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-16762

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) open ground priority habitat, as identified by the Forest Enterprise Scotland Habitat Action Plan survey, has been planted (a) in total and (b) with (i) native tree species and (ii) non-native conifers on the National Forest Estate by Forest Enterprise Scotland in each year since 2010, and whether all planted areas in each year had a UKBAP priority habitat survey to provide information on priority habitat lost to planting and to inform which areas were planted.

More than 104,000 ha of priority open habitats have been identified to date through surveys on the National Forest Estate. The way that we hold the data means that we can only say which component parts of the estate containing priority open habitats have also had tree planting on them. The actual location of the tree planting within the component seeks to avoid any damage to priority habitats.

The following table provides estimates of the annual area of tree planting since 2010 in those component management units on the NFE within which priority open habitat has also been identified. The rate of woodland establishment in these areas has increased as we have controlled the impacts of browsing by deer, which has allowed natural colonisation to take place, and as FES’s efforts to support national targets for woodland creation have increased.

Year	Native Species	Non-Native Conifer	Other Broadleaf	Total
2010	31	2	23	56
2011	10	11	9	30
2012	81	2	4	87
2013	31	58	0	89
2014	150	5	1	156
2015	52	8	3	63
2016	239	29	9	277
2017	300	1	18	319
2018	1	1	0	2
Total	895	117	67	1079

All areas are assessed and surveyed for the presence of priority open habitats prior to planting as part of FES’s work planning process before operations commence on each site.

Most of the open habitat on which woodland has been established is likely to have been upland heathland. The woodlands that have established are still priority habitats (upland oakwoods, upland birchwoods and native pinewoods) and these share most of the ground flora of the open habitat that they replace. Some of this area has been established through natural colonisation from adjacent ancient semi-natural woodlands.

Question reference: S5W-16764

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications will be for the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy on the National Forest Estate of the proposed restructuring of Forest Enterprise Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-16607

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what protocols are in place regarding (a) the transportation and (b) reporting incidents of spillage of animal by-product waste, including ensuring that spillage is cleaned up to (i) meet public health standards and (ii) protect natural resources from contamination.

Anyone who transports animal by-products (ABPs) needs to be approved or registered by the Scottish Government under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (ABPR). The key control when transporting ABPs is to do so in vehicles and containers that are covered and leak-proof. The Animal and Plant Health Agency carry out risk based inspections on transporters of ABPs to ensure vehicles and containers are compliant with the ABPR.

Minor spillages or leaks should be dealt with through the transporters own contingency planning. More serious spillages would result in the local authority and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency taking action to resolve the situation and where appropriate, take relevant enforcement action.

Question reference: S5W-16605

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will confirm the status of the carers allowance supplement for the purpose of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Question reference: S5W-16604

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many recipients of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme receive carers allowance.

Question reference: S5W-16447

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what non-lethal alternatives were considered prior to Scottish Natural Heritage granting the lethal control of ravens licence to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders.

Question reference: S5W-16449

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the review of the lethal control of ravens licence that was granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders will be completed; what aspects of the licence will be reviewed, and whether the review will consider repealing the licence.

Scottish Natural Heritage’s Scientific Advisory Committee will review at the end of May of how the licence that was granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders fits with the wider work on adaptive action to save waders.

The Committee will consider the scientific evidence available on potential impacts of raven predation on wader populations in Strathbraan, and the methodologies proposed in this particular case. The Committee will also review the proposed monitoring to maximise what will be learned from this project. The Committee is not being asked to consider repealing the licence, but their advice will help inform ongoing discussions with the licence holder. The licence was granted initially for one year as part of a proposed five year project.

Question reference: S5W-16446

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many lethal control of ravens licences have been issued by Scottish Natural Heritage in each year since 2016, broken down by the (a) reason for issue and (b) number of ravens covered by each licence.

The detail of raven control licences issued by Scottish Natural Heritage are summarised in the following table.

Year	Number of Licences Issued	Number of Ravens Permitted to be Killed	Number of ravens killed	Reason
2018 (to end April)	141	1082	N/A (this information only becomes available from June onwards each year)	140 licences issued for preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters. The Strathbraan licence was granted for science, research and education purposes for 69 birds (included in total)
2017	127	1133	637	All of the licences were for preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters.
2016	171	1129	649	All of the licences were for preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters.

Question reference: S5W-16445

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how Scottish Natural Heritage will ensure that the number of ravens killed by the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders does not exceed the figure set out its lethal control licence.

Question reference: S5W-16450

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what lethal methods Scottish Natural Heritage has allowed the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders to use under its control of ravens licence.