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: S5W-33611

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12821 by Fergus Ewing on 30 November 2017, whether it will provide the information for 2019-20 regarding the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953.

Information on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 is provided in the following table.

Table 1. Offences of Protection of livestock from dogs, by local authority, 2010-11 to 2019-20
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Aberdeen City	3	3	-	1	2	6	6	3	1	-
Aberdeenshire	14	12	24	9	10	15	16	21	20	14
Angus	2	1	3	1	2	6	1	2	2	-
Argyll & Bute	3	3	11	3	5	8	11	7	11	11
Clackmannanshire	-	2	1	2	-	4	2	2	-	-
Dumfries & Galloway	7	7	5	6	6	12	7	21	13	9
Dundee	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	4	2	1	2	1	8	3	9	5	6
East Dunbartonshire	2	1	1	3	-	4	-	3	1	1
East Lothian	1	2	-	3	2	-	-	1	-	-
East Renfrewshire	4	1	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	2
Edinburgh City	2	2	2	3	3	2	7	4	5	2
Falkirk	2	5	8	-	3	4	3	2	4	-
Fife	9	12	9	6	7	4	8	6	7	5
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
Highland	23	18	15	10	15	23	23	20	19	14
Inverclyde	-	-	1	-	-	1	2	1	2	1
Midlothian	3	3	6	5	5	4	10	8	7	10
Moray	5	3	2	3	5	4	5	3	4	8
Na h-Eileanan Siar	12	14	7	3	8	5	8	6	7	1
North Ayrshire	1	3	1	2	3	4	-	2	3	3
North Lanarkshire	2	4	-	1	4	6	11	3	9	9
Orkney Islands	2	5	4	1	2	7	2	3	1	-
Perth & Kinross	2	3	2	2	3	7	14	11	6	7
Renfrewshire	2	6	2	1	-	4	4	2	2	1
Scottish Borders	3	2	4	8	10	7	7	4	8	19
Shetland Islands	4	2	2	-	-	3	-	-	1	-
South Ayrshire	2	1	-	3	-	1	1	3	2	3
South Lanarkshire	3	-	2	2	2	8	12	13	10	9
Stirling	2	10	8	8	8	7	8	4	12	7
West Dunbartonshire	2	1	1	3	1	2	1	1	1	2
West Lothian	1	5	3	7	2	7	2	4	4	7
Scotland	122	133	125	98	109	174	175	170	168	151
Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2019-20

Question reference: S5W-33333

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the ban on the burning of plastic waste on farms, what action it is taking to ensure that the waste that is uplifted does not end up in landfill.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 ban the landfilling of plastic waste that is separately collected for recycling. This includes farm plastics. In circumstances where there are no other available options farm plastic may be sent to landfill but all efforts should be made to have it separately collected and recycled first, to avoid unnecessary landfilling of a valuable resource.

Both SEPA and Zero Waste Scotland offer support and guidance to farmers to encourage the recycling of farm plastics.

SEPA: https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/agricultural-waste/burning-on-farm-waste/ .

Zero Waste Scotland: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/organics/farm-plastic-recycling .

Question reference: S5W-33324

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many tonnes of plastic waste has been sent overseas since the ban on the burning of such waste on farms was introduced.

Data on plastics exported overseas since the introduction of the ban on burning plastic waste on farms is not currently available.

SEPA publishes statistics on the management of all waste, including the amount of plastic waste originating in Scotland and subsequently recycled in Scotland. The ban on burning plastic waste on farms has been enforced by SEPA since 1 January 2019. The most recent data available is for 2018, which can be accessed here: https://www.environment.gov.scot/data/data-analysis/waste-from-all-sources/ .

Question reference: S5O-04638

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the social security delivery timetable for all wave 2 benefits.

Question reference: S5O-04556

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to protect public spending in the north east.

Question reference: S5O-04528

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason only one of 30 bars in Aberdeen has reportedly been asked to provide its contact tracing list since the implementation of the local lockdown.

Question reference: S5O-04505

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the UK Government’s position in Brexit negotiations that the UK should be an independent coastal state so that Scotland’s vital fishing industry can be protected.

Question reference: S5W-29568

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions have been made in relation to tackling diseases on farms in its agricultural policy framework to succeed the Common Agricultural Policy.

The Scottish Government is currently working with the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group to produce a report on the post CAP framework, expected to commence from 2024. This group was established at the behest of the Scottish Parliament following a debate and vote in January 2019 and they are expected to publish their report in the summer. Until then, it would be premature to speculate on the content of their report.

Regardless of how the group’s report deals with the issue of animal disease prevention it will always be a high priority for the Scottish Government. The bulk of our work in the field is independent of CAP, and our collaborative approach to endemic disease is well demonstrated in policies such as the BVD Eradication Scheme and risk-based bovine TB monitoring. We will continue to work with stakeholders to protect and enhance Scotland’s reputation for the high health standards of our farmed animals.

Question reference: S5W-29566

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether its post-transition period agricultural policy framework will detail plans and provisions for farmers to tackle endemic diseases on farms through a preventative health approach.

Proposals for future rural policy were set out in the “Stability and Simplicity” consultation which provides a period of stability until the end of 2020 followed by a period of simplicity until 2024. During the simplicity period it is proposed that the majority of schemes will continue but subject to simplification and improvements to reflect the conclusions of the Simplification Task Force and to broadly refocus and target schemes, where possible, towards key priorities including climate change and biodiversity loss.

Animal health is always a high priority for the Scottish Government. The bulk of our work in the field is independent of CAP, and our collaborative approach to endemic disease is well demonstrated in policies such as the BVD Eradication Scheme and risk-based bovine TB monitoring. We will continue to work with stakeholders to protect and enhance Scotland’s reputation for the high health standards of our farmed animals.

Question reference: S5W-29567

Asked by: Peter Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 12 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the benefits of tackling endemic diseases on farms, and whether this contributes to meeting environmental targets, quality of food produced and food security.

Scottish Government has supported two formal assessments of the impact of livestock disease on productivity and greenhouse gas emissions. One study was conducted by ADAS and a second by the SG funded Centre of Expertise on Climate Change, the reports are publicly available.

The Scottish Government has a history of supporting control schemes for endemic diseases. For example using CAP funding to support animal health planning and options for disease control. We are also at the forefront of efforts to control bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) in the UK by supporting the industry through development of the ScotEID database and delivery of BVD legislation.

Underpinning these activities is Scottish Government’s long standing record of funding research and development programmes on livestock diseases at the Moredun Research Institute and Scotland’s Rural College. Both are internationally renowned and aimed at delivery of new disease control tools for livestock diseases such as vaccines and diagnostic methods. The rationale for support of this research includes minimising environmental impact through improved animal health, improving product quality and ensuring food security.