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-04720

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04529 by Mairi Gougeon on 26 November 2021, how many hectares of peatland will be restored under the scheme as a result of the 251 successful applications, and how many hectares in total were the subject of the 49 unsuccessful applications.

Question reference: S6F-00551

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to treat people with heart valve disease.

Question reference: S6W-04653

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of the cost of rural crime to rural communities, broken down by (a) livestock theft, (b) machinery theft, (c) fuel theft and (d) livestock worrying.

The Scottish Government does not publish information on the costs of rural crime. However, I am aware of the most recent NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report, published in August, which suggested that rural theft cost the UK an estimated £43.3 million in 2020.

The report noted that this was a fall of 20.3% on the previous year, making it the lowest annual cost recorded in five years. While this can be seen as encouraging, we are well aware of the impact of criminal activity in rural areas and are not complacent on this issue. We are therefore committed to supporting Police Scotland and all its partners in tackling all forms of crime and disorder which affect our rural communities.

In particular, the Scottish Government participates fully in the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), which is chaired by Police Scotland.

SPARC draws together key stakeholders from across the justice and rural sectors to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to rural crime and to support activity at local level. This includes preventative action such as the development of Rural Watch Scotland, which has been delivered by Neighbourhood Watch Scotland working with other partners through SPARC.

Furthermore, the link between rural crime such as machinery theft and serious organised crime is well recognised. The work of SPARC makes a valuable contribution to securing some of the outcomes set out in Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy by helping rural communities become more aware of serious organised crime and how to mitigate its risks.

Question reference: S6W-04655

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises are unable to access (a) superfast broadband and (b) full fibre ultrafast broadband, broken down by local authority area.

Through a combination of the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage, every premises in Scotland will be able to access a superfast broadband connection.

We do not hold data on full fibre coverage across Scotland. However, Ofcom provides this data as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information, including local authority area breakdown, can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report .

Question reference: S6W-04502

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04175 by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021, how many applications, following appeal, were (a) approved and (b) not approved, in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-04652

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of livestock worrying have been recorded in each local authority area since 2007.

Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land.

A table showing the information requested has been prepared and a copy of this table titled 'Table 1: Offences of Protection of Livestock from Dogs, North Ayrshire, 2007-08 to 2020-21' is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 62925).

Question reference: S6W-04531

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government in relation to the dualling of the A1.

The section of the A1 between Edinburgh and the border with England is a trunk road and therefore responsibility for investment decisions on the route rests with Scottish Ministers. There has been no recent meaningful engagement with the UK Government on their plans for the A1 in England. Furthermore, I would like to refer the member to the previously answered question S6W-02271 on 14 September 2021 on the Scottish Government’s plans for dualling and improving the A1. 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-04532

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will commit to expanding agritourism.

Question reference: S6W-04498

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle domestic charge point grants have been provided to customers in the Scottish Borders area, and what the total value is of these grants.

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Domestic chargepoint scheme, this scheme provides grant funding to support individuals across Scotland install electric vehicle home chargepoints.

To date Energy Saving Trust have provided 433 grants with a value of £137,423 to individuals across the Scottish Borders to install electric vehicle chargepoints.

Question reference: S6W-04510

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund there have been, and of those how many (a) were approved, (b) were not approved and (c) following appeal, were (i) approved and (ii) not approved.

In total 585 applications for the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund were received. Of this:

- 460 applications were approved.

- Where an application was not approved (125 applications), there was always a reason provided, specific to the application and if sought clarification and discussion on this reasoning was provided.

- There have been no appeals. A number of applications were asked to provide additional information, and where provided the application was reviewed in light of the additional information.