Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-08365

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what training teachers receive in synthetic phonics.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) accredit all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes leading to the award of the Standard for Provisional Registration in Scotland. The GTCS will agree content with the relevant ITE provider to ensure that the content will support student teachers to develop their knowledge, understanding and practice. As set out in the Standard for Professional Registration, teachers are expected to employ teaching strategies and resources to meet the needs and abilities of every learner.

Education Scotland offers support to practitioners in a number of areas, including literacy and synthetic phonics, through online platforms such as the Glow based National Literacy Professional Learning Community.

Question reference: S6W-08349

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects jury trials to resume in Dumfries.

Court programming is a matter for the senior judiciary, supported by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). SCTS advise that jury trials resumed in Dumfries Sheriff Court in April 2021. Under present arrangements, the jurors for these trials attend the remote jury centre in Ayr . However, from July the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service will begin decommissioning remote jury centres for most purposes. That process is due to be completed by October, and so on current planning assumptions jurors should be cited back to local courts - including Dumfries - by October.

Question reference: S6W-08352

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the provision of and access to allotments.

Allotments and their provision are the responsibility of local authorities. That is set out in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. However, since 2012, the Scottish Government has allocated more than £1.6 million to directly support and increase the land that is available for community growing.

This funding includes:

The Community Growing Fund, a grant scheme for the years 2019/2020 and 2020/21, providing a total of £80,000 to local community growing groups public bodies and third sector organisations.

For the years 2016 to 2022, nearly £490,000 has been allocated to various growing groups in Scotland, amongst them are Trellis, Social Farms and Gardens and Grow Green.

Funding to the Green Action Trust (previously Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN)) to allocate grants to projects that aim to increase the amount of land for community growing. Since 2012 around £1.04 million has been provided.

Question reference: S6W-08364

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of synthetic phonics in the teaching of literacy.

Question reference: S6W-08195

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will grant an extension to businesses that were awarded grants through the COVID-19 Business Ventilation Fund but which did not receive notice from Dumfries and Galloway Council in time to have works carried out.

As stated in the Business Ventilation Fund Guidance published on 23 November 2021, the deadline for works to be completed was 31 March 2022, as the budget for this fund was only available for financial year 2021-22.

The Scottish Government extended the deadline for submitting claims to 15 April 2022 to allow businesses to get works done and provide the paperwork required for claims to be made.

The Scottish Government will evaluate the impact of the Business Ventilation Fund and consider more widely how organisations can be supported to improve ventilation in their premises.

Question reference: S6W-08196

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role NHS boards have in monitoring the performance of dental practices treating NHS patients and the availability of NHS treatment.

Question reference: S6W-08362

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08000 by Kate Forbes on 25 April 2022, how many candidates with agricultural experience applied for the recently advertised vacancies.

South of Scotland Enterprise advertised for four new Board members in Autumn 2021. Applicants were asked to demonstrate evidence of their skills, knowledge and experience in one of three areas: land based industries; governance/strategic management; or digital transformation.

The Scottish Government received 47 completed applications for the advertised vacancies. Of these, over a third (16 applicants) set out evidence under the ‘land-based industry’ criterion. However, it is possible that other applicants, who chose to set out evidence against one of the other criteria instead, may also have experience in land based industries.

Question reference: S6O-01074

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to increase subject choice for secondary pupils.

Question reference: S6W-07063

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason premises in Class 7 under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997 are no longer exempt from the short-term let licensing legislation.

Some premises listed in Use Class 7 (of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997) are exempt from short-term let licensing legislation. Schedule 1 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 (the “Licensing Order”) sets out excluded accommodation. Class 7 premises that are exempt are:

a hotel, which has planning permission granted for use as a hotel
a hostel

In addition, the following exemption will also be relevant to some Use Class 7 premises (including hotels and guest houses):

premises in respect of which a premises licence within the meaning of section 17 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 has effect and where the provision of accommodation is an activity listed in the operating plan as defined in section 20(4) of the 2005 Act

Guest houses were originally listed as excluded accommodation in a previous version of the Licensing Order laid in December 2020. However, in response to feedback from our stakeholder working group we subsequently removed guest houses from the list of excluded accommodation and undertook further public consultation on this in June 2021. As guest houses can be variants of home sharing, they should not be automatically excluded. Further information is set out in the 2021 consultation paper (item 1 in table 2 at page 12): Short term lets - draft licensing order and business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA): consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Unless otherwise excluded by any of the criteria set out in Schedule 1 of the Licensing Order, use class 7 premises are therefore within scope of the definition of a short-term let in the Order laid in November 2021 and approved by the Scottish Parliament in January 2022.

Question reference: S6W-08001

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address antisocial behaviour, in particular in relation to repeat offenders.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities continue to have the powers and resources needed to address antisocial behaviour in our communities. This includes investing in prevention and early intervention.

No single approach will tackle all antisocial behaviour and that is why we support a range of activities which includes the use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) and Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN’s) alongside diversionary and early intervention activities in appropriate circumstances. We encourage agencies to work in partnership to address the issues being faced by communities and work with them to address these issues, including dealing with those who are persistent offenders.

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