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-23115

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the recent decision by Natural England to revoke three General Licences for controlling certain wild birds, what evidence it has that Scottish Natural Heritage is compliant with the requirement under Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 that no licence should be granted unless it is satisfied that there is no other satisfactory solution, as it relates to General Licences 01/2019, 02/2019 and 03/2019.

As the issuing of licences is delegated to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the responsibility falls to them, as the appropriate authority, to ensure compliance with this requirement.

SNH has previously gathered information, including from public consultations, literature review and its own commissioned research, in order to inform this legal test.

In view of the legal challenge in England, SNH is consulting with legal advisers and will consider if any changes may be required to its licences. SNH has also decided to bring forward its consultation on general licensing, originally planned for 2020, to later this year.

If SNH conclude that they need to revise their approach, they have made clear that they will seek to work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure there is an effective, proportionate and legislatively compliant approach to licensing in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-23118

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many operators making use of General Licences 01, 02 and 03 for birds in 2018 notified Scottish Natural Heritage of their intention to use meat-based baits in Larsen mate or Larsen pod traps and were permitted to do so by acknowledgement of the information.

Question reference: S5W-22683

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will deliver the Bonn Challenge target of 3,000 to 5,000 hectares of new native woodland planted during 2019-20.

Question reference: S5W-22932

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the levels of the pollutant, bisphenol A, are at potential point sources such as landfill, sewage and paper sludge and in the wider environment.

Further to my answer to S5W-20266 14 December 2018, SEPA have analysed BPA in surface waters since 2007 at over 20 sites. These are prioritised based on populace and inputs from sewage treatment works or denser concentrations of septic tanks. Annual mean concentrations at these sites ranged between 14 and 1150 ng/l, with the majority of the annual means being 50 ng/l or less (278 out of 334). A previous EU Risk Assessment Report for the substance identified a threshold for potential adverse effects in freshwater aquatic life as 15,000ng/l, and as 1500ng/l for marine waters. Based on current available data SEPA determine the risk to aquatic life to be low. Groundwater data at a sample of sites generally associated with industrial activities showed generally no detection of BPA between 2007 and 2018. In relation to potential point sources such as landfill, sewage and paper sludge sites, SEPA holds a limited quantity of sewage and trade effluent monitoring data for BPA. In addition releases of BPA have been reported to the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) since 2005; these concern releases from sewage treatment works. SEPA do not hold any BPA data for landfill leachates or for sites creating paper sludge effluents. BPA’s use in thermal paper was restricted in the EU from December 2016.

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: S5O-03234

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that communities are protected from the effects of aircraft noise.

Question reference: S5W-22710

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement it has in the establishment of regulatory standards and processes in relation to the rollout of 5G technology.

Legislative and regulatory powers regarding telecommunications are currently reserved to the UK Government under the policy reservation provisions of the Scotland Act (1998).

As such, the Scottish Government has no direct locus in the establishment of regulatory standards and processes in relation to the rollout of 5G technology. More generally, the day to day regulation of telecommunications is the responsibility of the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom.

Scottish Ministers and our officials do have regular engagement with Ofcom and seek to try to positively influence their policies, and those of UK Ministers, to try to ensure they work in the interests of Scottish consumers.

Question reference: S5W-22866

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what options have been explored to close the 2021 landfill capacity gap through waste prevention.

We are examining options to address the landfill capacity shortfall which has been identified in the recently published waste markets study.

Waste prevention is high on the Scottish Government's priorities and this is why we have introduced an ambitious food waste prevention target to reduce all food waste arising by 33% by 2025. In addition, the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan published in April 2019 calls for coordinated action across all sectors.

Other options to help support progress towards achieving our targets include the Waste Prevention Implementation Fund which is available to small or medium sized enterprises through Zero Waste Scotland. It is recognised that while organisations understand the benefits of waste prevention, they often do not take action, lacking the finance and support to make the necessary changes. The Investment Fund has been designed to help organisations overcome these barriers to undertake a particular project with a focus on raw materials savings, carbon savings and the movement of waste material up the waste hierarchy.

Question reference: S5W-22867

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will launch the consultation for the Circular Economy Bill.

We are committed to developing Scotland’s circular economy, as set out in our strategy document Making Things Last . Taking a more circular approach to the use and reuse of materials and circular business models can help protect the environment, and deliver social and economic benefits to our communities. The Scottish Government will announce its plans for future legislative programmes in due course.

Question reference: S5W-22680

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22414 by Kevin Stewart on 16 April 2019, for what the reason concluding the review of SesPlan2 has been delayed.

Question reference: S5W-22685

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 3 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the civil contingency preparedness review of nuclear warhead transportation by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Fire Service Inspectorate will be published.

I have been advised by Scottish Government Officials supporting the review that the information gathering phase of review is complete and the compilation of the review report is in the final stages, however with many organisations still actively involved in finalising the detailed work of this review, it is not yet possible to give an exact date for publication.

Whilst it is not possible to give an exact date for publication, the expectation of the review team is that a submission containing the report will be forwarded to myself and other ministers with portfolio interests within a few weeks, whereupon the process to publication will be initiated. I will keep you updated and write to you when the review is published.