- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it will establish a pilot scheme for partial re-wetting projects.
Answer
On 18 April, I made a statement to the Scottish Parliament with new measures aimed at accelerating Scotland’s journey to net zero. These included a commitment to explore how partial rewetting of peat soils might help to further reduce carbon emissions alongside our existing commitment to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peat by 2030. We will work with farmers, crofters and other land managers to understand the scope for such an approach in Scotland, its costs and benefits, and how it could be part of future agricultural support from 2026 onwards. Further details of any pilot scheme will be available in due course.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £30 million of targeted investment to help reduce inpatient and day-case waiting lists, as announced on 1 April 2024, will be spent, and how much is being allocated to each NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government, along with Health Boards and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), is actively considering opportunities to allocate funding to deliver activity utilising the £30 million investment announced by the First Minister on 1 April. This funding is being targeted at a series of national and local plans to reduce backlogs in orthopaedics, ophthalmology, diagnostics and cancer backlog by maximising the use of local and national resources across Scotland.
Once we have concluded this process we will provide a breakdown of how the funding has been allocated by Health Board.
The initial £30 million of targeted investment is the first instalment of a £300 million plan over the next three years to help reduce waiting lists, subject to the Scottish Budget process.
Decisions on the Government’s spending plans for future years are subject to the outcome of the annual Scottish Budget setting process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament. In-year revisions to the 2024-25 Scottish Budget are subject to parliamentary approval in the same way.
- Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of the use of conversion
therapy have been recorded since 2010, and under which bodies.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this data. At present, Scots law does not provide for a specific criminal offence relating to conversion practices, nor is there another basis for any bodies to collect such data.
Both the independent Expert Advisory Group on Ending Conversion Practices and the Equalities, Human Rights & Civil Justice (EHRCJ) Committee heard from people in Scotland with recent lived experience of conversion practices. Each produced reports which provided insight into the prevalence and types of conversion practices used in Scotland.
In their report of 25 January 2022, the EHRCJ Committee concluded that sufficient research and evidence is available in relation to conversion practices in Scotland and recommended that the Scottish Government does not duplicate evidence gathering already undertaken.
The UK Government’s National LGBT Survey, conducted in 2017 identified that, in Scotland, 7% of ‘LGBT’ respondents had either undergone or been offered ‘conversion therapy’.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of safe walking routes to schools, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Assessment of the safety of walking routes is a responsibility of local authorities under section 51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980.
The Scottish Government expects local authorities to keep their criteria for providing school transport under review and be flexible enough to take into account factors relative to the nature of the route, which might affect pupil safety. These factors are set out in paragraph 18 of the - School Transport Guidance 2021 (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of how many children currently walk or cycle to school.
Answer
The Scottish Government funds Sustrans to undertake the annual Hands Up Scotland survey which provides information on the mode of travel to school used in Scotland. The most recent survey report was published in May 2023. It showed that in 2022, the percentage of school pupils travelling actively to school, either by walking, cycling, scootering or skating, was 49.4%.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many buildings are listed as category (a) A, (b) B and (c) C, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is available on the Historic Environment Scotland website at https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/search . A search can be conducted using the filters to specify a category of listed building as well as the local authority area. Guidance on how to use the Historic Environment Scotland portal is available at https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/guidance and https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/portal/docs/designations_search_user_guide.pdf .
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it (a) is spending and (b) plans to spend any funds raised from the interest applied to the Self-Build Loan Fund.
Answer
The Self Build Loan Fund is recyclable meaning that when loans are repaid, the money can be re-used, during the life of the fund, supporting more self-builders and providing more homes for future generations.
Interest from the SBLF is used to offset the cost of administering the Fund, including legal fees associated with each loan and administration costs paid to Communities Housing Trust who were appointed as the administering agent following a procurement process carried out in 2022.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09549 by Shona Robison on 19 July 2022, whether it will provide an update on (a) how many and (b) what value of Scotland Self-Build Loan Fund loans it has issued in each year of operation, and how many homes have been completed, broken down by local authority, since June 2022.
Answer
Since June 2022 a further 9 loans have been issued under the Self Build Loan Fund, with a total value of £1,367,967, and this is shown in table 1. The number of loans issued since June 2022, split by local authority, is shown in table 2.
Table 1: Number and Value of Self Build Loan Fund loans since June 2022
Year | Value of loans offered | Number of Loans |
1 | £652,967 (30-06-2022 to 31-03-2023) | 4 |
2 | £715,000 (01-04-2023 to 31-03-2024) | 5 |
Table 2: Number of loans issued since June 2022 split by local authority
Local Authority Area | No of loans | Value of loans £ |
Aberdeen-shire | 1 | 50,000 |
Highland | 3 | 520,000 |
Shetland | 1 | 175,000 |
Western Isles | 3 | 447,967 |
Stirling | 1 | 175,000 |
Total | 9 | 1,137,967 |
Since June 2022 a further 25 homes have been completed by people in receipt of a Self-Build Loan: Argyll & Bute - 1, Western Isles - 1, Highland - 15, S Lanarkshire - 2, Aberdeenshire – 1, Stirling – 1, Falkirk – 1, Shetland – 1, East Ayrshire – 1, Borders – 1.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Self-Build Loan Fund, how many people have defaulted on their loan repayments in each financial year since it was launched.
Answer
A total of 49 loans have been made to applicants, with 44 loans either fully repaid within agreed timescales or in the process of doing so. A total of 6 loans became subject to the default interest rate during 2023-24, 2 of these were repaid in full during that financial year, and 4 of these loans remain subject to the default interest rate. During the current financial year, 1 loan has been subject to the default interest rate.
We are delighted to provide support to people to build their own homes with the completion of 39 homes through the Self Build Loan Fund since it was established in September 2018.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12372 by Maree Todd on 8 December 2022, whether it will provide an update on the (a) percentage and (b) number of primary schools that are signed up to the Daily Mile scheme, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Please find attached a breakdown of (a) percentage and (b) number of primary schools that are signed up to The Daily Mile Initiative, broken down by local authority area.
Scotland Primary School Sign Up Percentages
Aberdeen City - 88%
Aberdeenshire - 45%
Angus - 53%
Argyll and Bute - 48%
Clackmannanshire - 89%
Dumfries and Galloway - 63%
Dundee City - 97%
East Ayrshire - 43%
East Dunbartonshire - 47%
East Lothian - 42%
East Renfrewshire - 79%
City of Edinburgh - 63%
Na h-Eileanan Sar - 90%
Falkirk - 46%
Fife - 27%
Glasgow City - 52%
Highland - 55%
Inverclyde - 45%
Midlothian - 63%
Moray - 27%
North Ayrshire - 31%
North Lanarkshire - 61%
Orkney Islands - 29%
Perth and Kinross - 47%
Renfrewshire - 38%
Scottish Borders - 27%
Shetland Islands - 52%
South Ayrshire - 68%
South Lanarkshire - 29%
Stirling - 50%
West Dunbartonshire - 72%
West Lothian - 63%
Scottish Primary Schools Sign Up Numbers
Aberdeen City - 42
Aberdeenshire - 65
Angus - 27
Argyll and Bute - 37
Clackmannanshire - 16
Dumfries and Galloway - 61
Dundee City - 32
East Ayrshire - 17
East Dunbartonshire - 16
East Lothian - 15
East Renfrewshire - 19
City of Edinburgh - 57
Na h-Eileanan Sar - 19
Falkirk - 22
Fife - 36
Glasgow City - 74
Highland - 93
Inverclyde - 9
Mid Lothian - 19
Moray - 12
North Ayrshire - 15
North Lanarkshire - 72
Orkney Islands - 6
Perth and Kinross - 33
Renfrewshire - 19
Scottish Borders - 16
Shetland Islands - 14
South Ayrshire - 28
South Lanarkshire - 36
Stirling - 19
West Dunbartonshire - 23
West Lothian - 43