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-30188

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2020 decision paper, Prospects for Prices, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, what its definition is of “economically optimal” and how does that relate to climate optimal.

Question reference: S5W-30196

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2019 decision paper, Prospects for Prices, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland what evidence the Commission was citing and what analysis it carried out when it stated that relying on short term interventions to maintain assets will result in higher carbon and other emissions than the preferred alternative of replacing assets.

Question reference: S5W-30193

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2019 decision paper, Asset Replacement, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, whether a strategy for water and waste water asset replacement that seeks to increase the consumption of resources in order to increase the rate at which assets can be created and replaced is consistent with the Scottish Government’s strategic approach envisaged in the development of a circular economy in which assets need to be made to last.

Question reference: S5W-30191

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2019 decision paper, Asset Replacement, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, what estimate the Commission made of the (a) carbon that would be used in the creation of the additional assets envisaged in the strategy outlined and (b) emissions from the increased level of maintenance of the total assets then under management.

Question reference: S5W-30189

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of publication of the 2019 decision paper, Asset Replacement, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, what estimate SEPA made of the (a) carbon and other emissions that would be caused by the establishment of the £6 billion of additional assets envisaged in the strategy and (b) additional emissions arising from the maintenance of total assets then under management.

Question reference: S5W-30197

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2019 decision paper, Prospects for Prices ,by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, what qualifications and expertise the staff of the Commission had in reducing carbon and other emissions to conclude that Scottish Water’s plans were consistent with its obligations to meet net-zero emissions by 2040, and what external advice it took before reaching this conclusion.

Question reference: S5W-30190

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2019 decision paper, Asset Replacement, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, what assessment SEPA made of the compatibility of the additional £6 billion of capital assets envisaged together with the emission from the rising costs of maintenance assets with reducing the carbon and other emissions required to meet the terms of the Paris climate agreement.

Question reference: S5W-30008

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the UK Government will not ask to protect food and environmental standards in its trade deal negotiations with the US, what plans it has to protect the (a) livelihoods of Scotland's farmers and (b) health of Scotland's consumers from any risk associated with possible import of cheap meat products.

The Scottish Government is clear that maintaining Scotland’s high food and environmental standards is of paramount importance, and that any trade deal not protecting these standards risks our reputation for provenance and quality. The NFU President Minette Batters recently stated that it would be “insane” to allow food onto our shelves, produced at a standard which is currently illegal in the UK” and we agree with that sentiment.

I have repeatedly raised the importance of Scotland’s globally recognised food safety and animal welfare standards not being sacrificed in order to secure trade deals with UK Government counterparts. Scottish Ministers have also repeatedly made the case to the UK Government that it should accept proposed amendments to the UK Agriculture Bill which would prohibit imports of agricultural and food products where the relevant standards are lower than those in the UK. It is deeply disappointing that the UK Government has refused to accept the opportunity to safeguard these standards in legislation. The Scottish Government believe that enshrining such safeguards in legislation is the only real way to guarantee standards in both current and future trade deals.

While leading trade negotiations is a reserved matter, Scottish Ministers are responsible for implementing international agreements. Within this context, the Scottish Government is using all available legislative avenues to ensure that our right to regulate is maintained and to protect both farmers and consumers. Through the Continuity bill, we are seeking to include provisions which will allow us to align Scottish law with EU law in areas of devolved competence, including on environmental, animal welfare, plant health and food standards. We will take every opportunity to ensure current standards are maintained and enhanced.

Question reference: S5W-30315

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management report, Guidance on Ecological Survey and Assessment in the UK During the Covid-19 Outbreak, will apply to Phase 2 of its route map to allow non-essential outdoor workplaces with physical distancing to resume once relevant guidance is agreed, or whether Scotland-specific information will now be provided for environmental monitoring.

The Scottish Government published guidance on 21 May to support safe outdoor working for the forestry sector and for a range of environmental management activity in Scotland, as part of supporting the restart of outdoor non-essential workplaces under Phase 1 of Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis.

The guidance, which is available at the following link https://forestry.gov.scot/covid-19 sets out information and advice that can be used to protect workers carrying out outdoor work such as peatland restoration, wildlife and nature reserve management, and ecological surveys and research, under the broad heading of environmental management.

The section in the guidance that identifies sources of further information includes a reference to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) section of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) Covid-19 website https://cieem.net/i-am/covid-19/ ). This advises members in Scotland to follow the safe working guidance and other guidelines set out by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-29986

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Energy Transition Fund is already fully allocated to projects, or is open to further applications, and within what timescales grants from the fund have been awarded.

Specific projects have been identified for investment from the Energy Transition Fund (ETF). The projects have been developed by regional partners in the North East of Scotland. Among these are an Energy Transition Zone in Aberdeen; the Global Underwater Hub; projects being developed by the Net Zero Solution Centre, and a number of Hydrogen projects.

The ETF is not intended as a challenge fund. As yet, no formal awards of funding of have been made to the constituent projects in the investment programme. The Scottish Government will work with the project owners as they develop full business cases.

Funding will be issued following full business case approval. In order to meet the ambition for the ETF to accelerate the economic and green recovery for the region and Scotland as a whole, it is our aim to begin investing funds this financial year 2020-21, extending over the full five years of the ETF to 2025.