Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-10714

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any concerns by Unison regarding reports of unsafe working practices in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S6W-10707

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support local newspapers.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of local news publishers as a key part of the public interest news sector in Scotland. We recognise the value that local newspapers bring to their communities, and the important role they play as part of a well-functioning democracy.

In 2021, the Scottish Government set up the Public Interest Journalism Working Group to consider the long-term sustainability of public interest journalism, including local news, in Scotland, and to recommend ways to ensure its ongoing resilience and relevance. We responded to the Group’s recommendations in June 2022. This included a commitment to facilitate a roundtable event this Autumn, to support the creation of a new Scottish Public Interest Journalism Institute.

While it is not for Scottish Government to influence the remit of the Institute, it is likely, in line with the Working Group’s recommendations, that part of its role will be to support local news.

Separately, the Scottish Government spent £258,056.00 on local newspaper advertising in the financial year 2021-22.

Question reference: S6O-01410

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what accountability mechanisms are available to communities who believe they are receiving inadequate GP services.

Question reference: S6W-10499

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the final public cost has been of bringing the two giant pandas to Edinburgh Zoo.

Question reference: S6W-10704

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Section 70 complaint procedures under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provide an option for the complainant to consent to the publication of an unredacted version of the final decision they receive.

Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides that any interested party can make a complaint to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body has failed to discharge a statutory duty relating to education.

Following investigation of the complaint, Scottish Ministers may make an order declaring the responsible body to be in default of the duty and requiring them to discharge the duty by a specified date.

The complaint procedures do not provide an option for the complainant to consent to the publication of an unredacted version of the final decision they receive.

Question reference: S6W-10517

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent analysis it has undertaken of local authority capacity to scrutinise and process large-scale windfarm proposals.

Scottish Ministers determine windfarm proposals exceeding 50 megawatts under the Electricity Act (1989) which is reserved to UK Government.

Local planning authorities are statutory consultees under the Electricity Act and their capacity to scrutinise large scale windfarm proposals varies across planning authorities. The Scottish Government is working with planning authorities to understand where capacity needs to be bolstered and is supporting planning authorities to increase capacity where it is needed most. As such, there has been no formal analysis of capacity across all planning authorities.

Question reference: S6W-10522

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the standard payment to private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers of early learning and childcare, per eligible child, at each age range for each local authority.

Childcare providers in the private, third and childminding sectors who deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC) receive a sustainable rate from their local authority for the delivery of these hours.

There is no standard payment and local authorities set sustainable rates for providers in their area in-line with the joint Scottish Government and COSLA guidance .

The Scottish Government is committed to collecting data annually on the sustainable rates set by each local authority. This includes information on any variations in the rates paid to children in different age groups.

We published data on sustainable rates for 2021-22 in ‘ Overview of local authority funding and support for early learning and childcare providers’. Data on sustainable rates for 2022-23 will be published in the Autumn.

Question reference: S6W-10705

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the use of drones to spray Asulox on inaccessible ground, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The authorisation of plant protection products (PPPs) is an area devolved to the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers have arranged for functions related to regulating PPPs to be exercised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on our behalf. Whilst Asulox does not currently hold a full approval for use, the Scottish Government carefully considered and consented to, the HSE’s recommendation to authorise limited and controlled emergency use of Asulox for bracken management during 2022.

Delivery of PPPs by drone falls under the HSE regulations covering aerial spraying. To ensure safety on the ground and in the air both the HSE and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are involved in considering any such applications. Scottish Ministers encourage our regulator and stakeholders to look to solutions that decrease risks to human and environmental health.

Question reference: S6W-10896

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the average hourly rate of pay is for a nurse employed through an agency, and how this compares with the rate of pay for a nurse employed directly by the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-10897

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, along with a policy of encouraging more renewable electricity generation, whether an expansion of low-cost wind energy generation in Scotland will result in lower electricity bills.

The Scottish Government does not have powers to act in this area (as the generation, transportation and supply of electricity is reserved to the UK Government).

Electricity is a commodity traded on the wholesale energy market across GB, the price of which is set by the last (or marginal) unit, which in GB is typically gas.

New renewable electricity capacity that is supported by the Contract for Difference (CfD) framework will help to decouple the price of renewable electricity from the price of gas by setting a fixed ‘strike price’ for the sale of every MWh over a 15-year period.

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