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-22192

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 26 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to tackle sheep predation by white-tailed eagles.

NatureScot, through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme, delivers a range of measures to support farmers and crofters to manage sheep flocks to mitigate the impacts of sea eagle predation.

These include:

Provision of one-to-one advice from experienced contractors to land managers experiencing sea eagle impacts
Co-ordination of recording/logging of sea eagle activity and flock management information at a farm/croft level
Loan of scaring equipment
Payments to land managers who undertake management measures which mitigate sea eagle impacts as part of their livestock management, through Management Agreements.

Payments can be made for flock management (including supplementary feeding, tick and fluke treatments), enhanced management (including additional shepherding and away wintering of sheep) and capital measures (including purchase of scaring devices, creation of hill parks and support for indoor lambing).

More details are available on the NatureScot website at https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/land-and-sea-management/managing-wildlife/sea-eagle-management-scheme

Question reference: S6W-22196

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 26 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with farmers and crofters regarding predation by white-tailed eagles.

Scottish Government Rural Payment and Inspectorate Division staff and NatureScot staff are part of the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Panel. The panel is represented by a range of interests including a number of farming and crofting organisations

Alongside representation on the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Panel, NatureScot run the Sea Eagle Management Scheme, which currently has over 190 participants. Engagement is directly with the participants and ranges from site visits and advice from NatureScot contractors, scheme payments, developing management and mitigation measures and carrying out site based work to improve our understanding of sea eagle interactions with sheep.

Question reference: S6W-22112

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it defines a "cluster" of farmers.

The Scottish Government does not have a formal definition for a “cluster” of farmers. The term has been used in relation to the Farming with Nature programme NatureScot delivers in partnership with the Scottish Government, specifically the Piloting an Outcomes Based Approach in Scotland (POBAS) project. The term ‘cluster’ has been used where there are a number of farms and crofts in a region participating or involved with the project. Further information on the project’s Phase 1 and Phases 2 and 3 is available on NatureScot’s website.

Question reference: S6W-22181

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses have been employed in the NHS in each of the last three years, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-22113

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to fast-track initial applications for practitioners to use more than two dogs as a means of controlling predator populations in Scotland, in light of any anticipated overlap in processing times and the implementation of new guidelines on this practice.

Question reference: S6W-22109

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it plans to bring forward a crofting bill in the current parliamentary session.

As stated in the Scottish Policy Prospectus, I am committed to reform crofting law by 2026, subject to agreement by parliament, to support the future of crofting. The Programme for Government 2023-24 commits the Scottish Government to developing and consulting on proposals to reform crofting law. That is a key and necessary part of the process to develop and introduce a bill. We remain committed to doing so in this Parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6W-21738

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to respond to the concerns that were raised as part of the consultation on the Agriculture Bill that proposals for future payments would place too much emphasis on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and not enough emphasis on high quality food production.

Question reference: S6W-21737

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it defines the term "just transition" in the context of the proposed Agriculture Bill.

Question reference: S6W-21739

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to create a governance and payment structure to ensure that the support provided under the proposed Agriculture Bill will be allocated in a timely manner.

Question reference: S6W-21744

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult further on the proposed Agriculture Bill with expert farmers groups and environmental non-governmental organisations.

The Agriculture Bill has now been published and introduced to Parliament.

Engagement with stakeholders will continue during the Bill process, and the Scottish Government looks forward to hearing and seeing the evidence that organisations and individuals provide as part of Stage 1 of the bill process.

This week the Scottish Government has launched a further stakeholder engagement programme on the bill measures and tiered approach, which will include interviews, surveys, workshops, testing and trials, and anyone can take part. More information is available here .