Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-24948

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the development of a cultural youth experience fund.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that no-one’s background is a barrier to taking part in cultural life and to giving young people all over Scotland a chance to take part in the arts, as demonstrated through our Time to Shine youth arts strategy and our support for programmes such as the Youth Music Initiative and Sistema Scotland.

Officials are working with partners including Education Scotland and Creative Scotland to explore the barriers to young people experiencing culture and what options there are for tackling them given this year’s tight financial settlement.

Question reference: S5W-24945

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support active tourism.

We are investing in facilities, including providing £1m to support mountain biking at Glentress, and supporting feasibility work at the remaining 7 Stanes sites, in order to enable further investment through the Borderlands Growth Deal. Through support for active travel, we invest in Scotland’s cycle paths and Great Trails.

We will host the first ever combined UCI World Cycling Championships in 2023, providing substantial opportunities to support active and adventure tourism across the country. We work closely with VisitScotland to develop and jointly promote the wildlife/active sector.

We have recently provided £40k support to Wild Scotland to undertake a Strategic Review and £185k to Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland/The Mountain Biking Centre of Scotland to take forward Scotland’s Mountain Biking Strategy. ‘Activities and Adventure’ is one of four key themes of the 2020 Year of Coast and Waters.

Question reference: S5W-24949

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given toward the redevelopment of the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in the last 12 months.

The Scottish Government is supporting the Citizens Theatre regeneration project which will secure the future of one of Scotland’s most iconic buildings and leading producing theatres. The Citizens Theatre has received significant support from the Scottish Government and its culture and heritage public bodies. In the last 12 months, building on previously announced support of £1.5 million from the Scottish Government and £500,000 from Historic Environment Scotland, Creative Scotland has awarded the Citizens Theatre £50,000 in Resilience funding to contribute to the costs associated with relocating the Theatre during regeneration; an additional £0.5 million was awarded by the Scottish Government and £282,000 by Historic Environment Scotland in March 2019 to enable the project to go ahead.

Question reference: S5O-03556

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Scottish Borders Council.

Question reference: S5W-24947

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the development of its culture strategy.

Question reference: S5W-24942

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in extending the pilot of the One Card library scheme beyond the north east.

It is expected that access to the One Card Library scheme will expand later this year. The Scottish Library and Information Council are delivering the project with support from the Scottish Government, and the expansion will be informed by the learning from the pilot across the five local authorities: Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire, Highland, Angus, and Perth and Kinross. It is hoped that up to five further local authorities will join the scheme later this year.

Question reference: S5O-03487

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it manages increased passenger numbers on public transport during major events.

Question reference: S5W-24297

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) rural and (b) urban state schools in each local authority area have closed and not reopened in another form in each year since 1999, also broken down by postcode area.

The Scottish Government is unable to identify all instances of schools that have “not reopened in another form” from the data it holds.

Therefore, information has been provided on all schools that closed between 1999 and 2018. Data for 2019 has not been provided as it is currently incomplete.

A proportion of the closures reflected in the data tables below have resulted from the mergers of two or more schools. Additionally, some closures may have resulted from the relocation of schools but these cannot be identified separately.

There are 16 closed schools for which no postcode data is recorded. These schools cannot, therefore, be given an urban/rural classification and have been excluded from these data tables on this basis.

Tables 1 and 2 show the number of rural schools which closed by local authority and postcode area, respectively.

Tables 3 and 4 show the number of urban schools which closed by local authority and postcode area, respectively.

Tables 1 to 4 have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under bib reference number 60905.

Question reference: S5T-01728

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its forecast is for income tax growth in the coming years.

Question reference: S5W-23725

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to future-proof NHS Borders for the impacts of an ageing population, including what funding is in place to meet any rise in demand.

The Medium Term Financial Framework for Health and Social Care published last year recognises the increasing demand and expectations placed upon our frontline services, including the impact of an ageing population, and is clear that the status quo is not an option. The Framework sets out the approach we are taking both to further increase investment and deliver sustainable services across Scotland.

The 2019-20 Scottish Budget takes spending on health and care in excess of £14 billion and further shifts the balance of spend towards mental health and primary, community and social care. As part of this, our package of investment in social care and integration exceeds £700 million, underlining the commitment to support older people and disabled people and to recognise the vital role unpaid carers play.

NHS Borders has received additional funding of 2.6% in 2019-20, taking the Board’s total resource budget to over £207 million. NHS Borders will also receive a share of £392 million to support reform and improve patient outcomes.

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