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-10962

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it still plans to undertake a consultation on improving animal transport legislation, and phasing out cages for gamebirds and laying hens, and farrowing crates for pigs.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining high standards of animal welfare. The Scottish Government is currently working closely with the other GB administrations on potential improvements to animal transport legislation and consulting stakeholders through a series of workshops, to ensure all options are fully considered before any specific proposals are brought forward.

The Scottish Government remains committed to consulting on proposals to phase out cages for gamebirds and laying hens, as well as farrowing crates for pigs. The consultations will be prepared and brought forward in due course.

Question reference: S6W-10963

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the responses to its consultation, The use of dogs to control foxes and other wild mammals in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10730

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the definition of a "family farm" is in its consultation paper, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation.

The consultation document puts forward the following criteria for the purpose of defining a landholding as 'large-scale':

a. A fixed threshold of 3000 hectares

b. Land that accounts for more than a fixed percentage of a data zone (or adjacent data zones) or local authority ward(s) designated as an Accessible Rural Area or Remote Rural Area, through our six-fold urban/rural classification scheme (please refer to: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2016/pages/2/

c. Land that accounts for more than a specified minimum proportion of a permanently inhabited island.

The proposal to set the fixed threshold at 3000 hectares for the purpose of defining a landholding as 'large-scale' reflects a suggestion made by the Scottish Land Commission that the 'aim should be to establish a threshold that would ensure that family farms and small businesses would not fall in scope, but that modest estates that could pose risks [of harm to the public interest] would'.

Consultation on our proposals for the next Land Reform Bill is ongoing. We will form a view on measures to include in legislation, and what definitions might be required, in the light of the responses we receive.

Question reference: S6W-10284

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board's work, including when it anticipates that the board will publish its findings.

Question reference: S6W-10287

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board has adapted to deal with any different issues that farmers may be facing compared with when it was first commissioned.

Question reference: S6W-10282

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board last met.

The Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) last met on 24 August 2022. Updates on the work of the Board, including minutes of meetings and the Board’s Terms of Reference, are available on the Scottish Government website . In relation to the ARIOB publishing its findings,

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05896 on 7 February 2022 and S6W-08269 on 6 May 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-09974

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many acres of peatlands were restored in 2021.

The Scottish Government gathers data on peatland restoration carried out by the Peatland ACTION programme each financial year in hectares (ha). The total number of restored hectares of peatlands in 2020-21 was 5,658ha; and the total number of restored hectares of peatlands in 2021-22 was 5,370ha.In 2022-23, we are on track to deliver a substantial increase in the number of hectares restored.

We are committed to further increasing the annual area of peatland we restore. To support this we are gathering evidence on the key bottlenecks as well as how we can best target restoration activity to deliver maximum value for money in terms of carbon, biodiversity and just transition outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-09545

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 29 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the minutes of its workshop on 14 June 2022 on ethical principles in deer management.

The workshop exploring the seven principles and deer management welfare was organised by the John Muir Trust and OneKind and attended by Scottish Government officials alongside colleagues from Forestry and Land Scotland and NatureScot.

As the Scottish Government did not organise the workshop, we do not have any minutes to publish. I understand however that OneKind will shortly publish a blog about the workshop on their website.

Question reference: S6F-01286

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will respond to reported calls by the industry to establish a Gamekeeping Taskforce to tackle abuse of rural workers.

Question reference: S6W-09159

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw (on behalf of the SPCB) on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S6W-04506 by Jackson Carlaw on 2 December 2021, whether it will provide an update on its considerations regarding the publication of all or part of the central register of interests held by the People and Culture Office.

The SPCB undertook to consider this and can advise that the central register of interests for SPCB staff who are members of the Parliament’s Leadership Group is now publicly available, as of this week. The register can be found here. The SPCB considers that publication of declared interests for Leadership Group members is in the public interest for reasons of transparency and maintaining trust and confidence. As before, Leadership Group members will be required, on an annual basis, to review their register of declared interests.