- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what additional steps it has taken to increase the resilience of power networks, following Storm Arwen.
Answer
Throughout Storms Arwen and Barra the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division maintained daily contact with the power companies and close engagement continues.
It must be noted that resilience of the electricity networks is reserved and is the responsibility of the UK Government. The Scottish Government will be engaging with both the upcoming Ofgem and UK Government Storm Arwen reviews.
In addition, the Deputy First Minister requested that the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division begin work on the scope and terms of a review into the Storm Arwen response on 30 November 2021, and on 14 December 2021 he formally commissioned the Scottish Resilience Partnership to collate evidence from local resilience partnerships to inform the findings of the review.
The Scottish Government will also gather evidence from other relevant groups, for example the voluntary sector and utilities companies, including power companies.
This work is already well underway and we aim to publish a review paper with recommendations in mid-January.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-03945 by Humza Yousaf on 19 December 2019, what the staff (a) recruitment, (b) retention and (c) absence rate has been at each prison and young offenders institution in the last 12 months.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The SPS can provide the following information in response to the questions asked:
(a)Recruitment of prison staff between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021, by prison establishment.
The table below outlines the number of external appointments made into the SPS for requested date range, detailed by establishment and role type (either non-operational or operational):
Table 1
Establishment | Non-operational appointments | Operational appointments | Total appointments |
HMP Barlinnie | 10 | 39 | 49 |
HMP Cornton Vale | 2 | 13 | 15 |
HMP Dumfries | 1 | 10 | 11 |
HMP Edinburgh | 11 | 26 | 37 |
HMP Glenochil | 7 | 31 | 38 |
HMP Grampian | 4 | 21 | 25 |
HMP Greenock | 3 | 9 | 12 |
HMP Inverness | 1 | 9 | 10 |
HMP Low Moss | 7 | 18 | 25 |
HMP Castle Huntly | 4 | 5 | 9 |
HMP Perth | 5 | 23 | 28 |
HMP Polmont | 9 | 22 | 31 |
HMP Shotts | 8 | 23 | 31 |
Total | 72 | 249 | 321 |
(b) Retention (turnover) rate of prison staff between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021, by prison establishment.
The table below provides the Retention (turnover) rate of prison staff between the requested date range.
Table 2
Establishment | Non-operational leavers | Operational leavers | Total leavers | Turnover % vs establishment complement |
HMP Barlinnie | 6 | 31 | 37 | 5.9% |
HMP Cornton Vale | 3 | 6 | 9 | 5.2% |
HMP Dumfries | 1 | 9 | 10 | 6.1% |
HMP Edinburgh | 2 | 15 | 17 | 3.5% |
HMP Glenochil | 6 | 25 | 31 | 7.6% |
HMP Grampian | 4 | 20 | 24 | 7.6% |
HMP Greenock | 2 | 10 | 12 | 5.9% |
HMP Inverness | 2 | 12 | 14 | 11.3% |
HMP Low Moss | 5 | 12 | 17 | 4.9% |
HMP Castle Huntly | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4.9% |
HMP Perth | 8 | 16 | 24 | 6.7% |
HMP Polmont | 10 | 13 | 23 | 5.2% |
HMP Shotts | 4 | 19 | 23 | 6.1% |
Total | 57 | 190 | 247 | 6.2% (average) |
(c) Rate of absence between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021, broken down by prisonsite.
The SPS monitors and presents staff absence in ‘Average Working Days Lost’ (AWDL) per year, per ‘Full Time Equivalent’ (FTE). The table below provides the AWDL figure for each prison over the above 12 month rolling period:
Table 3
Establishment | AWDL (Over 12 month period, 1 Dec 2020 – 30 Nov 2021) |
HMP Barlinnie | 22.8 |
HMP Cornton Vale | 23.2 |
HMP Dumfries | 16.1 |
HMP Edinburgh | 16.0 |
HMP Glenochil | 18.6 |
HMP Grampian | 12.7 |
HMP Greenock | 23.4 |
HMP Inverness | 22.7 |
HMP Low Moss | 21.0 |
HMP Castle Huntly | 9.5 |
HMP Perth | 18.5 |
HMYOI Polmont | 24.9 |
HMP Shotts | 18.8 |
Establishment Average | 19.09 |
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 20 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a targeted, rural heat transition package, which would recognise any distinct challenges and opportunities of rural, remote and island communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government already offer bespoke and targeted advice and support to rural, remote and islands communities through a number of its delivery programmes, and the Heat in Buildings programme will take into account the distinct challenges facing these communities. The Scottish Government launched on Wednesday 15 December a further funding call to support heat decarbonisation and energy resilience in Scotland’s more remote, rural and island off electricity grid networks. Information on this can be found on the website, by accessing this link.
The Scottish Government currently provide support for community groups and organisations to explore their renewable heat options through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) delivered by Local Energy Scotland on the Scottish Government’s behalf. CARES provides advice and support including funding support (grants and loans) to community groups and organisations, rural SME’s, and other eligible organisations seeking to explore their renewable energy options.
The Scottish Government will be consulting in 2022 on its draft Islands energy strategy. This will set out an approach to decarbonisation for Scotland’s island communities that will support them to develop renewable energy solutions that promote resilience, enhance sustainability and meet their energy needs now and in the future. As part of this work, where not already in place, the Scottish Government intend to explore the evidence base and options for an islands specific uplift, as part of our commitment to provide additional support for rural and island homes for heat and energy efficiency.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) strategy and (b) resilience planning was undertaken to account for the possibility of extraordinary events, such as Storm Arwen, occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures, such as lockdown.
Answer
Resilience structures in Scotland are designed to be adaptable and responsive to a wide range of risks.
Ministers regularly receive briefing on specific risks or emergencies throughout the year and the Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements constantly monitor for emerging issues and threats.
In the autumn of 2021, recognising the heightened risk of concurrent events – including COVID, winter weather, and supply chain issues – additional reporting and monitoring arrangements were put in place to ensure Ministers retain a close oversight of the complex and overlapping risk picture. Since 30 September, this has included daily reporting and weekly meetings of SGORR, with assessments on the key concurrent risks facing Government and planning activity being taken.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing an emergency alert system for catastrophic and extraordinary events, similar to those in place in other jurisdictions, such as the USA and some European countries.
Answer
Scotland’s resilience response structures involve very well established mechanisms for coordinating clear public communications during emergencies, and organisations involved in the response will work together to ensure swift and accurate advice is provided across a range of media.
The specific emergency alert system in place in other countries, used for example to warn of earthquakes, utilises a technology known as Cell Broadcasting. Activating this capability on the UK telecoms network is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and we note that the introduction of this technology, initially anticipated for summer 2021, is now scheduled for early 2022. Scottish Government officials are working with their counterparts in the UK Government to ensure that the deployment of any such capability reflects the devolved responsibilities of our responder organisations.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02681 by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2021, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding the budget stream(s) from which the 10-year £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray will be drawn.
Answer
The 2022-23 Scottish Budget was published 9 December and is available here: Scottish Budget 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The Just Transition Fund will be drawn from the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Portfolio. Level 3 information detailing the budget line for the Fund is given on page 86.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the monthly average sales income has been for fishermen in each of the last three years.
Answer
For the years 2018 to 2020, the average monthly sales income has been calculated for fishers employed on Scottish Vessels. This is given in the following table:
Monthly average sales income for fishers on Scottish registered vessels, 2018 - 2020
| | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Landed value (£) in real terms | £624,485,606 | £615,801,328 | £487,707,712 |
Number of fishers employed | 4,860 | 4,886 | 4,737 |
Monthly average sales income (£) | £10,708 | £10,503 | £8,580 |
The information on fishers employed is collected as at 31 December in each year and reflects those employed during the year. Some of these fishers are irregular, so will not work on the vessel full-time, so will have a lower income. This means that we are unable to provide monthly averages for each month as we do not know how many fishers were employed in each month. It should also be noted that some fishing sectors will have larger incomes than others and different crew share arrangements will be in place, meaning that some fishers on the same vessel will earn more than others.
The landed value in real terms and monthly average sales income are given in pounds and have been adjusted to 2020 prices by adjusting for inflation. As this is based on landed value only, it is not a reflection of earnings as no costs have been accounted for.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what quantity of CO2 emissions has each operational gas-fired power station generated in each year of production.
Answer
As part of demonstrating compliance with the EU Emissions Trading System relevant installations must submit verified emissions data. The information for CO2 Equivalent (e) emissions from Scottish Installations for the period 2008-2020 is published online. Peterhead is the only Scottish gas fired power station, however there are other facilities such as at Grangemouth that occasionally may provide electricity to the grid.
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets/union-registry_en#ecl-inpage-1120
2021 data under the UK Emissions Trading System has not yet been submitted.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what quantity of CO2 emissions has the Hunterston B power plant generated in each year of production.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04578 on 10 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of GP numbers and surgery provision in the north east.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2021
