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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: S5W-23717

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what figures are used for benchmarking NHS boards equality and diversity data, and whether the figures are nationally or locally based.

Data on equality and diversity is published on an annual basis in June within the workforce section of NHS National Services Scotland's Information Services Division (ISD) website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/ .

This data is broken down nationally, regionally and by NHS boards to provides figures for benchmarking and comparison purposes.

Decisions relating to benchmarking equality and diversity data are matters for each individual NHS board within the framework of the current legislative requirements under the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. This includes a Public Sector Equality Duty that requires NHS boards to have due regard to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Regulations impose specific duties on Scottish public authorities to publish a set of Equality Outcomes at four yearly intervals and thereafter to report on progress every two years.

Question reference: S5W-23719

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action NHS boards are (a) taking and (b) expected to take to increase the diversity of their workforce.

Action NHS Boards are (a) taking and (b) expected to take to increase the diversity of their workforce are matters for each individual NHS board within the framework of the current legislative requirements under the Equality Act 2010, and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

This includes a Public Sector Equality Duty that requires NHS boards to have due regard to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Scottish Government is taking action to increase the diversity of our NHS workforce by funding partnerships with the Business Disability Forum and Stonewall Scotland. We have also committed to delivering an NHS Scotland wide campaign to promote more effective equalities outcomes.

Question reference: S5W-23415

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the biodiversity that is dependent on farmland landscapes.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is in the process of tendering a contract for the ‘Evaluation of the Biodiversity outcomes of the 2014-20 Scottish Rural Development Programme Agri-Environment Climate Scheme through a selection of case studies’. Scheduled to conclude by late spring 2020, the work will build on monitoring undertaken from 2013 to 2020, which included monitoring for biodiversity measures. Further details are available via the following link:

https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00492399.pdf

SNH is also developing a project to pilot an outcomes-based approach to agri-environment support in Scotland. The project will test the effectiveness of the delivery of a range of environmental outcomes related to biodiversity, climate change, soil, water and flood management.

The development of the current Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) involved a process of analysis, identification and selection of biodiversity priorities. As part of that process, an expert group was established to inform the targeting of options in consultation with a range of organisations and the public and, ultimately, AECS was scrutinised and approved by the European Commission.

Question reference: S5W-23416

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) ensure the health of and (b) maintain farmland biodiversity, and how it will ensure that this work will be able to meet the expected scale of future biodiversity challenge.

In response to the recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on the state of global biodiversity, the Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a thorough analysis of the report’s findings and policy options. As part of this process, we will examine what we are already doing to protect and promote biodiversity, where we need to do more, and what we need to do differently. We will write to the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee with our initial assessment by the end of 2019.

The Scottish Government, through the Farm Advisory Service, also helps farmers and crofters consider how to support and enhance biodiversity on their land. The service features free events, publications, videos and online tools that transfer knowledge, enhance understanding and promote uptake of practices. It also offers farmers and crofters access to expert consultancy support to develop an Integrated Land Management Plan tailored to their business that includes a biodiversity review.

Question reference: S5W-23414

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on preserving biodiversity in farmland landscapes in each year since 2014.

Question reference: S5W-23417

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the health of the country's natural pollinators.

The Scottish Government co-funded the development of a National Pollinator Monitoring Scheme which was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2014. The project, led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), developed and tested sampling methods, survey protocols, analytical techniques and implementation options to strengthen monitoring of pollinators and pollination services. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) provided technical advice for this project, resulting in the inclusion of several Scottish monitoring sites. The project report was published in 2016 and can be accessed via the following web link:

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=19259

The Scottish Government and SNH are continuing to work in partnership with Defra on the next phase of work, which commenced this year, to strengthen existing surveillance and implement new techniques to detect changes in abundance, diversity and distribution of pollinating insects.

Through grants to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Buglife Scotland, SNH analyse recording and reporting information to assess the status of pollinators. The Pollinator Strategy Progress Report, available at the following link, details work underway to assess the role, contribution and status of our pollinators.

https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2018-11/Pollinator%20Strategy%20for%20Scotland%20-%202018%20Progress%20Report.pdf

Question reference: S5O-03370

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide facilities for female prisoners in the Highlands, in light of the plans for the new Inverness prison being shelved until 2023.

Question reference: S5W-23141

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the deadline for applications for single farm payments where mapping changes have recently been advised.

The closing date of 15 May has now passed and was not extended. Staff in offices across the country have provided support to producers with questions on mapping and other related issues allowing the timeous submission of some 19,500 Single Application Forms (SAFs). The numbers submitted are in line with our expectations for 2019.

Currently there are 19,561 SAFs submitted for 2019 but the application window (ends 9th June) is still open and we are still receiving applications. The total number of SAFs submitted for 2018 was 19766.

The percentage of SAFs 2018 which are submitted on-line was 88.6%, compared with 90.3% for SAFs submitted online in 2019 which is the highest percentage of on-line applications received.

Question reference: S5W-23147

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-03146 by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2019 (Official Report, c. 4), how many subsequent requests have been submitted by Loganair to depart using the special procedure to depart with fire cover only since the incident at Kirkwall Airport.

Question reference: S5W-23143

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the delays in it processing land inspection information from 2018.

We have been working across multiple systems to process land inspection findings. The opportunity arose to apply some land changes required to complete 2018 land inspections. The purpose of providing land inspection information is to provide additional assurance to applicants when completing their Single Application Form (SAF) 2019. Where the information was available it was provided to applicants ahead of the SAF application deadline.

Scheme	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Rural Priorities	57.75	34.69	17.04	11.51	7.41	5.44
Agri-Environment Climate Scheme	0.00	0.00	10.60	21.23	28.78	33.14
Total	57.75	34.69	27.64	32.74	36.19	38.58