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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: S5T-02011

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to communities affected by recent flooding.

Question reference: S5O-04139

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of potential customs checks on the Scotland-England border, in light of comments by the First Minister during an address at the European Policy Centre.

Question reference: S5W-27029

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle charging points there are in each local authority area.

At 31 December 2019 there were 1,226 publicly available charge points registered on Scotland’s electric vehicle charging network ChargePlace Scotland. The following table shows the number of publicly available charge points in each local authority area:

Local Authority Region	Publicly-Available CPS Charge Points
Aberdeen City	50
Aberdeenshire	48
Angus	42
Argyll and Bute	40
City of Edinburgh	69
Clackmannanshire	15
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	22
Dumfries and Galloway	26
Dundee City	73
East Ayrshire	34
East Dunbartonshire	15
East Lothian	53
East Renfrewshire	13
Falkirk	20
Fife	67
Glasgow City	119
Highland	78
Inverclyde	17
Midlothian	25
Moray	21
North Ayrshire	31
North Lanarkshire	37
Orkney Islands	23
Perth and Kinross	53
Renfrewshire	31
Scottish Borders	32
Shetland Islands	13
South Ayrshire	24
South Lanarkshire	50
Stirling	42
West Dunbartonshire	18
West Lothian	25
Grand Total	1,226

Funding is provided to all local authorities to expand charging infrastructure based on a funding model agreed with COSLA which takes into account population size and prevalence of existing infrastructure. Transport Scotland continues to work with local authorities on improving and enhancing electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Additionally there are privately installed charge points but we do not collate data on these although the details are available on Zap-Map, website available here - https://www.zap-map.com .

The Department for Transport undertook analysis in October 2019 using Zap-Map data, which was summarised at the Local authority level and is available at the following link - http://maps.dft.gov.uk/ev-charging-map/ .

Question reference: S5W-27030

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the last 10 years.

Scottish Ministers have invested in the region of £54m in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the last 10 years.

This has been invested through a range of programs.

Program	Investment £m
Local Authority Installation Programme	30
Switched On Towns & Cities	7.9
European Regional Development Fund	7
Energy Saving Trust Domestic and Workplace	4*
Energy Saving Trust Strategic	5*

*value invested since 2018

Scotland’s public charging network, ChargePlace Scotland, is one of the largest electric vehicle charging networks in the UK with over 1,200 publicly available charge points.

Support to third sector organisations, charities, private businesses and domestic applicants to install chargers is offered via the Energy Saving Trust. Since 2012 over 4,300 workplace (public and non-public) and domestic charge points have been supported throughout Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-27031

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what legislation is in place to ensure that new developments incorporate electric vehicle charging points into infrastructure plans.

At present there is no specific legislation in place requiring new developments to incorporate electric vehicle charging points into infrastructure plans. However, local authorities in Scotland have a statutory responsibility to prepare Local Development Plans, which are currently expected to be consistent with national policy set out in non-statutory Scottish Planning Policy (SPP). SPP states that electric vehicle charge points should always be considered as part of any new development and provided where appropriate.

The Scottish Government is currently taking forward plans to introduce legislation to support the installation of electric vehicle charge points in new developments and intends to consult on options later this year with requirements taking effect from March 2021.

Question reference: S5F-03884

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2020

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the rise in pollution levels on main thoroughfares in Scotland’s cities.

Question reference: S5O-03993

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when new rolling stock will be in operation on the Borders Railway.

Question reference: S5W-26736

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 7 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue the non-domestic rates exemption for private nurseries after 2020.

The Scottish Government introduced a new 100% non-domestic rates relief from 1 April 2018 for all day nurseries in the public, private and charitable sectors. This is one of a series of actions to support private and third sector early learning and childcare (ELC) providers as set out in our Delivery Support Plan for Funded Providers. The Non-Domestic Rates (Day Nursery Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 will expire on 31 March 2021. We continue to work closely with the ELC sector and their representatives to identify further steps we can take to support providers in all sectors.

At Stage 2 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Bill, the Local Government and Communities Committee accepted by majority an amendment lodged by Andy Wightman, part of which would repeal the Scottish Government's power to create non-domestic rates reliefs through secondary legislation. Upon commencement, this would also abolish a number of existing reliefs including Day Nursery Relief. The Government does not support this amendment.

The Delivery Support Plan for Funded Providers can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/delivery-support-plan-early-learning-childcare-providers/ .

Question reference: S5W-26534

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help bring woodlands back into favourable condition for biodiversity, including by reducing levels of invasive non-native species.

Action to bring woodlands into favourable condition for biodiversity is being taken on a number of fronts, in particular to address the key drivers of unfavourable condition which are inappropriate grazing and invasive species, principally Rhododendron .

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Scottish Forestry (formerly Forestry Commission Scotland) have worked together for many years to improve the condition of primarily designated woodlands, principally through grants to land managers. In recent years the budgets available for these grants have been fully spent or oversubscribed.

A significant proportion of woodlands that have been assessed as favourable have deer fencing to limit the damage from herbivore impacts. In 2017, Scottish Forestry (SF) published the National Approach to Controlling Rhododendron. This focuses Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) grant support to tackling priority habitats that will benefit most from the long term control of rhododendron.

A number of grants are available from SF to support bringing woodlands into favourable condition, including livestock exclusion, controlling invasive non-native species and deer management. Between April 2015 and October 2019, SF has provided more than £27,950,000 in SRDP grant support for this work which includes grant support of £1,851,591 for rhododendron control projects between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2019. The majority of this is targeted at improving condition in designated woodlands.

Native woodlands within the national forest estate are directly managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) to maintain and improve their condition; SNH does the same on the small number of woodlands on SNH land. FLS has undertaken initial control to tackle rhododendron on over 51% of the gross area of the national forest estate where it has been recorded. Work will continue to monitor and apply follow-up treatments on the areas treated.

SNH has also offered funding through management agreements and it has coordinated voluntary action under the Deer Act to set up agreements with land managers to coordinate action to improve habitats, including woodland.

All of this is supported by advice and guidance for land managers provided in various forms by SF and SNH, as well as by the National Park Authorities and NGOs such as the Woodland Trust.

Question reference: S5O-03883

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, 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 how it is addressing concerns that delays in redeveloping parts of the prison estate are presenting significant risks.