Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-31607

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance has been given to local authorities for monitoring Spaces for People schemes and the criteria for assessing whether measures can be made permanent.

Sustrans Scotland, who administer the Spaces for People programme, is providing guidance on monitoring as part of a package of support offered to local authorities. Guidance, which is bespoke and based on need, typically includes advice on developing monitoring plans, undertaking data collection, analysing data and reporting.

A national monitoring and evaluation framework for Spaces for People has been developed by Sustrans in partnership with Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland and distributed to local authorities.

It is for local authorities to determine, through evaluation of projects, whether or not they merit being made permanent. The Scottish Government provides support to local authorities for the creation of permanent walking and cycling infrastructure through the Places for Everyone programme.

Question reference: S5W-31610

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects all Spaces for People schemes to be completed.

Question reference: S5W-31608

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies have not yet completed the implementation of Spaces for People schemes.

Question reference: S5W-31754

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Agricultural Transformation Fund (a) has been and (b) remains to be allocated in 2020-21; what this will fund, and whether it plans to continue providing this funding in 2021-22 and future years.

Funding announced for the Agricultural Transformation Fund in the 2020-21 Scottish Budget was £20m capital and £20m Financial transactions. A total of £11.5m of capital expenditure has been announced so far this financial year which is made of £1.5m for forestry machinery and small farm and croft woodland planting and £10m for the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme.

None of the Financial transactions funding has yet been allocated. Opportunities to utilise this funding have been limited due to Covid restrictions on business earlier in the year.

Other options for funding are being investigated and further announcements on those will be made in future. Allocations of funding for future years will be dependent on the outcome of the Capital Spending Review and the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

Question reference: S5T-02403

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plan to extend the Emergency Measures Agreement to help rail services deal with the impact of COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-31752

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government further to the commitment in its Programme for Government to “bring forward recommendations for new mechanisms of agricultural support”, when it will publish these proposals, and whether it will set out detailed plans for after 2024.

Question reference: S5W-31753

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the recommendations of the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group will be published, and whether it has seen a draft copy.

The Farming and Food Production Future Policy group has been brought together to advise and recommend on future policy. The group will be meeting in late September and early October this year with a view to finalising the report soon thereafter. Ministers have had sight of a draft and look forward to receiving the finished report from the group in due course.

Summaries of the Group's discussions are available at:

https://www.gov.scot/groups/farming-and-food-production-group/#:~:text=Farming%20and%20Food%20Production%20Future%20Policy%20Group%201,faced%20by%20farmers%20...%202%20Members%203%20Documents

Question reference: S5W-31679

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 14 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31334 by Kate Forbes on 27 August 2020, whether it will publish the information requested now regarding an updated budget, broken down to Level 4 for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, with information on all changes made since March 2020.

I refer the member to my answer to question S5W-31334 and can confirm that there has been no changes to this.

As agreed with the Scottish Parliament, the Level 4 budget detail is published annually alongside the Budget when it is first published.

Details of changes to Level 3 budgets were published in the Summer Budget Revision in 27 May 2020. Further updates to the Scottish Budget will be published in the Autumn Budget Revision and the Spring Budget Revision.

Question reference: S5W-30534

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government on what date security clearance was requested to allow Public Health Scotland officials to access the information required to carry out quarantine checks on people arriving from abroad.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) officials began working with the Home Office on 8 June to secure access to the data on individuals arriving in the UK and residing in Scotland during self-isolation.

As the required security clearance allowing direct access to the Home Office database would take many weeks, and given the need to have the data as early as possible, PHS and Home Office agreed to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which enables the Home Office to provide data extracts to PHS in line with data protection requirements.

The MoU was signed by PHS on 22 June and the Home Office on 24 June.

Question reference: S5W-31108

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what targets are in place for native woodland planting, and whether it plans to replace those set out in the 2020 Challenge for Scotland's Biodiversity.

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