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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1663 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-13916

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the European Parliament vote to ban electric pulse fishing will have on the planned trial in Scotland of electrofishing for razor clams.

The recent vote in the European Parliament was concerned with the proposal for a new EU Technical Conservation regulation. No new regulation has been agreed so far through the EU co-decision legislation process.

The scientific trial of electrofishing for razor clams is being conducted under existing legislation: Article 43 of EC 850/98 and Scottish Statutory Instrument 2017/419. This legislation continues to have effect.

Question reference: S5W-13658

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be on Scotland's (a) recycling targets, (b) local authority collection schemes and (c) levels of waste incineration of the reported Chinese import restrictions on plastic recyclate.

Question reference: S5W-13777

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the second national flood risk assessment will be published, and how the methodology used in compiling this differs from previous versions in how the needs of small communities are addressed.

Work is currently underway by SEPA to review and update the National Flood Risk Assessment and, through it, the Potentially Vulnerable Areas. These will be subject to a three month public consultation and the outputs will be published by 22 December 2018. To support the assessment in relation to communities, SEPA is considering:

The scale of impacts within a community, to help identify those smaller communities where the collective resilience of the community is impacted.
A wider range of community facilities in the revised assessment, to reflect the services that are important to community functionality.
The Mapping Flood Disadvantage in Scotland project outputs to identify where communities at risk have an elevated vulnerability to flooding.
The risk in rural areas, where the remote location may compound flooding impacts.
Improving the property data which underpins the assessment in terms of completeness, classification and counting.

Question reference: S5O-01727

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether all schools should be fitted with fire alarms and smoke detectors.

Question reference: S5W-13753

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities there are for developers to coordinate wind farm re-powering proposals to maximise their climate and environmental benefits.

The recently published Onshore Wind Policy Statement promotes a coordinated approach amongst developers of new wind farms or repowering proposals to make more efficient use of land and supporting infrastructure. The goal is to minimise impacts on the environment and residents, while obtaining the greatest amount of renewable generation. We are keen to work with Scottish National Heritage and other bodies to develop this approach.

Question reference: S5W-13752

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many onshore wind farms it estimates will be re-powered in each of the next five years.

There have been 2 repowering proposals in Scotland to date, one completed in Orkney on a wind farm that had been operational for less than 10 years, and one in progress in Argyll that will include a significant extension. The timing of future repowering is a decision for the developers concerned and may, or may not coincide with the expiry of current permissions.

We anticipate that the number of applications to repower wind farms will increase significantly beyond 2020, but we cannot predict how many applications will come in or when because this is a decision for the applicants to take.

Question reference: S5W-13754

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will fulfil the commitment in its onshore wind policy to facilitate coordination between developers to maximise benefits of re-powering, including “more widely coordinated habitat restoration”.

The Scottish Government have started working with Scottish National Heritage and other agencies through the Interagency Group on Renewables to consider how we can better coordinate habitat restoration. We are developing proposals for a regional approach to habitat management which will increase the benefits from habitat management, reduce the costs to developers and deliver a more targeted approach. The Scottish Government and SNH aim to progress this approach in 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-13751

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) monitoring and (b) research activity it is supporting to improve the understanding of (i) industry and (ii) decision makers of the impacts of onshore wind farms on (A) birds, (B) bats, (C) peatlands and (D) other species and habitats.

Scottish National Heritage (SNH) advises the Scottish Government and acts as a government agent in the delivery of conservation designations, i.e. national nature reserves, local nature reserves, long distance routes, national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and the national scenic area.

Planning conditions generally require bird monitoring and the data submitted to the planning authority to inform any mitigation required. The forthcoming bat guidance from SNH will also require bat monitoring on certain sites, and monitoring is underway at several sites in South Scotland. Impacts on other species and habitats are picked up from monitoring reports produced by the applicant; site condition monitoring conducted by SNH; and ad hoc monitoring of species populations by other organisations. Results from monitoring are used to inform site specific management, and to inform the assessment of future applications.

SNH recently published a survey of three species of rare and threatened bat species in Scotland to inform decisions on the location of future wind farms. This helps to inform the assessment of new applications.

The Scottish Government and SNH support the Scottish Wind Farm Bird Steering Group which encourages cooperation between NGOs, industry and Government on both monitoring and research. A workshop involving all sectors is planned for the Spring specifically to review methods of post-construction monitoring with a view to developing a method which supports both accurate reporting and informed decisions. Several research reports have already been published and inform our approach to assessing new applications.

Marine Scotland Science are undertaking research work on impacts on fish and water quality from wind farms developments.

SNH are regularly updating and reviewing their guidance in light of research undertaken. For example, their micro wind turbine guidance is based on research on impacts on bats by Stirling University. and the avoidance rates for birds are adjusted as new evidence emerges.

Question reference: S5W-13393

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the welfare implications are of the delay in granting protected status to the European beaver.

The Scottish Government does not accept there has been a delay in granting beavers protected species status. A process is being followed as was set out in the decision of 22 November 2016. That decision stated that Scottish Ministers were minded that the beaver populations in Knapdale in Argyll and in the Tay and Earn catchments could remain in Scotland. The decision was subject to satisfactory completion of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA). The intention remains that beavers in Scotland will be given protection under the law as a European Protected Species as soon as is practicable after completion of the Assessment processes. The HRA has been satisfactorily completed. The SEA is currently subject to public consultation.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any welfare implications during the process for granting the European beaver protected status. Scottish Natural Heritage has published advice on welfare issues arising from the management of beavers. If evidence emerges that beaver welfare is being ignored in specific areas, the Scottish Government will consider the use of Nature Conservation Orders (NCO) made under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. NCOs can be used to prohibit specified actions, such as shooting beavers. Failing to comply with an NCO is a criminal offence.

Question reference: S5W-13394

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many dead European beavers have been found since May 2016, also broken down by how many were sent to Scottish Natural Heritage for autopsy.