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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-35091

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of any future reintroduction of the lynx, or other large carnivorous species.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any assessment of the impact of any future reintroduction of the lynx or other large carnivore species into Scotland.

Anyone seeking to reintroduce lynx or another species into Scotland would require a licence from NatureScot. Thus far, no licence applications for the reintroduction of lynx have been submitted.

Should a licence application be made in the future, the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations sets out the process that NatureScot would be required to follow in considering whether any translocation or reintroduction project may be appropriate. This includes the need to give consideration to benefits and risks, whether of a biological or socio-economic nature. The Code also outlines the requirements for appropriate consultation to be undertaken by the applicant.

Question reference: S5W-35092

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with forestry and environmental organisations regarding the impact of any future reintroduction of the lynx, or other large carnivorous species.

Question reference: S5W-35090

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with (a) farmers and (b) agricultural organisations, regarding the impact of any future reintroduction of the lynx, or other large carnivorous species.

Question reference: S5W-35027

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that any future legislation is rural-proofed.

All good policy making and legislation should be addressing the needs of our rural communities and businesses at present. The Scottish Government recognises that a cross-portfolio approach is needed to support rural matters. This wish for rural mainstreaming, was the leading recommendation from the National Council Of Rural Advisors in September 2018. In terms of action we are currently testing the impact of proofing through The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018. This has put in place Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) to enable relevant authorities to assess and take into account the impacts of their policies, strategies or services on island communities. We will continue to review the experience of this approach in the context of our wider mainstreaming agenda for rural matters.

Question reference: S5W-35271

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31987 by Joe Fitzpatrick on 1 October 2020, whether it will provide an update on the progress of plans to ensure that any missed HPV vaccinations are rescheduled.

Question reference: S5W-35007

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland Food & Drink's funding it provides; how much it allocated to Scotland Food & Drink in 2020-21; what the structure of the organisation is, and what the nature is of its relationship with Scotland Food & Drink.

The Scottish Government is providing up to £5.5m this financial year to a range of bodies across the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to support delivery of the Food and Drink Recovery Plan, which seeks to mitigate the adverse effects that Covid-19 and Brexit have had on the industry. This funding is primarily channelled through Scotland Food & Drink who manage the delivery of the programme on behalf of the Partnership. The food and drink industry is also contributing to the delivery of the plan through its own funds.

Information on Scotland Food & Drink’s structure and the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership can be found at www.foodanddrink.scot . Through the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, the Scottish Government and its agencies work collaboratively with Scotland Food & Drink and other key food and drink industry organisations to help deliver growth for the sector.

Question reference: S5W-34869

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed increase in discretionary funding for local authorities in its recent Budget, when the new funding will be received by local authorities, and what the earliest date is on which businesses will receive the new uplift.

At the Finance and Constitution Committee on 9 February I announced a further £60 million in funding for the Local Authority Discretionary Fund. Alongside the additional £30 million I announced in my Budget Statement this means we have now quadrupled the financial support available to businesses through this fund significantly increasing the capacity of Councils to direct funding towards businesses based on the specific challenges being experienced in their local economies and business communities. We are working closely with CoSLA to agree a fair and equitable distribution of this funding to local authorities. They are considering our proposal, and soon as they have agreed the allocation formally we will issue grant offer letters to individual councils.

Question reference: S5W-35115

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the timescales for soft play centres to reopen.

Beyond the phased re-opening of schools (ELC, P1-3 possibly from 22/2 and to be reconsidered on 16/2), we are not in a position, at this time, to offer any dates for the re-opening of soft play centres and the sector.

We are currently revisiting our overall strategic approach to suppressing the virus which will enable us to map out our approach for the period ahead in the light of emerging variants and the roll out of the vaccine.

Our decision to reopen the soft play centres will be considered, in due course, within this new context/framework and will be contingent on the epidemiological data and wider evidence about the rollout and success of our vaccination programme .

Question reference: S5W-34745

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it can provide to allow community events to be held digitally, in light of them having to be cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions.

In September 2020, the Scottish Government launched the £40m Scottish Government Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme, which aims to support community groups, charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises by providing support on planning and implementing changes to help adapt to a different social and economic climate as well as providing ongoing crisis support.

The Adapt & Thrive strand of the Programme aims to support organisations change and adapt following the impact and challenges of Covid 19.

The Communities Recovery Fund strand of the Programme focusses on support for delivering community services; which may have had to stop due to Covid 19, be experiencing increased demand, or be needed to respond to new challenges.

Organisations can receive tailored, specialist advice, as well as grants and loans, to support them to develop a plan so they can operate sustainably. This may mean developing new income streams, restructuring the organisation, or changing how services are delivered, such as delivering events digitally, in order to allow them to continue to have a positive impact in their communities.

Further information on the Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme can be found at the following https://scvo.scot/support/coronavirus/funding/scottish-government/community-recovery

Question reference: S5W-34786

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to respond to correspondence from MSPs to Scottish Ministers has been in each of the last 12 months.

The Scottish Government aims to respond to all ministerial correspondence within 20 working days. Due to the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government have received a significant increase in correspondence. The following table outlines information as at 1 February 2021:

Month	Average working days taken to respond to MSPs
February 2020	21
March 2020	27
April 2020	27
May 2020	27
June 2020	22
July 2020	24
August 2020	23
September 2020	27
October 2020	28
November 2020	22
December 2020	18
January 2021	12

*taken from MiCase, SG Corporate Correspondence system