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: S5O-00463

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there is constitutional stability.

Question reference: S5W-04971

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide specific policy advice for planning authorities to assist in considering planning applications for crematoria.

Following the report of an Independent Panel earlier this year, we will publish a consultation paper on potential changes to the planning system in Scotland in the next few weeks. Following that consultation we will bring forward proposed changes to the planning system, including a Planning Bill. This will be supported by updated planning policy in due course, and planning policy on crematoria will be considered in the next iteration of Scottish Planning Policy.

Question reference: S5W-04793

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide for road improvements.

The funding for Road Improvements referred to in the budget document covers strategic road safety and Traffic Scotland (including maintenance of Intelligent Transport Systems infrastructure) and is expected to be maintained at the current annual level of £16 million in the next financial year subject to Parliamentary approval. However we also anticipate funding on-going and committed further improvements including completion of the Forth Replacement Crossing, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the M8/73/74 motorway improvements as well as progressing dualling of the A9 and A96, the A737 Dalry Bypass, Haudagain roundabout in Aberdeen and the A90 Laurencekirk junction, which in total are currently projected to be in the order of £470 million in 2017-18.

This is in addition to the funding we plan to allocate for routine and winter maintenance of £85 million, Network Strengthening of £42 million and structural repairs of £28 million for 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-04797

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to raise awareness of the new ratable values that will be introduced in April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-04792

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the reliability of Scotland's transmission network.

The Scottish Government does not have formal responsibility for electricity networks which is reserved to the UK Government and overseen by the independent regulator Ofgem.

However, Scottish Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Scottish transmission network operators Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission and Scottish Power Transmission, the GB system operator National Grid, and Ofgem to review current and future plans for network upgrades.

In addition the Scottish Government works closely with the electricity industry, UK Government and local emergency responders to ensure that: all available resources are effectively deployed in response to electricity failures; lessons are learned from any incidents which occur; and where proportionate, mitigation put in place to avoid further impacts or improve response.

Question reference: S5T-00231

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect children involved in football from sexual abuse.

Question reference: S5W-04488

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review its agricultural environmental schemes.

The principal agricultural environmental schemes in Scotland are the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) and the Environmental Co-operation Action Fund (ECAF) under the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP), supported through ‘Pillar 2’ of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

We are currently seeking EU approval to introduce changes to the detailed prescriptions for management options under the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme which will improve the accuracy of payment rate calculations and/or improve the clarity or effectiveness of management requirements. We also intend to introduce minor changes to improve the accuracy of targeting maps for certain management options. We intend to implement these changes in time for the 2017 application round. During 2017, we intend to review the scoring criteria against which applications are assessed, to ensure these are as effective as possible in identifying good quality applications.

The Environmental Co-operation Action Fund was launched in 2015. We are currently reviewing the design of the Environmental Co-operation Action Fund and any improvements will be implemented in time for the 2017 Environmental Co-operation Action Fund application round.

‘Pillar 1’ Greening was introduced in 2015. The basic framework for Greening is set out in the EU Regulation, but certain detailed rules were subject to national discretion. The Scottish Government has not announced any plans to review the national decisions regarding the implementation of Greening in Scotland, although we are engaging with stakeholders to discuss their views on the effectiveness of Greening.

Our vision for the future is an agriculture industry in Scotland that is innovative, profitable, sustainable and supporting economic growth. We will work closely with industry to develop the next steps to help realise that vision, and this will help inform our deliberations on what future support measures, for the period after the UK leaves the EU, may be appropriate for the industry. The Scottish Government will negotiate with the UK Government to ensure that future support for agriculture and rural development is allocated on a fair and equitable basis across the UK.

Question reference: S5W-04486

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the use of (a) soil analytical technology and (b) other similar approaches in order to protect the (i) land and (ii) environment.

The Scottish Government announced the introduction of compulsory soil testing in June 2015 and we have been working on the detail with a range of scientific, environmental and industry stakeholders. We are considering options for compulsory soil testing to be part of the package of measures to reduce emissions from agriculture in the Climate Change Plan, the third report on policies and proposals, which will be published in draft in January next year.

The Knowledge Transfer Innovation Fund (KTIF), is also taking forward a number of projects, for example, the Soil Association Scotland's 'Future Farming Scotland' and 'Farming with Nature' initiatives (as well as a future project 'Farming for the Future'), and Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society's (SAOS) Precision Farming project which enable co-ops to provide farmers with open and transparent data and analytical services, with the benefit of collective investment and risk sharing.

The Farm Advisory Service (FAS) will be taking forward and is responsible for the delivery of the Soil Nutrient Network in relation to soil management.

Through the recently relaunched Scotland's Soils Website (http://soils.environment.gov.scot/) soils data is made publicly available, supporting informed decisions about the management of Scotland's soils and the benefits they provide.

Question reference: S5W-04487

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to farmers with fallen stock and what plans it has to review this.

The Scottish Government does not provide direct support to farmers to help with their fallen stock. Unfortunately dealing with fallen stock is a consequence of keeping livestock, and the disposal costs are therefore one part of the production costs for livestock businesses.

However, in the past, Scottish Government have taken a number of measures to assist farmers with mitigating the costs of collection and disposal and we continue to work with them to keep the situation under review.

Question reference: S5O-00348

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to resolve the reported backlog of cases in the Scottish courts.