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-06043

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 8 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Green Heat Finance Taskforce was created; how many people it employs, and what its annual budget is.

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, committed to establishing a Green Heat Finance Taskforce. This taskforce was created in December 2021 and will operate until September 2023.

Taskforce members are participating on a voluntary basis with secretariat support provided by the Scottish Government. No annual budget has been assigned to the Taskforce. Further information can be found on the Scottish Government webpage for the Green Heat Finance Taskforce.

Question reference: S6W-05715

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle incidents of hare coursing across the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Operation Wingspan, a Police Scotland led partnership operation which ran from October 2020 – October 2021, was a year-long commitment to raising awareness of wildlife crime priorities, including hare coursing. Police Scotland also contributed to Operation Galileo in 2021, a UK wide hare coursing operation.

In the summer and autumn months of 2021, Police Scotland wildlife crime operations focused on hare coursing and poaching. This included a social media campaign, work with key stakeholders and awareness raising with local police stations.

Police Scotland is providing relevant training to 60 existing police officers which will enable them to undertake Wildlife Crime Officer duties on a part-time basis, ancillary to their core role.

A number of actions were taken in the Mid Scotland and Fife region including information on hare coursing being distributed to the farming community encouraging members to report incidents of hare coursing and advising them how to note key evidence in a safe manner. Wildlife crime officers and roads policing officers also conducted intelligence-led stops of vehicles and proactive patrols of hare coursing hot spots.

Question reference: S6W-05684

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reserves that would be required for an independent Scottish central bank.

Question reference: S6W-05714

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Animals and Wildlife, Penalties, Powers and Protections (Scotland) Act 2020 recently introduced higher penalties for a range of wildlife crime offences including offences related to hare coursing. The Act increased the maximum penalty for killing or injuring hares in their close season under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the maximum penalty for hunting a hare with a dog under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, from six months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. The new maximum penalties are available for offences committed after 30 November 2020.

With the sentencing regime having recently been updated and strengthened, we have no plans to review the sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S6W-05254

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has adopted, as part of its plans for an independent Scotland, the terms of the motion reportedly passed at the SNP conference 2021 to establish a Scottish Central Bank and a new Scottish currency as soon as possible in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-05256

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported policy of the Scottish Green Party that work on a new Scottish currency should start straight after any vote to agree to an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-05716

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of (a) poaching and (b) coursing were recorded in (i) the Forth Valley, (ii) Fife and (iii) Perth and Kinross, in each of the last five years.

Information on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland of coursing (a. hunting with dogs) and poaching (b. poaching and game laws, including deer-related offences), from 2016-17 to 2020-21, is provided in the table below.

Table 1. Offences of poaching and coursing, by requested local authority, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Offence	Local Authority	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
a) Coursing 1	i) Forth Valley 2	0	0	0	0	0
	ii) Fife	1	9	3	3	4
	iii) Perth & Kinross	1	0	4	0	4
b) Poaching 3	i) Forth Valley 2	0	0	0	4	2
	ii) Fife	0	0	3	1	0
	iii) Perth & Kinross	2	1	1	2	0

Note:

1. Coursing data is from the crime Hunting with Dogs.

2. Forth Valley data is composed of the constituent Local Authorities: Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, and Stirling.

3. Poaching data combines crimes recorded under Poaching and Game Laws and Deer (Scotland) Offences.

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics, annual statistics, Scottish Government

Question reference: S6O-00686

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Stirling Council and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-05253

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed, in an independent Scotland, to retaining the pound sterling within a formal monetary union with the rest of the UK unless certain tests are met, and, if so, whether it will provide a breakdown of what those economic tests are.

Scotland will continue to use the pound sterling at the point of independence, establishing an independent Scottish currency as soon as practicable through a careful, managed and responsible transition when an independent Scottish parliament chooses to do so.

The SNP Growth Commission recommended a transition to a separate Scottish currency after six economic tests were met:

Fiscal sustainability;
Central Bank credibility and stability of debt issuance;
Financial requirements of Scottish residents and businesses;
Sufficiency of foreign exchange and financial reserves;
Fit to trade and investment patterns;
Correlation of economic and trade cycle.

Question reference: S6W-05255

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, under its plans for an independent Scotland, whether it will provide a detailed timetable for establishing a Scottish Central Bank and a new Scottish currency.