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: S6W-18298

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many payments from the Tenant Grant Fund have been used to fully pay off rent arrears, in each month that the fund has been available.

Local authorities were responsible for the administration of the Tenant Grant Fund given their knowledge of local need. Each local authority provided the Scottish Government with quarterly returns showing spend against their funding allocation. Data on full versus partial mitigation of arrears was not provided routinely by all local authorities.

The quarterly information collected was published on the Scottish Government website here: Tenant Grant Fund monitoring report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and is summarised below.

Quarters	Number of grants
Q4	297
Q3	254
Q2	403
Q1	656
Until 31 Mar 2022	5,015

Question reference: S6O-02362

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to tourism and other businesses within island communities to mitigate the impact of any connectivity issues affecting them.

Question reference: S6W-18258

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17750 by Lorna Slater on 19 May 2023, how many beaver carcasses have been submitted to NatureScot for an independent post-mortem, since it became a legal requirement.

The beaver kit dependency period is between 1 April and 16 August and no licences to control beavers have been issued in this period. As such, there has been no legal requirement for carcasses to be submitted to NatureScot for an independent post-mortem.

The legal requirement for licence holders to submit carcasses for independent post- mortem to NatureScot will take effect when new licences granted by NatureScot commence on 17 August 2023 and thereafter.

Question reference: S6W-18171

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research’s updated report, published in April 2023, Infants Born into Care in Scotland, including the reported finding that around one in every 100 children born in Scotland enters care before their first birthday.

The Scottish Government is committed to Keeping the Promise and ensuring that families are supported to stay together when it is safe to do so. While we still have more work to do, it is positive progress that the recent Infant's Born into Care Report confirms that the proportion of children entering care before their first birthday in Scotland has fallen since 2018 - from 122 in every 10,000 to 91 in every 10,000 in 2021.

The Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach ensures that children and families can access support across maternity, health visiting, family nursing and social work services to help them thrive. Where it is deemed that a child requires statutory support for their care, the Local Authority becomes their Corporate Parent and are responsible for working with partners to ensure that the right services are in place to deliver a personalised plan to meet their needs.

Question reference: S6W-18223

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), how many cases have occurred in which SSSIs have been compromised by management activities, and whether NatureScot has entered into any agreements to provide compensation for any such cases; how many (a) charges and (b) convictions resulted from individuals intentionally or recklessly damaging the protected natural features of an SSSI, in each year for which data is available, and whether it will provide a list of any SSSIs that have been intentionally or recklessly damaged since 2013.

There are records of 212 instances of damaging or unconsented activities on SSSIs that have not been attributed to third parties. No compensatory agreements have been entered into as a result of these cases.

NatureScot is only obliged to offer compensation to a land manager if the SSSI consenting process restricts the established management of their land and where this leads to a loss of income. NatureScot has 89 active compensatory Management Agreements with land managers to prevent damaging activity. The majority date back to before 2013. The majority of active Management Agreements entered in to by NatureScot contain provisions for proactive management to restore or maintain biodiversity.

The following table sets out the charging and convictions data requested:

Year	Charged	Charged & Convicted
2004	1
2007	1
2008		3
2015		1
2021		1
2022		1

Issues of motivation are judged on a case by case basis and so are not recorded in a way that can be aggregated.

Question reference: S6W-18226

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) site checks and (b) full site condition monitoring assessments have been carried out by NatureScot in each year since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-18227

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that at least 11 sites that have specially protected status, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar sites and Special Protection Areas, received an intake of sewage overflow in 2022-23, what discussions it has had with Scottish Water on this matter, and what steps are being taken to prevent sewage from entering and damaging protected areas.

Question reference: S6W-18366

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the recommendations in the report of the Short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce, published on 23 June 2022, have been implemented to date, and how many staff will be employed in the new dedicated Food Security Unit announced on 18 May 2023.

The Short-Life Food Security and Supply Taskforce set out a number of short and long-term recommendations in its report and all of the immediate actions are either complete or substantially complete, including the establishment of a Food Security Unit, with other actions becoming legacy activity for it.

As the Food Security Unit becomes more established, the number of staff involved directly will vary depending on business needs. The Food Security Unit will work collaboratively with the wide range of teams across the Scottish Government that work on aspects of food security.

Question reference: S6W-18246

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands has to meet with shellfish businesses in Inverclyde, including Inverclyde Shellfish and its 13 staff, regarding its plans for Highly Protected Marine Areas.

It has always been our intention to develop these ambitious proposals in close collaboration with those impacted by them – in particular, people living and working in our island and coastal communities.

Prior to the consultation, we met with over 20 stakeholder groups representing a wide range of marine industries and users. We also ran ten online information sessions from February - April to help anyone wishing to provide a response to our consultation. These meetings included fisheries organisations such as the Communities Inshore Fisheries Alliance.

We continue to engage with communities and industry as we consider the many thousands of responses to our initial, broad consultation.

Local representatives of Scotland’s fishing industry are an important part of that.

Question reference: S6W-18118

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to comments by the chief executive of the Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers, reported on 11 May 2023, that short-term lets licensing in Edinburgh constitutes a "de facto ban" on small holiday let operators, "in favour of big business".

Scotland is not alone in regulating short-term lets globally. We are doing this in two ways. The first, licensing, has been introduced to ensure short-term lets are safe and the people providing them are suitable. Guests can have confidence that licensed hosts and accommodation have reached a recognised standard of assurance complying with mandatory conditions for fire, gas, water and electrical safety. Many hosts are already complying with these through existing law or best practice, and we do not consider them onerous. Licensing authorities may also apply additional conditions to address local issues such as noise, antisocial behaviour and littering. Licence applications must be granted unless there are grounds to refuse them, for example, if anybody named on an application is not a fit and proper person. We are unable to comment on the specific short term let licensing policy in Edinburgh, due to ongoing legal proceedings.

The second, control areas, can be designated by councils where short-term lets are causing problems for neighbours and making it harder for people to find homes to live in. From the point of designation, the change of use to provide short-term lets in accommodation that is not a host’s only or principal home will always require planning permission. It is for councils to decide whether a control area is needed to help them manage high concentrations of short-term lets.

Year	Site Checks	Site Condition Monitoring
2017	149	252
2018	99	93
2019	51	21
2020	30	20
2021	98	41
2022	31	5
2023*	52	144