Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-27962

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to review cyber security, in light of the reported recent breaches at Scottish public bodies.

The Scottish Government recognises that cyber resilience is paramount for the delivery of secure digital public services, and it works closely with the Scottish public sector to strengthen its cyber security posture through the implementation of The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland.

Staying ahead of cyber criminals is an ongoing battle; as technologies evolve, so do their tactics. Public bodies are responsible for their own cyber resilience and security arrangements and must continually adapt to emerging threats.

The Scottish Government supports public sector bodies to help strengthen their cyber resilience and address areas for improvement. This includes embedding robust security standards, controls and governance, maintaining and regularly testing incident response plans, training staff and learning lessons identified from incidents.

Additionally, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre plays a key role in coordinating effective multi-agency response to incidents which impact on the public sector.

Question reference: S6W-27966

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to manage badger populations in the south of Scotland.

Badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 as amended by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011.

NatureScot, the licensing agency in Scotland, may consider issuing licences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 to undertake actions for a specific purpose, such as to prevent serious damage by badgers to agriculture.

Recent research investigating reports of badger predation on lambs on Scottish farms was undertaken in 2022 and 2023 by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), in conjunction with NatureScot, Scottish Land and Estates, and the National Farmers Union Scotland, The research found that whilst the results cannot fully rule out the occurrence of badger predation, they strongly suggest that foxes are most likely to be responsible for the majority of lamb predation events on Scottish farms. A copy of the report of this research can be found at:

https://www.nature.scot/doc/naturescot-research-report-1345-investigating-role-badgers-meles-meles-lamb-predation-scottish-farms

Question reference: S6W-27767

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has made available to install Changing Places toilets in (a) the current financial year to date and (b) each of the last five financial years.

Question reference: S6W-27727

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to ensure that (a) families have a choice of settings to access the 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare and (b) local authorities are encouraged to increase capacity.

Question reference: S6W-27508

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the phenomenon know as wind theft where larger turbines built near existing turbines impact on the electricity generated.

Question reference: S6W-26828

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many out-of-hours doctors have been on call in NHS Dumfries and Galloway on each of the last 30 days, also broken down by the location at which they have been based.

The Dumfries and Galloway (D&G) Out of Hours Service do not operate an 'on-call' model of service.

Whilst the number of GPs working in the Out of Hours service is not collected routinely by the Board, in the 30 days up to the 11 April, when the Parliamentary Question was lodged, there were 240 required shifts at the Dumfries Royal Infirmary base, of which 233 were filled. this equates to 97.08% coverage. In the same period, there were 92 required shifts at the Galloway Community Hospital base, of which 69 were filled. This equates to 75% coverage.

NHS D&G have robust arrangements in place to cover any GP cover shortages, with remote cover being provided from the centre in Dumfries and arrangements in place with A&E to re-direct if this is deemed clinically appropriate. The service maintains the home visiting service throughout and operates a wraparound nursing service to provide Out of Hours healthcare as required.

Question reference: S6O-03359

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the energy minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any support that it provides to communities opposing onshore windfarm developments at public inquiries.

Question reference: S6O-03309

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the Ministerial Taskforce on Population has made of the potential impact of the centralisation of services on the sustainability of rural communities.

Question reference: S6O-03261

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the creation of new jobs at the Chapelcross site near Annan.

Question reference: S6W-25973

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the initial predicted contract cost with ACER for Scottish National Standardised Assessments was, and what the actual final cost totalled.

The estimated value in the invitation to tender was £10 million over 5 years. This was not a detailed estimate but a guide price to inform potential bidders – standard practice when issuing an Invitation To Tender of this sort. The contract was extended for a further year due to the impact of Covid and the restrictions it placed on effective public procurement.

The completion cost of the 6-year contract with ACER UK was £17m. This figure includes the initial start-up costs, for the technical development of the assessment platform, annual running costs, and continuous improvement work to ensure that the assessment platform remains engaging for learners and continues to meet teachers’ needs.