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: S6F-03291

Asked by: Lorna Slater, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03289

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the recently published report, Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2022/23.

Question reference: S6F-03298

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking in response to reports that newly qualified nurses are unable to find employment in the NHS despite there being over 3,300 whole-time equivalent unfilled nursing and midwifery vacancies.

Question reference: S6F-03284

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03283

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-29109

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its agriculture reform programme will meet the recommendation set out in the 2021 report, Just Transition Commission: A national mission for a fairer, greener Scotland, (a) for "a new model of farm advice, with advisory services upscaled and upskilled to help farmers and land managers identify suitable climate action for their land holdings", (b) "to redirect money towards activity that better protects and maintains our land, and supports more sustainable food production" and (c) "to rebuild the connection between consumers and local produce, through integrated food policy, to reward farmers who implement more sustainable methods".

The Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP) will deliver the Vision for Agriculture which makes clear that Scotland will have a robust and coherent framework to underpin our future agricultural support regime from 2025 onwards, that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high quality food production. The Agricultural Reform Route Map provides further clarity on how we intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision.

Enhanced direct payments will launch first, as a mechanism to incentivise farmers and crofters take meaningful action for climate and nature. The Enhanced tier is key to deliver the policy outcomes of the Vision and to meet the public commitment that 50% of direct payments will be ‘conditioned’ by 2025. New conditions will be introduced, with revised Greening and Cross Compliance rules, and the introduction of measures such as the Whole Farm Plan. Whole Farm Plans (WFPs) were a recommendation of the Farmer-led Groups. The foundations of the Whole Farm Plan will go live in 2025. The Foundations are 'productivity baselines': soil testing, animal health and welfare declaration, carbon audits, biodiversity audits, and the support for effective business planning. We are committed to delivering a Just Transition and the WFP will be developed with this at the forefront. That is why we will continue to work with the industry to deliver a 'just' sequencing of this requirement, ensuring that those able to contribute the most will drive this change, whilst support is put in place for those who need it.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming(PSF) is already helping businesses prepare for these changes with support for conducting carbon audits and soil sampling, support for animal health and welfare activities and access to herd data for Suckler beef producers through MyHerdStats. This support includes £500 for a Carbon Audit, financial support for soil analysis and up to £1,250 for animal health and welfare. More information about this support can be found on the Rural Payments but, in addition to that, we will be working closely with the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) on communicating with customers impacted by these changes.

It is also vital to consider the food system as a whole, not only in terms of nutritional benefits but in regard to sustainability too. Partnership was key to delivering the Good Food Nation Act, which places duties on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce plans of their food-related policies and set out what they will do to make them a reality. The Good Food Nation Plan will provide the direction for these and was subject to a recent consultation. The National Plan is due to be published next year, with local authority and health board iterations to follow the year after.

Question reference: S6W-29120

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £12 million capital budget to manage coastal change has been allocated since its launch in 2022, broken down by (a) financial year and (b) local authority, as set out in the Scottish Government’s Flood Resilience Strategy consultation document.

The Scottish Government has allocated (a) 1.6m in 2022-23 (b) 2.4m in 2023-24 and (c) 2.7m in 2024-25 to local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in managing coastal change and resilience measures.

However, the vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on coastal change adaptation, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The funding has been distributed as follows:

Capital Funding

COASTAL	2022-23 (£m)	2023-24 (£m)	2024-25 (£m)
Aberdeen City	0.000	0.150	0.060
Aberdeenshire	0.000	0.206	0.071
Angus	0.000	0.150	0.496
Argyll & Bute	0.160	0.000	0.195
Clackmannanshire	0.000	0.100	0.000
Dumfries & Galloway	0.160	0.036	0.072
Dundee City	0.000	0.150	0.065
East Ayrshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
East Dunbartonshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
East Lothian	0.160	0.000	0.085
East Renfrewshire	0.000	0.000	0.000
Edinburgh	0.000	0.150	0.092
Eilan Siar	0.000	0.150	0.068
Falkirk	0.000	0.150	0.069
Fife	0.160	0.126	0.162
Glasgow	0.000	0.000	0.000
Highland	0.160	0.083	0.299
Inverclyde	0.000	0.150	0.052
Midlothian	0.000	0.000	0.000
Moray	0.160	0.000	0.300
North Ayrshire	0.160	0.000	0.199
North Lanark	0.000	0.000	0.000
Orkney	0.160	0.066	0.111
Perth & Kinross	0.000	0.100	0.000
Renfrewshire	0.000	0.100	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.000	0.222	0.052
Shetland	0.160	0.000	0.072
Sth Ayrshire	0.160	0.106	0.180
Sth Lanark	0.000	0.000	0.000
Stirling	0.000	0.000	0.000
West Dunbarton	0.000	0.100	0.000
West Lothian	0.000	0.100	0.000
Undistributed	0.000	0.000	0.000
Scotland	1.600	2.395	2.700

Question reference: S6W-29137

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received an update from Scottish Water regarding the situation in Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire following the collapse of a pipe bridge carrying a waste water main in October 2023.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has advised that a major repair has been required under challenging conditions following a pipe bridge collapse. Following the incident, Scottish Water installed a temporary system while the design for a new bridge was being developed to ensure that there was no detriment to the environment.

The design work for the permanent solution is now complete and on-site work started on 19th August 2024. Scottish Water is aiming to complete this work by the end of December 2024. Scottish Water has advised that it is continuing to monitor the temporary system and it remains in communication with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Question reference: S6W-29119

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to the Scottish Flood Forum in each of the past five years, as set out in the Scottish Government’s Flood Resilience Strategy consultation document.

The Scottish Government has awarded the following amounts to the Scottish Flood Forum in the most recent five financial years.

An additional £10,000 of discretionary funding was awarded to the Scottish Flood Forum in 2023-24 in light of the exceptional nature of the winter storm season and the vital support SFF provides to flood affected communities.

Financial year	Total grant amount awarded
2020-2021	£193,000
2021-2022	£195,000
2022-2023	£220,000
2023-2024	£230,000
2024-2025	£229,550

Question reference: S6W-29261

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its position on climate change, for what reason it supports the planting of new commercial forestry on land with peat depth greater than 30cm.

Expanding our woodlands alongside restoring peatlands are critical elements of our plans to reach net zero and address climate change.

Woodland creation and re-stocking in Scotland must comply with the UK Forestry Standard which defines deep peat as greater that 50 centimetres. The most recent review of the UK Forestry Standard in October 2023 considered whether the definition of deep peat for forestry in terms of carbon sequestration needed to be lowered. All UK nations agreed there was insufficient evidence to support a change. Evidence shows conifers are faster at sequestering carbon in the short term compared to broadleaves. Scotland will continue to prohibit planting on peats deeper than 50 centimetres.

Cultivation guidance for woodland creation was updated in 2021 to exclude the use of intensive cultivation techniques on organo-mineral soils with an organic layer over 10 centimetres in depth. The guidance update minimises disturbance to soils during woodland creation to reduce emissions and create an earlier positive soil carbon balance.