Chamber and committees

A regional approach to bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) eradication was considered in an earlier phase of the eradication scheme but ruled out due to the complexity of administering such a scheme in a country where many cattle move between businesses several times during their lives.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of freshwater dredging. Dredging is regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities)(Scotland)Regulations 2011. These regulations have three tiers of authorisation depending on the risk to the water environment. A licence is required for activities which pose the greatest risk, and SEPA considers any potential risk and impact when assessing an application and setting licence conditions.

Currently, the only renewable fuel CHP technology supported by the UK Government Feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme is anaerobic digestion (excluding sewage gas). Solid biomass, sewage gas and landfill gas CHP are specifically excluded from the FiT scheme on the grounds that it is considered there is adequate support available through the Renewables Obligation(RO) scheme.

The Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland are delivered through Home Energy Scotland, which is run by the Energy Saving Trust, the Scottish Government’s trusted energy advice provider. None of the Scottish Government energy efficiency programmes involve cold calling and Ministers have publicly condemned nuisance callers that have been misleading customers.

People completing their SAF will make changes to the turnaround information presented in their SAF for a number of reasons: because their circumstances have changed during the year, or their eligibility, or because they have decided to claim in a different way, or because of error or assumed error within our data. As there is no regulatory requirement to do so and the reasons can be so various, we do not keep a record of the number of changes made. To do so would add unnecessary cost and complexity to the system and require us to seek more information from customers on the reasons for their changes.

The Scottish Government funds a number of projects which help to tackle hate crime and prejudice, and these are listed online at: https://beta.gov.scot/publications/equality-funding-2016-2017/. Bids to the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund are assessed in relation to the criteria contained in the guidance for bids. Funding applications must relate to specific outcomes (for example, people covered by hate crime legislation to experience lower levels of hate crime) and funded projects are required to submit progress reports every six months to demonstrate the impact their work is having for intended beneficiaries.

Baby Boxes will be rolled out nationally and therefore, will be available to families with children born in every local authority area, from Summer 2017.

Three projects in Dumfries and Galloway have received support from the People and Communities Fund, totalling £132,233. The projects are listed below along with a brief description. To note that the Irvine Housing Association Springboard project covered more than the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area.

Moffat Town Hall Redevelopment Trust – The Friday Club – £39,484 (2015-17)

This project is providing a holistic service for local elderly residents to help address social isolation issues in the Moffat area of Dumfries and Galloway. The project encompasses a range of services provided by local voluntary area service groups as a one stop shop idea. This includes volunteers who are trained by experienced staff and other volunteers.

Irvine Housing Association – Springboard – £63,452 (2012-15)

This project provided an overarching support service to people living in the most deprived areas of North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway. The focus was support for fuel poverty issues, money advice and employability support.

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership – Introduction to Construction £29,297 – (2012-13)

This project provided work-based job placements to 16 local unemployed people in Dumfries and Galloway. The aim was to help them develop core work skills, construction trade skills and practical work experience.

The Scottish Government has fully considered the Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds. We consider that the provisions of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 are sufficient to ensure that action can be taken if the welfare of greyhounds, whether still racing or retired, is not being met. The provisions of Part 2 of the Act apply to all people responsible for animals, including breeders, trainers and owners of racing greyhounds.

On receipt of the letter dated 10 January 2017 from Mr Mundell, officials approached the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to ask for specific details about staffing and ambulance provision in Kirkconnel and the Dumfries & Galloway (D&G) region.

SAS confirmed that Kirkconnel Station has a full complement of staffing at present with 5 crew members. There are also 13 A&E Units deployed across D&G that will respond to call-outs in Kirkconnel when required.

In total there are 57.5 whole time equivalent (wte) Paramedics and 7.5 wte vacancies. To address these vacancies, SAS confirmed that 6 new trainee technicians will be appointed to the Dumfries & Galloway region. In addition, there are 5 Community First Responder Schemes in operation in the D&G region.