Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-16704

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to ensure that rural communities have access to local GP services.

Question reference: S6W-16705

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the issue of marine protection.

Scottish Ministers have not met with the Defra Secretary of State to discuss marine protection. I have written to consecutive Defra Secretaries of State on two occasions (June 2022 and October 2022) regarding powers for Scottish Ministers to designate HPMAs in Scottish offshore waters and suggesting a meeting to discuss respective priorities regarding the delivery of HPMAs. This meeting has been postponed twice but is currently being arranged.

Question reference: S6W-16699

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding Highly Protected Marine Areas in offshore waters around Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-16706

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the recommendations from the Suckler Beef Climate Scheme: Final Report will be put into effect.

The concept of a Suckler Beef Climate Scheme (SBCS) was one output of the Farmer Led Group initiative, which was followed by the establishment of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB).

The ARIOB is supporting the Scottish Government to develop new proposals for sustainable farm support by considering the Climate Change Plan Update and the Farmer-led Groups recommendations, including the recommendations from the Suckler Beef Climate Scheme: Final Report.

In February we published the route map for agriculture reform. The route map provides more detail on how we will deliver the transition process and the steps we will take to get there. Alongside our route map we published a potential list of measures, intended to show farmers and crofters what conditions are being considered for implantation in future support. In this draft list of measures we have identified cattle nutrition, cattle health and genetics as areas of interest for future support conditions, these measures build on the recommendations made in the Suckler Beef Climate Scheme: Final Report which recognised health, nutrition and improved breeding as areas with significant emissions reduction potential.

Decisions on the future support framework and any specific measures will be determined as part of the wider agricultural reform process. Work is ongoing and we remain committed to a co-design approach. This includes continued work with the (ARIOB) and engagement with wider industry.

Question reference: S6W-16097

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the (a) use and (b) provision of sensors in NHS Scotland to monitor blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes.

We are aware that flash glucose sensors, Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM), and other diabetes technologies can significantly benefit people living with diabetes. Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2021, contains a key commitment to further increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies. A link to the Plan can be found at link: Diabetes Care in Scotland (www.gov.scot) .

Our national policy is to increase access to these life changing diabetes technologies to everyone who would benefit, and we expect NHS Boards to provide technology to all clinically suitable children and adults.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Scottish Government invested £15 million to support the increased provision of insulin pumps for adults and CGM for all ages.

Further funding of £14.6 million was then allocated to NHS Boards in January 2022 to support increased access to diabetes therapies, including the emerging closed loop system technology.

We work closely with the Diabetes Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) within each board and ensure that all resource support is targeted to support the needs of local populations.

Question reference: S6O-02080

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the re-opening of railway stations in Dumfriesshire.

Question reference: S6W-15786

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to address the situation whereby the available noise budget at Eskdalemuir Seismic Array is being allocated to Section 36 wind farm projects at scoping stage, while wind farm applications to Dumfries and Galloway Council have to wait until the application is submitted to be allocated a share of any available noise budget.

Safeguarding the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and any decision to amend the seismic noise budget for the array is a decision for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the seismic noise budget for the Eskdalemuir consultation zone has been consumed and that currently the Ministry of Defence will object to all developments within the consultation zone, both Section 36 applications and local planning applications, in order to protect the operation of the array.

Question reference: S6W-14901

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions its transport officials have had with Dumfries and Galloway Council regarding the possibility of using the A75 road bridge across the River Annan (River Annan Bridge) as a temporary footbridge.

Transport Scotland has recently been made aware of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s internal discussions relating to the possibility of using the A75 160 Annan Road Bridge for foot traffic.

Dumfries and Galloway Council has yet to decide whether to make an approach to Transport Scotland as they are conscious of difficulties relating to the provision of pedestrian access to and from the structure and the protection of foot traffic crossing the structure.

Question reference: S6W-15304

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of Food Standards Scotland’s annual budget has been spent on investigations in each of the last three years.

Food Standards Scotland has a dedicated Food and Feed Incident Team comprising a Head of Incidents, an Incident Manager and three incident officers. The team is also assisted by a Support Team comprising a Support Manager and Support Officer. These two individuals assist in the investigation of food- feed incidents, however, much of their time is spent on other divisional priorities.

When identifying the spend on food- feed investigations, consideration has been given to staffing costs along with other associated costs linked with carrying out the investigations. The spend is assuming the full time cost of all members of staff, including the support team.

The following table presents the annual spend on incidents for the last 3 years and the percentage of the overall Food Standards Scotland budget this reflects.

Year	Spend on Incidents	% of FSS budget
2020- 2021	210,806	1.1%**
2021- 2022	299,686*	1.4%**
2022- 2023	380,955	1.7%**

* The Head of incidents and 1 of the Incident Officers were introduced between October and December 2021

**Rounded to the nearest 0.1%

Question reference: S6W-14900

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any delays to responding to subject access requests at the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the Scottish Ambulance Service and is kept informed of performance against a range of operational processes, including subject access requests (SARs).

The Scottish Ambulance Service deals with a number of SARs every month with the majority of these requests processed within timescales.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is committed to ensuring continued improvement in responding to such requests.

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