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-01625

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings in relation to COP26 the First Minister has attended.

Question reference: S6W-01645

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the delayed document, Housing Statistics for Scotland 2020: Key Trends Summary, will be published.

The publication of the Housing Statistics for Scotland 2020: Key Trends Summary and associated Excel web tables had been initially planned for September 2020, however was subsequently delayed due to the impacts of COVID-19 on data provision and staff resourcing.

The Housing Statistics team are in the process of collecting, processing and quality assuring data returns from local authorities, covering annual data for both the delayed 2020 Key Trends publication along with more recent annual data covering the 2021 publication period. We are intending to publish a Key Trends Summary and Excel web tables containing both the 2020 and 2021 figures. The statistics will be released as soon as they are considered ready, under the guidance of the Chief Statistician. At this stage we anticipate this will be between October and December 2021.

Once there is more certainty around a publication date this will be pre-announced no later than 4 weeks in advance, in line with the Statistics Code of Practice, on the Scottish Government website: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-01634

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00982 by Graeme Dey on 8 July 2021, for what reason the electrification of the routes referred to could not have been funded by existing funds.

Question reference: S6W-01653

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations were consulted during negotiations regarding the time charter agreement between CalMac Ferries and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for the MV Arrow.

Question reference: S6W-01471

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Home Energy Scotland loan offers have expired during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this compares to the three financial years prior to the pandemic beginning.

The proportion of Home Energy Scotland loan offers that have expired during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the previous three years is:

Year	Total Offers	Expired loan offers (not accepted)	Expired Committed Loan Offers (not accepted)
2021-22 (to end June – pandemic period)	937	192 (20%)	0 (0%)
2020-21 (pandemic period)	2011	157 (8%)	40 (2%)
2019-20	1757	71 (4%)	210 (12%)
2018-19	1903	149 (8%)	76 (4%)
2017-18	1404	37 (3%)	37 (3%)

Please note the following with regard to the data:

a higher incidence of offers has expired during the pandemic, probably due to the increase in application with the launch of the cashback scheme. The comparison is also higher as we are only half way through 2022, and applicants still have time to return their loan documents
the timescale to claim was increased during the pandemic, therefore pre-pandemic, with the short claim time gave a greater incentive to claim the funding
the increase in expired offers at the end of 2019/20 could be due to loan offers made shortly before, and being impacted by the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-01401

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are sufficiently detailed soil maps in use to prevent peatlands being ploughed during its forestation programme.

For all woodland creation proposals, applicants are required to undertake land surveys as part of their due diligence. This due diligence includes surveying for peat soils, including deep peat. Where peat soils are found, further more intensive surveys are required, to produce a detailed soil survey map which is submitted to Scottish Forestry for approval. Depending upon the distribution of peat and peat depths across the proposal area, further peat surveys may be required before a contract for woodland creation is approved and a final detailed peat and soil survey map is accepted. At this time, a species and constraints map is also agreed and areas of deep peat are excluded from the agreed contract. We have released new cultivation guidance on 26 July and this will prevent the use of high impact cultivation techniques on peat and organo-mineral soils over 10cm.

Applicants and agents use existing soil survey maps for Scotland as a baseline ahead of beginning on site land surveys. Subsequently areas of deep peat are demarcated on site and cultivation contractors are provided with soil and species maps to ensure cultivation is undertaken in line with the agreed contract.

Question reference: S6W-01455

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to protect the natural environment and wildlife from water shortages.

The Scottish Government works with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), NatureScot, fisheries boards and trusts, and other stakeholders to protect the natural environment and wildlife from water shortages.

Our River Basin Management Plans identify areas in Scotland already impacted by abstractions and set out objectives to improve those watercourses. SEPA licences and regulates abstractions to ensure that water use does not exceed the available capacity. At times of water scarcity, SEPA has the powers to temporarily stop abstraction, to protect the environment.

The National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how SEPA and other key stakeholders will prepare and respond to water shortages. SEPA works closely with NatureScot and other environmental organisations to provide advice and information on water scarcity so they can act to protect wildlife.

Question reference: S6W-01433

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) houses, or (b) flats (i) in total (ii) of those which were completed in the last five years, are connected to heat networks.

The following data was collected via energy performance certificates (EPCs) submitted for all new build completions in Scotland since 2016. This indicative data is based on analysis of new build EPC records lodged on the EPC register between Q1 2016 and Q4 2020. A total of 92,900 EPC records were analysed.

Numbers in the tables have been rounded to the nearest ten. This is the best currently available data:

Total New Build Completions, as per records lodged on EPC register
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
Houses	11,230	11,790	14,460	16,580	10,950	65,010
Flats	5,460	5,290	5,590	7,060	4,500	27,900
Total	16,690	17,080	20,050	23,640	15,450	92,900

Number of new build completions connected to heat networks
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
Houses	80	210	120	150	70	620
Flats	400	500	300	840	220	2,250
Total	470	710	410	990	290	2,870

Share of new build completions connected to heat networks
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Average
Houses	1%	2%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Flats	7%	9%	5%	12%	5%	8%
Total	3%	4%	2%	4%	2%	3%

Source: Management information as extracted from the EPC database {December 2020, 2020 data accessed July 2021}, published and available at statistics.gov.scot : Domestic Energy Performance Certificates - Dataset to Q4 2020

Question reference: S6W-01325

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on native woodland (a) management and (b) expansion through the Forestry Grant Scheme in each year since 2015.

Details of the grants awarded by Scottish Government through the Forestry Grant Scheme is shown in the following table:

Year	Management of native woodlands	Expansion of native woodlands
2015	N/A	£1.2 M
2016	£1.3 M	3.45 M
2017	£2.35 M	£5.9 M
2018	£1.08 M	£12.4 M
2019	£1.15 M	£11.1 M
2020	£1.63 M	£14.07 M

In 2015, no grants were awarded for the management of native woodlands as this grant option was launched in 2015.

The figures in the table relate to the budget of the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS), which is the principal funding mechanism in Scotland for supporting native woodland creation and sustainable forest management. In addition to the FGS there are a number of partnership schemes, involving public and private organisations which support small scale woodland creation in specific locations.

Question reference: S6W-01287

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scale of health complications likely to be experienced by people in the next five years as a result of them having had COVID-19.