- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it achieved its plan to complete the development of 12,000 hectares of woodland in 2020-21.
Answer
National statistics (UK) released on 17 June show that 10,660 hectares of new woodland was created in Scotland in 2020/21, the equivalent of over 21 million trees in the ground and around 80% of all trees planted across the UK
However COVID restrictions, combined with heavy rain and snow across most of Scotland in March, resulted in unavoidable delays to planting. Despite this we achieved 89% of the woodland creation target in 2020-21 and the remaining 11% was planted during the remainder of the planting season in April, May and June, during the first 100 days
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on expanding flexibility in self-directed support in all health and social care partnership areas to enable carers and the people that they care for to arrange support in a way that meets their needs.
Answer
Self-Directed Support (SDS) is Scotland’s mainstream approach to social care that seeks to give unpaid carers and people receiving care and/or support flexibility, choice and control to meet their own personal outcomes, using a human rights based approach. In March 2021 the SDS Framework of Standards was published. This enables and encourages both local authorities and individuals to use Self-Directed Support in a flexible manner, enabling consideration out with traditional support services that may have been previously provided.
Scottish Government also funds independent support providers across Scotland to support people to arrange support that meets their needs by providing advocacy, information and advice on social care at local levels.
- Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the children currently awaiting a neuro-developmental assessment are (a) six years old or younger, (b) seven to 12 years old, (c) 13 to 16 years old and (d) older than 16 years of age.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02365 on 3 September 2021. 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
- Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for a child to receive a neuro-developmental assessment, and
what its position is on what the target waiting time should be.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02365 on 3 September 2021. 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
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide support to Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, in light of reports of rising waiting times for the provision of home care packages to people assessed with such a need.
Answer
We are in daily contact with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), and are monitoring the situation closely, including in Fife HSCP. Health Boards and HSCPs have provided assurances that people in need of the most urgent care will continue receiving care during this challenging period.
We are working with local partners to address these pressures at a local and national level, including putting in place measures to support recruitment and multi-disciplinary working. Some of the immediate actions we have taken include: funding support to advertise vacant posts on a dedicated social care webpage; and targeted communication with Further and Higher Education nursing students and Social Work students, to encourage applications to join the workforce.
Further, we have allocated an additional £380 million to Health Boards to help with costs arising from the pandemic. This comes on top of the £1.7 billion already provided to Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships last year.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the 2018 report by the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, Salmon Farming in Scotland, which states "that if the industry is to grow, the 'status quo' in terms of regulation and enforcement is not acceptable" and that "urgent and meaningful action needs to be taken to address regulatory deficiencies as well as fish health and environmental issues before the industry can expand", and the potential delay in addressing such concerns due to the commencement of the external review of the regulatory process involved in fish farming, to be conducted by Professor Russel Griggs, whether it will give immediate consideration to halting any further expansion of salmon farming until a satisfactory new regulatory regime is in place.
Answer
We do not support the halting of further expansion of salmon farming. The 2018 report by the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, Salmon Farming in Scotland , noted calls for a moratorium on new salmon farm developments and expansion of existing sides, but considered that there was insufficient evidence to support this. The Scottish Government agreed with the Committee’s recommendations that the status quo was not an option.
Since then, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s new finfish regulatory framework has launched and, through the Farmed Fish Health Framework, we have delivered a strengthened farmed fish sea lice compliance regime, including sea lice reporting legislation which came into force in May.
We are also committed to taking forward an immediate programme of work to better protect wildlife and the environment, including a response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group in September 2021; consultation on a spatially adaptive sea lice risk assessment framework for fish farms by the end of the year; and strengthened controls on sea lice, wrasse and fish escapes in the course of 2021-22. There are no grounds to support a moratorium.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its biodiversity targets.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to action to protect biodiversity and to the effective monitoring of progress towards this goal. We are working to meet the commitments set out within the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, 2004 - 2020, and are aligned to the international Aichi biodiversity targets as set out in the Strategic Plan for biodiversity 2011-2020.
The final report against the Aichi targets published in 2021 showed that Scotland achieved 9 out of the 20 targets and another 11 are progressing. This compares favourably to the global picture, where the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reports that good progress as being made on only 4 of the targets, and with the UK as a whole, which met only 5 targets. The CBD reports that there is no country in the world that has fully met the Aichi Biodiversity targets.
The 2020 Statement of Intent on Biodiversity included a commitment to protect 30% of our land for nature by 2030 And assess whether we could go further given that we have already achieved 37% protection of Scotland’s marine environment. We also recently added a new single high level indicator to the National Performance Framework which measures trends in marine and terrestrial biodiversity in Scotland.
Looking forward, we will publish a new biodiversity strategy in October 2022. This will set out how we will deliver our overall ambition of preventing any further extinctions of wildlife and halting declines by 2030, and making significant progress in restoring Scotland’s natural environment by 2045. This will lay the foundation for a new A Natural Environment Bill which will include legislation for new nature recovery targets.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the current energy from waste efficiency rating is of each incineration plant in Scotland, and how this compares with the efficiency rating stated at the planning/approval stage for each plant.
Answer
The following table shows reported efficiencies of each incineration plant for 2020. Installations are required to meet a 20% electrical efficiency from date of commissioning as set out in the Thermal Treatment of Waste Guidelines 2014 (TTWG 2014).
| | Plant Information | Expected start-up efficiency at permitting | 2020 Reported Performance |
Millerhill Recycling & Energy Recovery Centre | Heat export potential but currently operating as electricity export only | 22.6% | 24.5% |
Levenseat Energy from Waste Plant | Heat export potential but currently operating as electricity export only | 22.9% | Commissioning late 2020 therefore data not yet due with SEPA. |
Lerwick Energy Recovery Plant | Operate as heat export only | Not Available* | Latest available data is overall efficiency 64.9% 2010 (Missing data due to cyber-attack) |
Baldovie Energy from Waste Centre | Heat export potential but currently operating as electricity export only | Not Available* | 12.52%** |
Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility | Heat export potential but currently operating as electricity export only | Not Available* | 21.11% |
Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre | Heat export potential but currently operating as electricity export only | 22.9% | 20.6% (This includes the onsite AD plant) |
* Planning and permitting took place prior to first publication of the Thermal Treatment of Waste Guidance in 2009.
** This plant was designed, commissioned and built, before the Thermal Treatment of Waste Guidance was first published in 2009.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2021
As at 6 September, against a total of 1051 applications there have been 481 unsuccessful applications[1], representing 46% of total applications.
Within the unsuccessful applications there were 158 social rented sector tenants and 323 private rented sector tenants.
We do not hold a breakdown of unsuccessful applications by local authority although this information is gathered at initial application level in the following table.
| Number of applications per local authority |
| Local authority | Total | Social | PRS |
| #N/A | 13 | 2 | 11 |
| Aberdeen City | 52 | 18 | 34 |
| Aberdeenshire | 28 | 14 | 14 |
| Angus | 10 | 1 | 9 |
| Argyll & Bute | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Clackmannanshire | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 19 | 6 | 13 |
| Dundee City | 57 | 19 | 38 |
| East Ayrshire | 46 | 22 | 24 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| East Lothian | 12 | 3 | 9 |
| East Renfrewshire | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 132 | 23 | 109 |
| Falkirk | 28 | 8 | 20 |
| Fife | 54 | 17 | 37 |
| Glasgow City | 179 | 74 | 105 |
| Highland | 23 | 4 | 19 |
| Inverclyde | 16 | 7 | 9 |
| Midlothian | 10 | 3 | 7 |
| Moray | 13 | 5 | 8 |
| North Ayrshire | 31 | 11 | 20 |
| North Ayshire | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| North Lanarkshire | 52 | 22 | 30 |
| Orkney Islands | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Perth & Kinross | 43 | 21 | 22 |
| Renfrewshire | 34 | 5 | 29 |
| Scottish Borders | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| Shetland Islands | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| South Ayrshire | 30 | 7 | 23 |
| South Lanarkshire | 51 | 17 | 34 |
| Stirling | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 27 | 12 | 15 |
| West Lothian | 39 | 22 | 17 |
| Total | 1051 | 368 | 683 |
[1] Includes 19 applications rejected because of non-eligibility for funding.
Answer
As at 3 August, against a total of 1009 applications there have been 458 unsuccessful applications, representing 45% of total applications.
Within the unsuccessful applications there were 153 social rented sector tenants and 305 private rented sector tenants.
We do not hold a breakdown of unsuccessful applications by local authority although this information is gathered at initial application level and is as follows:
Number of applications per local authority |
Local authority | Total | Social | PRS |
#N/A | 10 | 2 | 8 |
Aberdeen City | 52 | 18 | 34 |
Aberdeenshire | 27 | 14 | 13 |
Angus | 10 | 1 | 9 |
Argyll & Bute | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Clackmannanshire | 11 | 8 | 3 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 18 | 5 | 13 |
Dundee City | 53 | 18 | 35 |
East Ayrshire | 44 | 21 | 23 |
East Dunbartonshire | 3 | 1 | 2 |
East Lothian | 12 | 3 | 9 |
East Renfrewshire | 5 | 1 | 4 |
Edinburgh, City of | 127 | 23 | 104 |
Falkirk | 27 | 8 | 19 |
Fife | 52 | 15 | 37 |
Glasgow City | 171 | 71 | 100 |
Highland | 23 | 4 | 19 |
Inverclyde | 15 | 7 | 8 |
Midlothian | 10 | 3 | 7 |
Moray | 13 | 5 | 8 |
North Ayrshire | 31 | 11 | 20 |
North Ayshire | 1 | 1 | 0 |
North Lanarkshire | 46 | 17 | 29 |
Orkney Islands | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Perth & Kinross | 42 | 21 | 21 |
Renfrewshire | 32 | 4 | 28 |
Scottish Borders | 10 | 2 | 8 |
Shetland Islands | 2 | 0 | 2 |
South Ayrshire | 30 | 7 | 23 |
South Lanarkshire | 51 | 17 | 34 |
Stirling | 10 | 5 | 5 |
West Dunbartonshire | 25 | 12 | 13 |
West Lothian | 39 | 22 | 17 |
Total | 1009 | 352 | 657 |
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to Historic Environment Scotland to enable historic sites to be made safe for reopening to members of the public, and what the timescales are for the reopening of these sites.
Answer
Historic Environment Scotland has responded to address the precautionary closures within the funding already available. The Scottish Government provided Historic Environment Scotland with £72.9m in 2020-21 and are providing £55.9m to support Historic Environment Scotland in 2021-22. We are also providing this financial year a further £20m in covid consequentials, taking our total support in 2021-22 to £75.9m, an increase of £3m from 2020-21.
The Scottish Government will continue to discuss the closures with Historic Environment Scotland, whose programme of prioritised inspections will inform a timescale for reopening.
