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: S5W-35986

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 22 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to halt the decline in biogenic reef habitats that was reported in the Scottish Marine Assessment 2020.

The biogenic habitats indicator was developed specifically for Scotland’s Marine Assessment (SMA) 2020 and reports losses in subtidal habitat extent only. The assessment covers the following six habitats: blue mussel beds, horse mussel beds, flame shell beds, maerl beds, seagrass beds and serpulid aggregations. All of the habitats are Priority Marine Features (PMFs).

Fifteen examples of biogenic habitats were assessed as part of SMA 2020. Of the 10 examples where declines were recorded, nine are within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and seven of these have fisheries management measures in place to protect these priority marine features. Of the other three, two are in existing MPAs with proposed fisheries management measures being developed and the other is within a proposed management area for PMFs outside the MPA network.

The Scottish Government is in the process of developing fisheries management measures for the 11 most vulnerable PMFs, which include all six biogenic habitats, outside of MPAs. Furthermore, fisheries management measures for MPAs were established for the 17 most sensitive sites in 2016, with the second phase for the next 18 sites under development.

This work was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We intend to resume the project as soon as it is safe to hold face-to-face stakeholder meetings again.

Question reference: S5W-35982

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the resumption of trawling in the Inner Sound of Skye on 1 April 2021 might impact on the national status of priority marine features in that area.

Commercial fishing activity in the Inner Sound of Skye is already heavily regulated and the annual resumption of trawling on the 1 April 2021 will not affect the national status or future development of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) / Priority Marine Feature (PMF) network.

On 10 March 2021, an emergency MPA was designated for a part of the Inner Sound of Skye to protect the critically endangered flapper skate. Interim management measures came into force on 17 March 2021 to provide protection from a range of fishing activities including mobile gear, while further evidence is gathered to inform a permanent protection strategy.

Question reference: S5W-35985

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will record blue carbon emissions and removals in its next report on estimated greenhouse gas emissions.

The annual Official Statistics bulletins on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions are based directly on the UK national atmospheric emissions inventory. As set out in the answer to S5W-35983 on 18 March 2021, blue carbon processes are not currently included in the scope of the UK inventory, and the Scottish Government is unable to change the UK inventory. This means that estimates of the emissions and removals associated with such processes cannot be reported in the Official Statistics at either Scottish or UK levels.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-35983

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the protection and enhancement of blue carbon stores is necessary for the achievement of its climate change targets.

Reporting on Scotland’s statutory emissions reduction targets is based on the UK national atmospheric emissions inventory, which is compiled in line with international guidelines. At present, blue carbon habitats are not included in the scope of the UK inventory. This means that such processes are not currently included in the scope of Scottish, or indeed UK, climate change targets. Saltmarsh and seagrass are currently the only habitats with potential to be added to the inventory according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Wetlands Supplement (2013). Other blue carbon habitats, for example maerl, coral, biogenic reefs and sediment are not included in the Supplement and therefore do not currently have the potential to be included in the inventory or contribute to achieving Scotland’s national climate change targets.

Decisions around changes to the UK inventory are made solely by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. If a major change to UK inventory scope around blue carbon were to occur in the future, this would then need to be followed by a review of the appropriateness of the statutory target levels from the UK Climate Change Committee, as the current levels are based on an inventory that does not include such processes.

Question reference: S5W-35984

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the (a) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and (b) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding including blue carbon emissions and removals in the National Greenhouse Gas inventory.

Scottish Government officials have met with DEFRA to discuss the evidence requirements for incorporating saltmarsh and seagrass into the UK inventory. We are working together with members of the Scottish Blue Carbon Forum to gather the required evidence.

Scottish Government (and DEFRA) officials are also represented on the BEIS-led National Inventory Steering Committee, which meets twice a year to consider technical issues around the UK inventory. Once sufficient evidence for the addition of saltmarsh and seagrass has been gathered, it will be presented to the Steering Committee. However, decisions around changes to the inventory are made solely by BEIS officials and Ministers.

Question reference: S5O-05123

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the Disasters Emergency Committee, Breaking Point, and how this will impact on its international development strategy.

Question reference: S5O-05085

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures in its 2021-22 Budget aim to tackle the gender pay gap.

Question reference: S5W-34562

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 1 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to deliver a publicly-owned energy company by the end of the current parliamentary session and, if not, by what date this will be delivered.

We had expected to engage with local authorities to consider the independent outline business case and agree next steps. Work on the public energy company has been mostly paused as we and potential local authority partners continue to focus resource on responding to the pandemic. As a result we are not in a position to deliver the energy company by the end of the current parliamentary session. We have continued to update councils, COSLA and SOLACE, and we are considering how we can best deliver the energy company ambition in light of the climate change emergency and need to deliver a just transition to net zero.

Question reference: S5O-04966

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Teach the Future's call for a review into how the whole of the formal education system is preparing students for a climate emergency and ecological crisis.

Question reference: S5O-04853

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the level is of children's and young people’s participation in the civil courts, and how it monitors the quality of the support that they are given.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 includes a presumption a child aged 12 or over is mature enough to give views as part of any court process on who they live with or have contact with. The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 removes this presumption. The 2020 Act also requires the court to give the child an opportunity to express views in a manner the child prefers or in a suitable manner, if the child has not indicated a preference or it would not be reasonable in the circumstances to accommodate the child’s preference.

The 2020 Act places a duty on Scottish Ministers to ensure the availability of child advocacy services. It also requires Scottish Ministers within five years to review the effect of the Act on children’s ability to participate in family court cases.