- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will take action to ensure that the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Implementation Steering Group makes a full assessment of the skills needs of (a) seafarers and (b) operators of ferry services in Scotland.
Answer
The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan is central to creating a future workforce that can support our transition to a net zero economy and ensure workers are equipped with the skills that employers will need in a green economy.
The Implementation Steering Group (ISG) for the Action Plan has an independent chair and is comprised of senior representatives from local government, public agencies, skills providers, and industry. The ISG currently has three sub-groups, including a transport sub-group which is exploring the skills required across the transport sector for the transition to net zero.
The ISG is not currently conducting a full assessment of seafarers and operators of ferry services in Scotland however could consider this as part of ongoing work.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 2 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the Forest Research study, Revised valuation of flood regulation services of existing forest cover to inform natural capital accounts, on the benefits of Scotland's woodlands in assisting with flood prevention measures, how it plans to incorporate the protection of woodlands, or the development of new woodland areas, into its land management plans.
Answer
It is not entirely clear as to which formal plans the questions refers, however the Bute House Agreement sets out our commitment to the introduction of a Land Reform Bill by the end of 2023. One of the proposals in the Bill is the introduction of compulsory Land Management Plans that will apply to large-scale landholdings. The public consultation on the Bill, ‘ Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation’ , was open from 4 July until the 30 October 2022, and received approximately 540 responses which are currently being analysed to inform the development of the proposals.
National Planning Framework 4, (NPF4) Policy 22 (e) - Flood Risk and Water Management, sets out a policy that Local Development Plans should seek to ‘ identify opportunities to implement improvements to the water environment through natural flood risk management and blue green infrastructure …’ by taking into account ‘relevant flood risk and river basin management plans.’ NPF4 Policy 6 also sets out that Local Development Plans will be ‘ supported and informed by an up to date Forest and Woodland Strategy’ . The Scottish Government guidance, The Right Tree in the Right Place contains advice to Local Authorities on preparing such Strategies, with direct reference to natural flood management as a suggested area for consideration. NPF4, and the Forest and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, also set a framework for woodland protection.
In relation to forest management plans, advice on planning woodlands for flood mitigation benefits is included in the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) and supporting guidance. Forest managers must follow this to receive grant aid from Scottish Forestry. New guidance was published in 2022; ‘ Designing and Managing Forests and Woodlands to Reduce Flood Risk’ . Forest and Land Scotland seek to follow the guidance as above in their own Land Management Plans for the public estate, and ensure appropriate consideration of flood mitigation.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of land each NHS board (a) currently owns and (b) owned (i) five, (ii) 10 and (iii) 20 years ago.
Answer
The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained from Health Boards.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 22 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether any restrictions or controls are in place, during the transfer of land, in relation to protecting existing woodlands that are contributing to flood prevention measures.
Answer
Yes, the felling of trees is regulated through the issuing of Felling Permissions, under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018. Permission must be granted before felling, thinning or deforesting an area of woodland; the sale and transfer of land has no impact on this requirement. The potential effects on flood risk would be taken into account when assessing applications to fell trees.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of land each local authority (a) currently owns and (b) owned (i) five, (ii) 10 and (iii) 20 years ago.
Answer
This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that current ownership for each local authority is provided in the following table. This is provided from a combination of titles in the Land Register and General Register of Sasines, and as the areas held in Sasines are indicative rather than definitive it provides a best estimate.
Whilst it is possible to retrieve historic ownership details for specific plots of land, Scotland-wide views of the Land Register showing aggregate ownership by specific parties at five, 10, or 20 years ago are not maintained, and the nature of the General Register of Sasines means it is not feasible to retrieve historic ownership information en masse .
Local Authority | Area (hectares) |
Aberdeen City | 1,100 |
Aberdeenshire | 764 |
Angus | 825 |
Argyll and Bute | 143 |
City of Edinburgh | 1,434 |
Clackmannanshire | 665 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 454 |
Dundee City | 523 |
East Ayrshire | 645 |
East Dunbartonshire | 325 |
East Lothian | 854 |
East Renfrewshire | 405 |
Falkirk | 798 |
Fife | 2,823 |
Glasgow City | 1,622 |
Highland | 1,164 |
Inverclyde | 1,956 |
Midlothian | 378 |
Moray | 424 |
Na h-Eileanan an Iar | 4 |
North Ayrshire | 1,858 |
North Lanarkshire | 7,018 |
Orkney Islands | 417 |
Perth and Kinross | 440 |
Renfrewshire | 1,849 |
Scottish Borders | 1,391 |
Shetland Islands | 2,989 |
South Ayrshire | 186 |
South Lanarkshire | 3,653 |
Stirling | 1,091 |
West Dunbartonshire | 478 |
West Lothian | 5,274 |
Total | 43,949 |
Figures were current on 6 February 2023.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding applicable safety standards to protect (a) offshore workers and (b) seafarers from Scotland working on internationally flagged vessels in waters over 12 nautical miles from the Scottish coastline.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects the highest safety and crew welfare and employment conditions for all workers employed in offshore and maritime industries.
Safety standards for offshore workers in the UK Continental Shelf are regulated in Great Britain by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and is a reserved matter for the UK Government. All relevant legislation was enacted prior to devolution.
Maritime safety is also a reserved competence of the UK Government undertaken by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Maritime Labour Convention came into force in the UK on 7 August 2014. It sets out the minimum working and living rights for seafarers with the onus on operators.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-13235 and
S6W-13236 by Mairi Gougeon on 20 December 2022, when it anticipates that (a) the report from the UK Animal
Welfare Committee regarding the welfare of farmed fish at slaughter will be
published and (b) any recommendations in the report will be
implemented, following its completion.
Answer
The Scottish Government understands that the UK Animal Welfare Committee report is close to completion. A publication date has not been set but is anticipated later this year. The Scottish Government, as previously stated, will explore the need for any changes to current practice or legislation once the report has been published.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding a suspected fatality among workers on the Liberia-registered rig, Valaris 121, in the North Sea on 22 January 2022.
Answer
The Scottish Government has engaged with representatives of the Health and Safety Executive on this tragic incident and understand that it is now subject of a live police investigation and not a matter that the Scottish Government can comment on.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2023
To ask the First Minister, in light of reports of people being forced onto prepayment meters, what steps the Scottish Government is taking to support vulnerable people in Scotland with rising energy costs.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2023
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans Transport Scotland has to include any road traffic accidents that are caused by wild deer in its annual statistics.
Answer
Statistical information about injury road accidents is collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Government using the GB-wide "STATS 19" returns.
At the moment, the only information available from STATS-19 is accidents involving an animal in the carriageway and we cannot determine from the database, what type of animal.
Transport Scotland have no plans to seek to include accidents that are caused by deer in STATS-19. You may be interested to refer to the last review of the database here: Road accidents and safety statistics: user engagement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .
