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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.

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Question reference: S6W-31249

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Planning Hub, announced by the Minister for Public Finance in a statement on 12 November 2024, will provide funding for the deployment of empty homes officers wherever needed, and how much funding it will allocate for (a) these officers and (b) the Planning Hub in total.

We are establishing a Housing Planning Hub as a priority to help unblock stalled sites. We are now working with public and private sector partners to consider the reasons why specific sites are not progressing to development, and to confirm details around the role, scope and operation of the Hub.

We recognise that there are complex reasons why homes remain empty and dedicated empty homes officers are essential in building relationships with owners to help resolve these. Our recently updated guidance to councils makes clear that they can utilise the ring-fenced revenue they derive from council tax on second and empty homes to fund more officers. This is not, however, the purpose of the Housing Planning Hub which I announced on 12 November. Nevertheless, the work I announced on the potential for further permitted development rights could support efforts to bring some empty properties into residential use.

Question reference: S6W-31122

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action has been taken to meet the commitment for Transport Scotland to explore freight issues in more detail by revisiting the Freight Fares Review, as set out in the Islands Connectivity Plan - Strategic Approach, published in January 2024.

The draft Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) Strategic Approach was published for public consultation from 1 February 2024 to 6 May 2024. The draft proposed that we would revisit the Freight Fares Review in the medium to longer term.

The purpose of the consultation was to gather feedback on our proposals and test our understanding of the priority issues facing island transport connectivity and ferry services in particular.

The outputs from the consultation and engagement will support the finalisation of the ICP which will set out our plans for taking forward ferry fares policy.

Question reference: S6W-31096

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its letter of 13 December 2023 to the UK energy minister urging the UK Government to explore mandating community benefits for all onshore energy developments, whether it has discussed this with the current UK administration and, if so, what the response was.

The Scottish Government has long recognised the need for our communities to benefit from our just energy transition to net zero. This is why we continue to engage with the UK Government to encourage them to explore mandating community benefits for all onshore energy developments, along with plans for transmission infrastructure.

Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, Scotland has made significant progress with a voluntary approach to community benefits. Supported by our Good Practice Principles, our Community Benefits Register shows that in the past year, over £26m of community benefits have been offered to Scottish communities.

Question reference: S6W-31094

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is engaging with the UK Government to ensure that a fair share of the (a) £400 million allocated in loans for community energy and (b) £600 million for community development via local authorities proposed as part of the Local Power Plan will be available for communities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to continue to grow the community and local energy sector and ensure the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland.

On 17 October the Scottish Government signed a Joint Vision Statement with the UK Government which set out a commitment to work together to explore opportunities for GB Energy to support community & local energy in Scotland. This includes considering the role of the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

In line with this Vision Statement, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government to explore opportunities, including for community energy and community developments via local authorities, offered by the Local Power Plan.

Question reference: S6W-30865

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any work that it has been undertaking to treat prescription pharmaceuticals in wastewater.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of emerging chemicals of concern, such as prescription pharmaceuticals and works closely with Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop further understanding and take appropriate action in this area.

Scottish Water have a number of activities either ongoing or in development including a sampling programme at selected treatment works to quantify the impact of real time control on treatment of substances of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals and a process optimisation trial to see whether better removal of steroids can be achieved at Activated Sludge Treatment Plants.

Scottish Water also directly funds research in this area including two PhD projects at Glasgow Caledonian and Robert Gordon Universities which look at reducing anti-microbial resistance and the treatment potential of septic tanks for pharmaceuticals. A further study is also underway to investigate how different pharmaceuticals degrade and change during wastewater transport to enable more accurate prediction of pharmaceutical concentrations in waters around Scotland.

Scottish Water is also a member of the One Health Breakthrough Partnership, which is funded by the Scottish Government and brings together key stakeholders across the water, environment and healthcare sectors who are committed to addressing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment through source control. The project has produced the first open access interactive tool: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (sepa.org.uk) in the UK to combine national environmental and prescribing data with data for 60 medicines detected in river water, raw wastewater and treated wastewater. The tool is used to explore and develop appropriate and sustainable solutions to reduce the discharge of pharmaceuticals to the environment.

Question reference: S6W-30847

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the rationale was behind the decision to cease funding for the Directorate of Optometric Continuing Education and Training, and what alternative provisions are being made to ensure that optometrists can continue to meet their mandatory continuing professional development requirements.

Due to the current financial situation the Scottish Government is having to make some difficult budgetary decisions.

As part of this, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was asked to minimise any discretionary spend where possible. The Scottish contribution to DOCET is held as part of the NES budget and in that context, NES Optometry decided to remove the funding to DOCET as part of the savings exercise.

The Scottish Government provides considerable funding to NES to provide training and education to support the provision of NHS General Ophthalmic Services. NES delivers a programme of on-line and in person events, e-learning modules, Independent prescriber training, peer support groups, as well as teach and treat clinics that provide clinical experience. Funding also supports training for other practice staff including dispensing opticians, with access to resources also available to eyecare professionals working within the hospital eye service too.

In addition to their NES training, optometrists can continue to meet their mandatory continuing professional development requirements via a number of different sources including self-directed learning, The College of Optometrist’s programme of courses, their employer’s events and also by the extensive array of private provider provision.

On a comparative basis, and adjusted for size, even with the removal of DOCET access, the investment in education and training for Optometrists in Scotland remains dramatically better than England.

Question reference: S6W-30616

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many public bodies are compliant with the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, which requires them to provide a publicly available report every three years.

Question reference: S6W-30617

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of public bodies is compliant with the Biodiversity Duty, as required by the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

The biodiversity duty requires public bodies to further the conservation of biodiversity in the exercise of their functions, having regard to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Biodiversity duty reports produced under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 are the best measure we have for compliance, and this shows that at least 85 of 156 (54.5%) public bodies active during the most recent reporting cycle (2021-2023) are compliant with the duty. However, the actual figure is likely to be higher. A number of smaller public bodies which are technically covered by the duty have limited opportunities to further the conservation of biodiversity due to the nature of their remit. We do not consider it to be a good use of public funds to try to enforce the production of a biodiversity duty report in every case, but all the information we have suggests that where it is relevant, most public bodies take the duty very seriously.

Question reference: S6O-03979

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any economic analysis it has undertaken of the impact on the wider Scottish economy of fish farming.

Question reference: S6W-30967

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the first anniversary of the launch of the Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan, how many homes have been built since the plan's launch; how many of the properties built have been funded, in whole or in part, by the Rural and Islands Housing Fund, and what its position is on whether it is well placed to meet its overarching commitment to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10% will be in rural and island areas.

Between 1 October 2023 and end June 2024 we have supported the delivery of 6,774 affordable homes across Scotland of which 933 have been in rural and island areas. 26 of these homes were delivered through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund. We remain committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 10% will be in rural and island areas.

Figures relating to homes delivered in rural and island areas are based on provisional programme management information to end June 2024.