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-18740

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are employed in Forestry and Land Scotland's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team, broken down by job title, and what the total value is of their combined salaries.

Forestry and Land Scotland employ two members of staff in the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Team. One person is employed on a full-time basis and the other is employed on a 0.6 FTE basis (22.2 hours per week). Both members of staff are employed as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Managers and the total value of their combined salaries is £76,309.60 per annum.

Forestry and Land Scotland also provide Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion support to the SG Agency Scottish Forestry.

Question reference: S6W-18644

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Age Scotland report, Making Adaptations Work for Older People in Scotland, and its recommendations, which was published in May 2023.

I had the pleasure of attending the launch event for this important report. The Scottish Government welcomes the Age Scotland report and recognises that living in the right home with the right support, including housing adaptations, can be the key to enabling older people to live safely and independently at home.

We know that there are issues with the way in which adaptations are being accessed and delivered locally, so we are considering how the process can be streamlined and made easier for people who need adaptations.

We are also working to increase the supply of accessible and adapted homes. Whenever possible, all new affordable homes are built to Housing for Varying Needs accessibility standards. Housing for Varying Needs offers good practice in the design of homes to help them achieve a good standard of accessibility and flexibility so that they meet people’s needs as they change over time.

We plan to launch a formal consultation on proposals to update the Housing for Varying Needs design guide, and on proposals for introducing the Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, over the coming weeks.

Question reference: S6W-18859

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls have been received by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency’s 24 Hour Pollution Hotline in each year since 2019, and how many full-time staff members are employed in the Reservoirs Regulatory Unit.

This is a matter for SEPA. The information requested is not held centrally. SEPA have provided the following information.

Calls to Pollution Hotline in each year since 2019

Year	Number of calls
2019	7793
2020	6409
2021	6527
2022	6617
2023 (until 8/6)	2560

60% of inbound enquiries now come via a SEPA online reporting tool:

Eight FTE members of SEPA staff are directly dedicated to work on regulating reservoirs. This resource increases considerably in years when risk designations have to be reviewed. Further resource from across SEPA (legal input, monitoring to underpin models etc.) is provided to fulfil their statutory duties.

Question reference: S6W-18437

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the licensing news on the NatureScot website, whether NatureScot is accepting posted mail, as opposed to only email correspondence; what advice it provided to people who were unable to email or did not have access to the internet, and, if posted mail is being accepted again, when this policy was reinstated.

Question reference: S6W-18684

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards implementing the recommendations in the Final Report of the Women in Agriculture Taskforce.

We are continuing to progress the implementation of the recommendations of the Women in Agriculture Taskforce. As part of this we continue to deliver solutions that deliver positive change for women living and working in Scottish agriculture through the Women in Agriculture Development Programme.

This financial year (2023-24) we are providing £500,000 to support further activity and opportunities for women in agriculture. We also remain committed to increasing our funding to £600,000 per year over the course of this Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-18438

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average response time is for NatureScot to respond, via call back, to voicemails left on the licensing helpline, and what the current average response time is to emails sent to the licensing email address.

Question reference: S6W-18439

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average processing time, in days, has been for non-urgent licence applications to NatureScot in each month since 2020.

Question reference: S6W-18884

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Japanese knotweed or other invasive species have been found at Historic Environment Scotland properties in the last five years, and, if so, whether it will provide a list of any such incidences.

Question reference: S6W-18731

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many interest-free loans, up to a maximum of £5,000, have been used by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service staff for the purchase of specialised equipment through the SCTS Respite Care Scheme, and whether it will outline the total value of any such loans, broken down by each year in which the scheme has been active.

Question reference: S6W-18730

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) staff are currently on the SCTS Carer register, including as a proportion of the total SCTS workforce.