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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-16119

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported record-high mortality rates in the Scottish salmon farming industry in 2022.

The recent increase in mortality should be considered in the context of the trend seen since 2002, which indicates average mortality levels are relatively stable with peaks and troughs in different years. This is demonstrated by comparison of the number of fish surviving to harvest within a production cycle, which provides for a better comparison between years than mortality figures alone, and which is presented in our published production survey Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government expects producers to drive mortality to lowest possible levels. We continue to work with the sector, regulators, fish vets and the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre to better understand causes of mortality, improve access to treatments and address the impacts of climate change.

Question reference: S6F-01967

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

Question reference: S6W-14882

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Minister for Environment and Land Reform to the Member on 11 January 2023, how it determines whether any given incident or pattern of wildlife mortality is a "major conservation concern".

Further to my letter to you dated 11 January 2023, an incident or pattern of wildlife mortality can be determined to be a “major conservation concern” where it might have an impact on the conservation status of the species concerned. This could be because of the scale of the impact, or because of the vulnerability of the species in question.

The conservation status relating to species can be found in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species determines the listings on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern, and Species of European Conservation Concern.

Question reference: S6W-15189

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its National Rail Conversation does not seek the views of people in Scotland regarding the passenger rail services provided by West Coast Railways, in light of the reported views of local communities that are keen to see the company deliver a service that is run for the benefit of local residents as well as visitors.

The Scottish Government’s National Rail Conversation is focussed on the publicly owned railway, therefore concerns the provision of services by ScotRail. The National Rail Conversation will engage the views of rail users, regional transport partnerships, rail unions, local authorities, equalities groups, businesses, emergency services and rail industry organisations – as well as non-rail users – for their input in to the vision for rail services in Scotland. The Conversation will listen to feedback from passengers and stakeholders and shape a vision for ScotRail which best meets the needs of the people of Scotland.

Charter train operators such as West Coast Railways will be invited to provide input and insight as part of the wider stakeholder engagement process but are not within the scope of the Conversation itself.

Question reference: S6O-02041

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is ensuring that legal aid funding is easily available to tenants in order to defend eviction proceedings.

Question reference: S6F-01913

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister, ahead of the publication of the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change next week, what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that Scotland plays a leading role in tackling the global climate emergency.

Question reference: S6O-02013

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on delivering the Bute House Agreement commitment to ensure that community housing trusts are adequately funded so that they can support the delivery of enhanced rural home building plans.

Question reference: S6W-14761

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to reduce the potential risk of future high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) transmission from released pheasants to (a) wild birds of prey, (b) waterfowl, (c) corvids and (d) gulls, which were assessed as “high” or “very high risk” in the Risk Assessment on the spread of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) to wild birds from released, formerly captive gamebirds in Great Britain, which was published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in December 2022.

As set out in my response to S6W-14760 on 24 February 2023, the Scottish Government is examining the risk assessment conclusion in detail, given the serious impact of HPAI (High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza) on wild and kept birds. We will monitor risk levels and carefully consider our response over coming months.

When gamebirds are kept in captivity, they are subject to the same legislation as any other bird species in that there is a legal requirement to report suspicion of notifiable avian disease. The release of game birds is also prohibited within an avian influenza protection zone and surveillance zone.

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

Question reference: S6W-15424

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service employs a dedicated rural wildfire investigation officer or team.

Question reference: S6W-15425

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of rural wildfires attended by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last five years have been caused by (a) deliberate fire-setting and (b) prescribed muirburn that accidentally got out of control, based on Scottish Fire and Rescue Service data.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 781 large outdoor fires, 243 of which were deliberate (31%). Th Scottish Fire and Rescue Service does not routinely gather information on the number of wildfires that happen as a result of Muirburn. However, a 2019 sample of the available evidence for the most severe wildfire incidents concluded that out of control burning was a relatively rare cause of these incidents.