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-21032

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to hold more public workshops on its proposed Agriculture Bill in 2023.

Ministers have no plans at present for further bill workshops. The Agriculture reform programme is currently hosting engagement sessions across Scotland to hear from farmers and crofters, and increase awareness of Agricultural Reform.

The Agricultural Reform Roadshow started in June 2023, visiting 25 agricultural shows and marts across Scotland.

A full list of the roadshow dates can be found at Agriculture Reform Programme (ARP) roadshow dates 2023 (ruralpayments.org)

Question reference: S6W-21033

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total level of attendance was at the online events for its proposed Agriculture Bill that were held on 29 September, 27 October and 9, 15 and 16 November 2022.

Question reference: S6W-20928

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of any benefits of gene editing for the Scottish agriculture and horticultural sectors in terms of reducing carbon emissions.

Question reference: S6W-20932

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of any benefits of gene editing for the Scottish agriculture and horticultural sectors in terms of food health and nutrition.

Question reference: S6W-20918

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the Energy Consents Unit assesses the potential impact on communities of battery storage sites that are to be built around them when approving or denying an application.

An applicant is expected to undertake pre application consultation prior to submission of an Electricity Act application for construction of a battery storage development. Such pre application allows local communities to have their say at an early stage, and the Scottish Ministers expect that a submitted application includes a report on how communities’ views have been taken into account through this process.

An application submitted for consideration by the Scottish Ministers must provide assessment of the potential impacts on the receiving environment and on local amenity and infrastructure. A public consultation is held, and members of the public are invited to make representations on the submitted application. Community councils in the vicinity of the proposal are consulted for their views on the potential impacts.

The application information, consultation responses and representations from members of the public are considered carefully before any decision is made on an application.

Question reference: S6W-20802

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria, in relation to experience and skills, were applied in the appointment of women's health leads in each NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-21031

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the minutes that were taken at each of its public workshops on its proposed Agriculture Bill.

Question reference: S6W-21029

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the view expressed in responses to the consultation on its proposed Agriculture Bill that the proposed payment system could be complicated or unwieldy for some users, what measures it is taking to adapt the proposed four-tier payment system to take such views into account.

A consultation on the Bill’s proposals ran from 29 August 2022 to 5 December 22, where a wide range of views were received. On 22 June 2023, the Scottish Government published the Agriculture Bill - Analysis of Consultation Responses which details the findings of this extended engagement.

As is convention, following consultation on proposed legislation, Ministers are considering the views received to inform a new Agriculture Bill which will be introduced in 2023. In turn, Parliament will consider the proposals and provide further comment on draft proposals, accordingly.

Question reference: S6W-21030

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total level of attendance was at the workshops on its proposed Agriculture Bill that took place in 2022 on 5 October in Inverness, 6 October in Skye, 25 October in Inverurie, 1 November in Oban, 3 November in Melrose, 8 November in Stirling, 10 November in Dumfries, 14 November in Ayr, and 28 November in Orkney.

Question reference: S6W-20506

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to hold a summit on tackling violence in schools.

Details of the upcoming summit have been confirmed with the Education, Children and Young People Committee.

In order to provide opportunity for sufficient depth of discussion across core topics, a multi-stage approach is planned, with the first taking place on 5th September. This will be followed by further stages in October and November 2023. This events follow the Head Teacher’s taskforce, which convened in June to focus on the issues surrounding school exclusion.

The approach as outlined will allow for progress to be informed by the most up-to-date data following the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools research in autumn.