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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: S5O-03892

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any preparations for working with a Labour-led UK administration.

Question reference: S5O-03849

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers.

Question reference: S5W-26407

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to using the mutual investment model (MIM) for funding infrastructure projects and, if so, what its response is to the comment by the Finance Committee of the National Assembly for Wales in its report, Inquiry into the Welsh Government’s capital funding sources, that "it is hard to establish a significant difference between the two models [MIM and PFI], specifically as to how MIM offers greater value for money than previous PFI models".

The Scottish Government has committed to a significant, ongoing boost in annual investment in vital infrastructure in the National Infrastructure Mission. This enables Scotland to reach the level of international competitors.

The Mission will be funded and financed from a combination of approaches. Alongside capital grant and capital borrowing, a range of tools and approaches will be deployed, including our potential to utilise a Scottish version of the Welsh Mutual Investment Model (MIM) as recommended by the Scottish Futures Trust.

The constraints and tight limits on Scottish Government capital borrowing under the Fiscal Framework make revenue finance a necessity to build the infrastructure we need. Were broader borrowing powers available to the Scottish Government, we could re-visit consideration of the best tools and approaches to deploy.

The Welsh Finance Committee acknowledged benefits of the Mutual Investment Model, noting, “MIM is an improvement in terms of community benefits and oversight of projects”. The Welsh Finance Committee report also noted, “The majority of evidence from witnesses agreed that MIM is an improvement on the previous PFI models utilised in the UK”.

Question reference: S5O-03831

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the establishment of a Scottish stock exchange.

Question reference: S5F-03732

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2019

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is supporting shipbuilding in Fife and across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-25824

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether sensors have been fitted to the Queensferry Crossing to alert engineers to the hazard of ice building up on its cables, with risk of it falling on to the carriageways.

The issues with ice are thought to be a result of a very specific set of weather conditions arriving in March 2019. Since then, processes have been developed to ensure that any ice formation is monitored and managed to minimise the impact on traffic over the structure.

Sensors which detect ice accumulation will be fitted to the bridge and incorporated in the structural health monitoring system.

The conditions that can lead to a build-up of ice of this kind are very rare in the Forth estuary.

Question reference: S5W-25630

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the economic and environmental costs on the salmon fishing industry when considering its support for the open cage salmon farming industry in Scotland.

The Scottish Government supports sustainable salmon farming and sustainable wild Atlantic salmon fishing; both sectors are dependent on the environment and contribute to the Scottish rural economy.

Our National Marine Plan seeks to balance the needs of all sectors with a shared interest in the marine environment. Local Authorities consider a wide range of factors, including potential environmental consequences of any salmon farm proposal before granting planning permission. Most salmon farm developments are also required to be screened to determine whether an Environmental Impact Assessment is necessary. All salmon farms must meet strict guidelines to ensure that the environmental effects are assessed and managed safely.

In our response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into salmon farming, we committed to make progress on a number of challenges. I updated the Parliament in June on initial actions we are taking with regard to sea lice management and reporting and we will continue to engage with the Scottish Parliament, the salmon farming and the recreational salmon fishing sectors, including through the Salmon Interactions Working Group, to ensure our policies are developed with proper consideration of any economic and environmental costs and benefits.

Question reference: S5W-25632

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has conducted of the impact on the freshwater salmon fishing industry of the open cage salmon farming industry in Scotland.

Research funded by Scottish Government has identified 12 high level pressures impacting on salmon in our waters and further afield, and aquaculture is recognised as one component of these pressures. https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/fishreform/licence/status/Pressures

Whilst there are currently no studies from Scotland that have directly assessed the effects of open cage salmon aquaculture on the freshwater salmon fishing industry (angling), studies have been conducted on the potential effects of aquaculture on wild Atlantic salmon populations more generally. This includes studies of

differences in the trends shown by rod catches in the west coast aquaculture zone compared to the rest of Scotland ( https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2008.1600 ; https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00515729.pdf ).
the potential impacts of fish farm disease on wild salmon populations ( https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfd.12654 )
the effects of fish farm escapes on genetic introgression through the National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland ( https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/Freshwater/Monitoring/ElectrofishingProgramme/GeneticSampling ) and other targeted local sampling near fish farms.
the impact of coastal sea lice from aquaculture on wild salmon populations using anti-lice treatment/ release studies on contrasting east and west coast rivers, the latter having a greater aquaculture influence ( http://www.sarf.org.uk/SARFSP010%20Feb2019.pdf ).

Question reference: S5O-03680

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set local authorities to deliver accessible housing.

Question reference: S5W-25631

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an economic analysis of the salmon farming industry in Scotland and, if so, whether it will publish this.

The Scottish Government regularly monitors the economic contributions of Scotland’s aquaculture industry. In the past five years, Scottish Ministers have published two reports providing economic analysis of Scotland’s aquaculture industry. For more information on these two reports please see:

https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00450799.pdf

http://www.hie.co.uk/regional-information/economic-reports-and-research/archive/value-of-aquaculture-2017.html

The latest report published in 2017, was jointly commissioned between the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and it estimated that the industry has significant wider impacts across the supply chain at around £620 million in gross value added terms and 12,000 Full Time Equivalent employment posts across the Scottish economy.