- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 15 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools will offer cycling proficiency training to pupils in 2021-22.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold that information. Annual school cycle training performance figures for 2021-22, including delivery data from all participating local authorities, will be available in September 2022.
Through Bikeability Scotland, cycling training is available to every primary and secondary school in participating local authorities via a named coordinator. The programme is run by Cycling Scotland and delivery has now resumed following Covid-19 related disruption. Cycling Scotland is now supporting Bikeability coordinators to implement and update their pre-pandemic delivery targets, with the objective that every child has access to on-road cycle training as a life skill.
Through funding from Transport Scotland, Cycling Scotland provides free access to resources and instructor training, and supports local authorities with grant funding totalling over £600,000 per annum to overcome local barriers and increase access to the programme.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 15 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils completed cycling proficiency training courses in each year since 2018-19, and how many are expected to do so in the 2021-22.
Answer
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
2018-19 | 20,201 | 21,671 | 180 |
2019-20 | 9,300 | 6,678 | 111 |
2020-21 | 21,158 | 19,140 | 48 |
Participation data for 2021-22 will be available in September 2022.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when the Ferry Industry Advisory Group will next meet, and for what reason it has not met since October 2019.
Answer
There are no plans to hold a further Ferry Industry Advisory Group (FIAG) meeting. Ministers are grateful to former FIAG members for their contributions to the work of the group, which was wide ranging. But by mutual consent of the parties following the last meeting on 17 October 2019, a more targeted approach is now adopted to stakeholder engagement. This continues to ensure that policy decisions are informed by the knowledge and experience of international ferry industry best practice, alongside views of local authorities and the communities served by the ferry services operated on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
Our significantly improved approach to community engagement for new vessel projects is evidenced in positive feedback from the Islay community on their new vessels. We are also working closely with Ferries Community Board to ensure community input into policy development such as regarding fares and managing demand.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) formal guidance on its red list, which states that "(t)he Red List should [therefore] not be interpreted as a means of priority setting. The difference between measuring threats and assessing conservation priorities needs to be appreciated."
Answer
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a globally respected organisation and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world’s most comprehensive data resource on the status of species. The List does not however, include all Scottish species and for most of those that are included, assessments are for Great Britain as a whole.
In addition to Red List accounts, NatureScot also considers other factors when providing advice on priority setting, including information on species’ status in Scotland, as well as social and economic factors. This enables the inclusion of species for which there are not yet IUCN assessments available, and allows the Scottish Government to respond to new threats that may not yet be recognised in the Red Lists, which are typically updated every 10 years.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage (a) of sheep flocks being inspected have to undertake a full flock head count and (b) of full flock head counts undertaken in each of the last five years relate to inspections carried out in Shetland.
Answer
Up-until 2020 100% of sheep flocks selected for inspection had to have a full head count.
For 2020 in order to minimise Covid-19 related risks for farmers/crofters and Scottish Government inspectors the requirement to undertake a full head count at every inspection was removed.
For 2021 a partial head count was reinstated but only for sheep maintained on a farmer/crofter's main holding and sheep maintained on other land within a 5 mile radius of the main holding.
For 2020 and 2021, for farmer/crofters primarily with small flocks or where significant errors are found, some of the inspection controls have the same effect as undertaking a full head count.
The percentage of full flock head counts undertaken in each of the last five years which relate to inspections carried out in Shetland are set out in the following table. Figures for the current year aren't available as inspections are ongoing.
Year | % of full head counts for inspections carried out in Shetland |
2016 | 7.8% |
2017 | 5.2% |
2018 | 7.3% |
2019 | 5.4% |
2020 | 1.3% |
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund have been (a) received and (b) declined, and how much funding has been distributed through this fund to date.
Answer
In total, 107 organisations applied to either the first round of funding (2019-2020), the main PIMH Fund (2020-2023) or the Small Grants Fund (2021-2023). Some organisations applied more than once. 33 organisations were successful across all funding rounds (31%). 74 were unsuccessful .
To October 2021, £1,815,641.09 has been distributed to successful organisations via these Funds.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many on-street bike hangars (secure, covered spaces for residents to park their bikes) are available across Scotland, and what demand there is for bike hangars.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold data on the total number of on-street bike hangers across Scotland, or on the demand for bike hangers. Individual local authorities may hold this information for their respective areas.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to improve engagement and communication between the offshore renewables and fishing sectors, and which fishing organisations are being consulted as part of this.
Answer
The Scottish Government aims to facilitate a constructive relationship between fishers and offshore wind developers in relation to the development of offshore wind energy in Scottish Waters. This is led by Marine Scotland through ‘Commercial Fisheries Working Group’ meetings where the interests of fishers are represented by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA), Community Inshore Fisheries Alliance (CIFA) and Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (rIFGs).
In addition, the Scottish Government’s sectoral marine planning process for offshore renewable energy, which identifies potential areas for future development, involves fishing representatives being invited to join the relevant governance groups, in order to help inform the location of any resultant development areas. Furthermore, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and regional Inshore Fisheries Groups also facilitate the collection of wider views of the fishing sector to support plan development.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide that ordnance clearances taking place as part of the Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm project are not high order detonations.
Answer
The marine and European Protected Species licences issued to Seagreen Wind Energy Limited (SWEL) in respect of unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance activities were conditioned such that high order detonation techniques for UXO clearance are used only when it is not possible to undertake UXO clearance using low yield or low order techniques. All possible opportunities to undertake clearance using low order and low yield techniques must have failed before use of high order detonation techniques. The marine licence also conditions that SWEL must, no later than 28 days following the completion of the licensed activity, submit a written report to the licensing authority which confirms the method used to remove each UXO, the considerations made and justification for selecting the method used to remove each UXO including, as appropriate, the failure of other methods.
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors imports and exports of honey bees.
Answer
All imports of Queen Honey Bees into GB must be notified through the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS) and Scottish Government officials monitor the system daily.
The Scottish Government bee health inspectors and bee health diagnostic team at SASA ensure that all imports of Queen Honey Bees are compliant with the post import requirements of returning the original cages and attendant bees within 5 days of arrival for testing for notifiable pests and diseases.
In addition to the import certification requirements, Scottish Government bee health inspectors carry out risk based post import checks.
Equivalent procedures are in place for exporting bees from Scotland. Export certification requirements are dependent on the country of destination and are currently certified by Scottish Bee Inspectors.