- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether safety standards, including minimum overhead clearance heights for new electricity infrastructure, should exceed the statutory minimum requirements to anticipate future developments in agricultural machinery.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential economic impacts on farming businesses from safety restrictions required due to the construction of overhead power lines along prime agricultural land.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the design criteria for electricity infrastructure projects prioritise cost and visual impact at the expense of agricultural safety, and what representations it has made to regulators or electricity network companies regarding this issue.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken or plans to undertake an independent review of the safety aspects and any agricultural impacts of the route selected for the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it expects Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks to undertake with farmers and agricultural contractors regarding the safety impacts of overhead power lines, before the design freeze stage of the Tealing to Kintore upgrade project.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the longest duration has been from the date of death to the conclusion of a fatal accident inquiry since 1999, and what the reasons were for the duration of this process.
Answer
COPFS holds records of all concluded Fatal Accident Inquiries dating back to 1 April 2013.
For that period, the longest duration from the date of death to the conclusion of the Fatal Accident Inquiry was in relation to the FAI into the death of Boguslaw Kopec. The date of Mr Kopec’s death was 13 March 2011. A First Notice commencing the FAI process was issued on 24 August 2020 and the Inquiry commenced on 9 November 2020. Evidence was concluded on 3 December 2020 and the Sheriff’s Determination was published on 11 March 2021.
The investigation into Mr Kopec’s death was hampered by difficulties tracing and obtaining the evidence of essential witnesses. In addition, Inquiry proceedings could only be commenced after criminal proceedings had been ruled out. Nevertheless, the Crown at that time acknowledged that the time taken to conduct its death investigation in this case had been far too long and apologised for the fact that its investigation and the Inquiry proceedings were not concluded sooner.
COPFS has significantly reformed its processes in recent years to improve the quality of death investigations and reduce the time taken to investigate deaths and bring FAIs to court. However, in some cases FAIs have taken too long to commence and we understand the impact that waiting for investigations to conclude has on families.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential environmental impact, whether it has raised or plans to raise any concerns with Ofgem regarding the adequacy of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment standards, particularly the minimum height requirement for overhead power lines in areas of prime agricultural land.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 2025. 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: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently employed in the nuclear industry in Scotland, and what the value of the industry has been to the economy in each of the last five years.
Answer
Latest data from the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey shows that, in 2022, Scotland’s nuclear power sector directly employed 2,700 (full-time equivalent) and had an estimated turnover of £763 million.
A five-year time series – of employment and turnover in the nuclear power sector - from 2018 to 2022, is presented in the following tables.
The results in LCREE are survey-based, as the data is gathered from a sample rather than the whole population. The estimates are therefore subject to uncertainty, and the level of uncertainty is expressed through confidence intervals. These are presented alongside the estimates in the following tables.
Employment | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Estimate | 2,000 | 2,400 | 2,600 | 2,700 | 2,700 |
Lower Confidence Interval | 1,900 | 1,600 | 1,800 | 2,600 | 1,600 |
Upper Confidence Interval | 2,200 | 3,300 | 3,300 | 2,800 | 3,800 |
Estimated direct, full time equivalent jobs for the nuclear power sector in the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy in Scotland from 2018-2022 (LCREE survey, ONS)
Turnover (£ million) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Estimate | 830 | * | 890 | 629 | 763 |
Lower Confidence Interval | 819 | * | 821 | 623 | 599 |
Upper Confidence Interval | 841 | * | 958 | 635 | 928 |
Estimated turnover for the nuclear power sector in the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy in Scotland from 2018-2022 (LCREE survey, ONS)
*estimates have been suppressed for confidentiality reasons.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any representations to the UK Government regarding reserved matters that may impact on the timeliness and effectiveness of fatal accident inquiries in Scotland, such as delays in obtaining evidence or expert testimony.
Answer
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 14 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to fatal accident inquiries (FAIs) in each of the last five years, what the total cost of conducting FAIs was; how many FAIs were (a) mandatory and (b) discretionary; what the average time taken was from the conclusion of the investigation to the commencement of an FAI; what the average duration was from the start to completion of FAIs; how many recommendations were made as a result of FAIs; how many of these recommendations have been implemented, and what the key lessons learned from recent FAIs are.
Answer
Not all of the data requested is recorded centrally. The Scottish Government publishes statistical data on FAIs annually on its website. The latest data is reproduced in the following table: