- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any long-term implications of large-scale energy projects in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
Where new energy developments come forward, applications are subject to site-specific assessments by the decision maker. Our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) policy 11 (energy) requires that project design and mitigation demonstrate how impacts on communities, landscape, biodiversity and other receptors, including cumulative impacts, are addressed. It also encourages development to maximise net economic impact, including local and community socio-economic benefits.
When an application is ready to be determined, the Scottish Ministers will consider all relevant material available to them before making any decision on an application. The merits of each proposal are considered on a case-by-case basis, and a careful balance must be struck between the potential impacts of the proposed development and the associated environmental, economic, renewable energy and climate change benefits.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment in 2021 to do so, by what date it will publish a public consultation on ending the use of pig farrowing crates.
Answer
The proposed consultation on phasing out the use farrowing crates for pigs was originally intended to have been delivered jointly across all UK administrations. However, progress on a number of important pieces of animal welfare legislation have been significantly delayed or has ceased due to delays in UK Government timetabling, such as the Kept Animals Bill.
Regardless, the Scottish Government is pressing ahead on improving the welfare of all animals in Scotland, including pigs. This included updating and publishing the Scottish Government’s Guidance for the Welfare of Pigs.
We continue to listen and work with the industry and stakeholders on how best to achieve improvements in animal welfare as well as monitoring industry information to allow us to determine how to ensure best practice is delivered, and remain committed to consulting on ending farrowing crate use.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when the report on the dual role of the Lord Advocate will be (a) finalised and (b) published, and whether it will publish preliminary findings in advance of final publication.
Answer
The final report has been received and as agreed it will now be subject to peer review. I will provide a further update on progress as soon as that has been concluded. We are committed to publishing the report and will do so once the peer review process and any further action needed has concluded.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding working jointly towards ending the use of pig farrowing crates.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to engage with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to discuss animal welfare improvements and remains committed to consulting on phasing out the use of farrowing crates.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the teaching of Latin in state schools.
Answer
Latin can be taught in both primary and secondary state schools as part of the Scottish Government’s 1+2 approach to language learning. It is also offered as a National Qualification from National 3 to Advanced Higher level.
Education Scotland work closely with partners to develop resources to support the teaching of Latin and other classical subjects in schools.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of recommendations from fatal accident inquiries have related specifically to health and safety improvements in workplaces in each of the last five years, broken down by sector.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. However all recommendations are published on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and are publicly available.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason pharmacists working in communities reportedly do not have full access to clinical records for people in their care.
Answer
Community pharmacists currently have access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) which provides information on recent acute and repeat prescriptions and allergies and the Key Information Summary (KIS) where available, which provides information about a person’s health issues, a carer’s name and contact details, preferences on how a person would like to be cared for, the treatment they would like and where they would like to be cared for. In addition, several health boards are providing community pharmacists access to their clinical portal which provides additional clinical information.
There are several barriers that currently make full access to clinical records difficult including the interoperability of the different IT systems used across the NHS and providing assurances on data protection and information governance requirements.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to review the current reported restrictions on pharmacists working in the community having access to full clinical records for patients in their care to ensure safe prescribing.
Answer
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has commissioned work to explore how the required level of access to clinical records by community pharmacists can be delivered.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent estimate it has made of any impact on tax revenue of alcohol purchases made by Scotland residents (a) online from businesses registered in England and Wales and (b) in person when travelling to England, in cases where such purchases are not subject to minimum unit pricing.
Answer
Alcohol sales are subject to VAT, whilst any profits made by businesses selling alcohol are subject to Corporation Tax. Both of these taxes remain fully reserved to the UK Government. Scotland receives a share of UK-wide VAT and corporation tax, regardless of the place of purchase of products or location of businesses, as part of the annual block-grant allocation. The Public Health Scotland evaluation of MUP concluded from a range of studies that “some evidence of cross-border purchasing was identified, but its extent was observed to be minimal.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils identified as gifted or talented are currently in receipt of targeted support in schools, and how this compares with previous years.
Answer
Statistics on more able pupil as a reason for support are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.
Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs, including more able pupils.