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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-23298

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what protections and restrictions there are on land that receives money from the peatland restoration programme.

Scottish Government fund peatland restoration via the Peatland Action partnership. The individual delivery partners that make up this partnership apply their own grant offer terms and conditions regarding protections and restrictions on the land that receives money from them for undertaking peatland restoration. I would refer the MSP to those organisations for further information.

At a programme level, the Peatland ACTION Monitoring Strategy ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-monitoring-strategy ) is putting in place a structured approach to monitoring sites that have had their peatland restored to evidence whether we are delivering effective restoration.

Question reference: S6W-23217

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22263 by Jenni Minto on 13 November 2023, which businesses Food Standards Scotland has communicated with regarding proposed EU changes to labelling requirements for blended honey.

The Scottish Government is advised on food safety and standards matters by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). They have advised that in August 2023, they contacted a range of interested parties to seek initial views on the proposed changes at EU level. This included eleven trade associations and honey producers along with the 32 Scottish Local authorities. FSS included a statement in the letter issued stating that stakeholder data would be anonymised, and we are therefore unable to disclose the specific details of the businesses included for data protection reasons. Responses are currently being considered and this will help inform policy thinking ahead of a review of the domestic honey regulations and working with the other departments with food labelling and composition standards responsibilities across the UK.

Question reference: S6W-23218

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22263 by Jenni Minto on 13 November 2023, whether it will provide evidence of what communication Food Standards Scotland has had with stakeholders, including local authorities, businesses and consumers, on the effectiveness and suitability of the Honey (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

The Scottish Government is advised on food safety and standards matters by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). They have advised that stakeholders were consulted in 2019 on the Honey (Scotland) Regulations 2015, to ensure the regulations remained operable and effective after the UK had left the EU. This included a specific focus on proposed changes to how country of origin would be labelled after the UK left the EU. The views of stakeholders including Scottish honey producers were considered to ensure the rules remained relevant in Scotland.

FSS notes Mr Burnett’s interest in this area and would welcome the opportunity to meet with him if he would find that helpful.

Question reference: S6W-23356

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what incentives it will provide for employers to release staff to become on-call firefighters.

On call firefighters are exceptional individuals who step up to protect their communities when needed most. The Scottish Government continues to recognise the vital role they play and appreciates the cooperation and understanding of their primary employers.

Whilst the recruitment, terms of employment and retention of on call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), the Scottish Government will carefully consider any proposal put forward by SFRS on this issue.

SFRS works closely with employers and has an Employers Recognition Scheme to fully recognise their efforts in supporting their employees to become on call firefighters. SFRS also have an On Call Guide for Employers which enables employers to learn more about what is involved and how they can support their employees to become on call firefighters.

Question reference: S6W-22719

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what oversight it has of Stagecoach and any investigations that the company carries out to ensure that its vehicles have maximum fire safety protections.

Question reference: S6W-22692

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the reason for four out of five local authorities not publishing their audited accounts in the financial year 2022-23.

In line with the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014, all local authorities have published their unaudited 2022-23 annual accounts on their websites by 30 June 2023 and these are available for inspection.

Local authorities were required to publish their audited 2022-23 annual accounts by 31 October 2023 and are required to publish the audit report of those accounts by 30 November 2023.

As part of routine discussions between the Scottish Government and Audit Scotland, some audit delays have been identified, primarily as a continuing consequence of the pandemic. Audit Scotland have raised no concerns and expect most local authority audits to be completed by 30 November 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22691

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that most local authorities in Scotland did not publish their audited accounts for the financial year 2022-23.

The Accounts Commission oversees the audit of local authority Annual Accounts. Audit Scotland would advise the Accounts Commission of any concerns who would then investigate and advise the Scottish Ministers if required.

All local authorities have published their unaudited 2022-23 Annual Accounts and these are publicly available for inspection.

The Scottish Government is aware of minor delays to the completion of some local authority Annual Accounts audits, primarily as a continuing consequence of the pandemic. These challenges apply across the UK with only 5 out of 467 local authority Annual Accounts audits for 2022-23 in England having been completed in line with the statutory deadline.

Audit Scotland were anticipating that most audits will be completed by 30 November, following which local authorities will be able to publish their audited Annual Accounts.

Question reference: S6O-02850

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of Aberdeenshire secondary school parent councils calling for changes to the Teacher Induction Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-22828

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when additional support for the new entrants to farming will be announced, in light of its commitment to announce additional support for new entrants later in 2023.

I can confirm that I announced the opening of the “Next Generation Practical Training Fund Pilot” at AgriScot on 22 November 2023. This fund will offer up to £500 per person for relevant practical land-based courses for new and young entrants.

The development of the fund has been spearheaded through the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group, chaired by Henry Graham, and I am very grateful that he continues to provide his valuable time and effort to progress this work effectively with officials and industry stakeholders.

Question reference: S6O-02821

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with Social Security Scotland to help with the heating costs of households in the north east.