actions promoted under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-support-sepa-responsible-authorities/ . It includes guidance on how to take climate change into account. The Scottish Government does not hold information on what consideration has been given to climate change by local authorities when designing new flood protection schemes.

It is for the local authority to decide on the standard of protection for a proposed scheme based on all the relevant factors. The approach should be risk based, linking benefits to costs with the aim of maximising the reduction in overall risk.

Climate change has not been a specific consideration when making decisions about which flood protection schemes should be funded. In 2012 an arrangement was agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA whereby the flooding component of the General Capital Grant would be distributed to major projects against a set of eligibility criteria agreed by Scottish Ministers and COSLA. No design standards were applied at this time but schemes had to be able to demonstrate a positive benefit cost ratio of greater than 1 and demonstrate project value for money.

In July 2016 it was agreed by Scottish Ministers and COSLA that from 2016-17 onwards 80% of the flood component of the general capital grant would be allocated to large scale projects and distributed according to the prioritised list of flooding schemes and works set out in the Flood Risk Management Strategies. Schemes proposed in the flood risk management strategies were prioritised according to their cost benefit ratio and taking into account a series of additional criteria, encompassing the environmental and social impacts of flooding. This list was agreed by the National Prioritisation Advisory Group which was chaired by the Scottish Government. It was agreed that for 2016-2021 all the 40 schemes on the prioritised list would receive 80% grant funding if they went ahead.

Question reference: S5W-20090

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring of water conditions are being undertaken at Pow Burn in Powfoot, in light of the recently reported incidents.

SEPA's water quality monitoring programme requires that routine sampling of invertebrates is undertaken twice a year, every third year. This routine monitoring was carried out on the Pow Burn at Hurkledale, upstream of Powfoot, in 2017.

SEPA has advised that as a result of a fish kill in the Pow Burn reported on 5 August 2018, an invertebrates survey was undertaken on 7 August both upstream and downstream of the suspected source. The report suggests that the invertebrates were unaffected.

SEPA has also noted that the water flows in the Pow Burn were extremely low at that time and fish would have been under considerable stress due to high temperature and fluctuating oxygen levels; and it is possible that a relatively small amount of pollution in addition may have resulted in the reported fish kill. It is conceivable that invertebrates may not have been affected in the same way.

To verify whether there are any long term effects of this incident, a further invertebrates sampling exercise will be carried out in 2019.

Question reference: S5W-20092

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has received regarding site fee increases for park homes.

Question reference: S5W-20091

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to changing the legislation regarding site fee increases for park homes from using the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The Scottish Government has carried out a considerable amount of work on park home (mobile home) issues since 2012. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Scotland) Order 2013 significantly enhanced the protection of park home residents in Scotland. The key objective of the order was to provide better protection for site residents while ensuring the viability of privately owned sites. The considerations to be taken into account when calculating pitch fees are set out and increases are capped, in accordance with RPI, to balance the interests of site owners and residents. There are no plans to review this position.

Question reference: S5O-02646

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve educational provision and experiences for young people with autism.

Question reference: S5W-19083

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing interview feedback on request to applicants for government jobs who are disabled.

Question reference: S5W-19035

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what defines a "remote rural settlement" for the purpose of wind development.

Question reference: S5W-18894

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 4 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns raised by pupils at St Mungo Primary School, whether it will confirm what plans it has to improve broadband in rural communities around Kettleholm.

I welcome the feedback from the pupils of St Mungo Primary School which raises the importance of broadband provisions in the Kettleholm area, for the perspective of young people in a region that, for obvious reasons is close to my heart.

Regulation and legislative competence in the area of telecommunications is the responsibility of UK Government Ministers. The Scottish Government shares the concern of local communities at the poor coverage that resulted in rural areas and the Scottish Government has choose to step in to accelerate the roll out.

To date, the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has delivered fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connectivity to around 60 premises in the Kettleholm area, including St. Mungo Primary School and the school house. Further deployment in the area is planned, with around 70 more premises due to be connected via the DSSB programme by March 2019. Site survey and planning work has still to be completed, however, so these timescales are subject to change.

Any premises in the area which remain unable to access superfast broadband services will be included in the intervention area for the Reaching 100% (R100) programme, which will deliver the Scottish Government's commitment to extend superfast broadband access to every home and business across Scotland. We are investing £600 million in the initial phase of the programme. Despite repeated requests, the UK Government's contribution to this investment remains just £20.99 million (3.5% of the total).

Procurement for this initial phase is well underway, and we will announce further plans in 2019, once contracts have been awarded.

Question reference: S5O-02438

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support school pupils with autism.

We want all children and young people to receive the support needed to reach their full learning potential.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities to secure more positive experiences for pupils with autism.

We will do this by improving consistency of support, career pathways and professional development for support for learning teachers, and building further capacity.

I will also be meeting with third sector organisations involved in the publication of ‘Not Included, Not engaged, Not involved’ to determine what further action may be needed to strengthen support for pupils with autism in schools.