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-30375

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have received funding from the Nature Restoration Fund, and what the value is of that funding, broken down by local authority area.

The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) makes funding available through two main strands: the competitive strand administered by NatureScot, and the Edinburgh Process strand, which provides direct allocations to Local Authorities and National Parks.

In total, to date, 220 projects have been offered funding from the competitive strand of the NRF, including 28 NRF-funded Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) projects. This represents a total of £33,366,872 in committed funding.

The following table sets out by local authority area the 183 projects awarded competitive funding to the end of March 2024, the period for which data is currently available. We do not hold information about the amounts of funding offered in this format and this does not include the NRF-funded SMEEF projects referred to above.

Local authority	Number of NRF competitive strand supported projects (as of end of March 2024)
Aberdeen City	1
Aberdeenshire	12
Angus	6
Argyll and Bute	11
Clackmannanshire	3
Dumfries and Galloway	13
Dundee City	1
East Ayrshire	5
East Dunbartonshire	1
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Edinburgh, City of	7
Eilean Siar	3
Falkirk	1
Fife	14
Glasgow City	2
Highland	28
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray	1
North Ayrshire	4
North Lanarkshire	3
Orkney Islands	3
Perth and Kinross	12
Renfrewshire	1
Scottish Borders	11
Shetland Islands	1
South Ayrshire	2
South Lanarkshire	1
Stirling	10
West Dunbartonshire	1
West Lothian	2
Scotland-wide / multiple areas	23

The Edinburgh Process strand of the NRF has provided a total of £17 Million in direct allocations to Local Authorities and National Parks to date, between 2021-22 and 2023-24. A further £5 Million was distributed to Local Authorities in 2023-24 to support the development of Nature Networks. The following table provides a breakdown of the Local Authority awards. However, each council is responsible for using this funding on locally determined biodiversity priorities, in line with the principles of the Edinburgh Process. We do not therefore hold a centralised record of the number of individual projects supported by the Edinburgh Process strand in each local authority area. Not included in the table is an additional £1 Million which was made available as a competitive fund for local authorities in 2022.

Local Authority	Rounded Allocation (£m)
	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	3-year total	Nature Networks 2023-24
Aberdeen City	0.128	0.135	0.135	0.398	0.135
Aberdeenshire	0.268	0.213	0.223	0.704	0.223
Angus	0.095	0.15	0.153	0.398	0.153
Argyll & Bute	0.108	0.238	0.245	0.591	0.245
Clackmannanshire	0.067	0.091	0.098	0.256	0.098
Dumfries & Galloway	0.135	0.257	0.245	0.637	0.245
Dundee City	0.109	0.086	0.086	0.281	0.086
East Ayrshire	0.172	0.102	0.103	0.377	0.103
East Dunbartonshire	0.079	0.132	0.133	0.344	0.133
East Lothian	0.109	0.11	0.112	0.331	0.112
East Renfrewshire	0.084	0.061	0.061	0.206	0.061
Edinburgh, City of	0.264	0.161	0.136	0.561	0.136
Eilean Siar	0.018	0.124	0.128	0.270	0.128
Falkirk	0.183	0.179	0.174	0.536	0.174
Fife	0.416	0.378	0.306	1.100	0.306
Glasgow City	0.487	0.132	0.124	0.743	0.124
Highland	0.258	0.328	0.338	0.924	0.338
Inverclyde	0.088	0.16	0.153	0.401	0.153
Midlothian	0.081	0.103	0.106	0.290	0.106
Moray	0.101	0.124	0.123	0.348	0.123
North Ayrshire	0.166	0.19	0.178	0.534	0.178
North Lanarkshire	0.369	0.274	0.278	0.921	0.278
Orkney Islands	0.016	0.054	0.053	0.123	0.053
Perth & Kinross	0.166	0.176	0.177	0.519	0.177
Renfrewshire	0.157	0.102	0.100	0.359	0.100
Scottish Borders	0.12	0.161	0.164	0.445	0.164
Shetland Islands	0.016	0.079	0.081	0.176	0.081
South Ayrshire	0.105	0.096	0.095	0.296	0.095
South Lanarkshire	0.264	0.188	0.273	0.725	0.273
Stirling	0.097	0.114	0.114	0.325	0.114
West Dunbartonshire	0.102	0.126	0.129	0.357	0.129
West Lothian	0.172	0.176	0.184	0.532	0.184
TOTAL	5	5	5	15	5

Question reference: S6W-30627

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it issues to local authorities in relation to the application of discretionary reliefs for non-domestic rates.

Non-domestic rates are administered by local authorities in accordance with the relevant legislation. Under that statutory framework, the award of discretionary reliefs is a matter for individual local authorities. In line with the recommendation from the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates to remind councils of the arrangements for reliefs and to provide better public information on reliefs and the legislative framework, the Scottish Government publishes an annual Local Government Finance Circular providing information for each non-domestic rates relief, including discretionary reliefs like Hardship Relief or the discretionary element of Rural Relief.

Under section 18 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020, the Scottish Government published statutory guidance in February 2021 on relief awarded under section 4(5)(c) of the Local Government (Financial Provisions etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962 (the discretionary element of what is often known as Sports Club relief).

Part 11 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 allows local authorities to deliver local non-domestic rates relief schemes, including Empty Property Relief. From 2024-25, local authorities will also use these powers to deliver Green Freeports non-domestic rates relief to properties within Green Freeport tax sites, where the property meets the eligibility criteria set out in the non-statutory guidance published in May 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30625

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it plans to publish draft regulations in relation to the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 provisions on an infrastructure levy.

Question reference: S6W-30652

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) organisations and (b) individuals have been engaged as part of the review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

Question reference: S6W-30517

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether its review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 has concluded, and when it will be published.

Question reference: S6W-30374

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment in each local authority area in the West Scotland parliamentary region.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Scottish Child Payment applications, payments and the number of children actively in receipt of the payment by local authority area.

As of 30 June 2024, the number of children aged 0-15 years actively benefitting from Scottish Child Payment in each local authority area relevant to the West Scotland parliamentary region were as follows:

Argyll and Bute – 4,100;
East Dunbartonshire – 3,770;
East Renfrewshire – 3,575;
Inverclyde – 5,375;
North Ayrshire – 10,395;
Renfrewshire – 10,545;
West Dunbartonshire – 7,165.

This information along with other local authority areas can be found in the latest Scottish Child Payment Official Statistics publication:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

The next edition of the Scottish Child Payment publication which will cover the period to the end of September 2024, is due to be published on 26 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30378

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many eviction order applications from private landlords were (a) submitted to and (b) granted by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in each year since 2019, broken down by the local authority area in which the property was located, for each local authority area in the West Scotland parliamentary region.

(a) The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) has published the number of applications for eviction received in their Scottish Tribunals Annual Reports. For ease of reference, this is set out in the following table.

Financial year	Received
2019 - 2020	1742
2020 - 2021	767
2021 – 2022	1251
2022 – 2023	2252
2023 - 2024	2687

(b) The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) are the relevant body in relation to processing eviction applications and determinations in Scotland. They are, therefore, best placed to answer how many eviction orders were granted in each year since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-30298

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether its policy of opposition to unconventional oil and gas extraction, or fracking, continues to apply in Green Freeports.

Scottish Ministers announced their finalised position of no support for unconventional oil and gas, commonly known as fracking, in 2019 having concluded that it is incompatible with our policies on climate change, energy transition and the decarbonisation of our economy. This means that no unconventional oil and gas activity, including fracking, can take place in Scotland, including within Green Freeports.

Question reference: S6W-30305

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to bring forward legislation or regulation in respect of the legal status of residential properties for which a right of lease in land is registered and granted for a period of more than 175 years and were not converted to ownership under the Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012.

The Scottish Government has no plans to bring forward legislation on long leases at this time.

The Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012 converted certain ultra-long leases (over 175 years long) with an unexpired duration of 100 years (on the appointed day) into outright ownership. These periods were chosen based on research carried out by the Scottish Law Commission and is set out in its Report on Conversion of Long Leases (2006). Report on Conversion of Long Leases (Scot Law Com No 204)

The Scottish Government requires to ensure that any legislation that is put before the Scottish Parliament is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). These provisions were considered to be consistent with Article 14 and Article 1, Protocol 1 of the ECHR.

Question reference: S6W-30306

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 17 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many residential properties for which a right of lease in land is registered and granted for a period of more than 175 years were not converted to ownership under the Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Law Commission (SLC) Report on Conversion of Long Leases (2006). Report on Conversion of Long Leases (Scot Law Com No 204) provides several tables on the number of leases and the variations of length and duration. A survey of long leases was undertaken by the SLC see paragraph 1.14 and Appendix C for the results broken down into various categories.