- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has commissioned into long COVID, and when this will be published.
Answer
Within the Scottish Government funding of health research falls under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office.
Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)
Final reports will be published on the CSO website upon completion of the projects. All the projects are scheduled to complete in Q1/Q2 of 2023.
Project final reports are the result of a collaborative effort between the individual project teams and members of the CSO Public Engagement Group who work together to ensure the reports are written in accessible language. There is therefore an inevitable short delay between the project end date and the publication of the final report.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the average age of patients admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver damage has been in each year since 1999.
Answer
I can confirm that the information requested does not exist in the format requested.
Public Health Scotland’s ‘Alcohol related hospital statistics’ report includes specific figures on alcohol related liver disease, however the exact age of each patient admitted is not included. This means it is not possible to report on the mean age per annum of patients admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver damage.
The full dataset supporting the alcohol related hospital statistics covering financial years 1997-98 to 2020-21 can be found via the following link:
Alcohol related hospital statistics - Scotland financial year 2020 to 2021 - Alcohol related hospital statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it determined the level of virus that is acceptable in a seed potato crop before it should be ordered to be destroyed.
Answer
The Seed Potatoes (Scotland) Regulations 2015 stipulate the disease tolerances for seed potato crops in Scotland, and all seed crops must comply with the requirements laid down in the Regulations to be certified as a seed crop.
The tolerance permitted for total virus in a seed crop is 0.8%, which includes a tighter tolerance of 0.4% combined for infection with the three most damaging viruses (PLRV, PVY and PVA). Seed crops are inspected at least twice during the growing season and monitored for disease and trueness to type. Leaf samples from all crops displaying virus symptoms are tested in the laboratory at SASA for 12 virus species to confirm the presence of virus infection in a crop. Crops that have a virus level that exceeds that permitted for a seed crop may be downgraded to ware.
A crop would only be destroyed if the virus levels were 4% or above and therefore posed an unacceptable plant health risk to other neighbouring potato crops.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm what its plans are for a post-implementation review of the Honey (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Answer
There is currently no formal plan in place to conduct a post implementation review of the Honey Regulations (Scotland) 2015. However, as the body with policy responsibility for these regulations, Food Standards Scotland continues to monitor the effectiveness and suitability of the legislation through communication with its stakeholders, such as Local Authorities, businesses and consumers, as well as discussions with other Scottish and UK Government departments.
It should be noted that FSS and the wider Scottish Government have a responsibility to conduct a formal post-implementation review within 10 years of the respective regulations coming into force. With regard to the Honey Regulations this is due to be factored into business planning at a point up to and including 2025.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made, regarding the testing available in Scotland, of the decision by NICE to approve placental growth factor (PlGF) testing for expectant mothers in England.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia.
We are working with the Scottish Perinatal Network to examine the adoption of PlGF testing for pre-eclampsia in Scotland. This will include consideration of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance on PlGF (DG23) that is currently out for consultation and expected to be published in July 2022.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated within SEPA for (a) managing river catchments in general and (b) reducing diffuse pollution in priority catchments, in the current financial year.
Answer
SEPA allocated approximately £30.1m of its £88.6m spend in 2021/22 to managing river catchments. This funded work to protect and improve the water environment including permitting, regulating activities, monitoring water environment and producing River Basin Management Plans.
SEPA administered total grant values of £2.353m from the Water Environment Fund to third parties to deliver river restoration and fish barrier removal works. Approximately £0.75m was allocated to regulatory activities as part of SEPA’s diffuse pollution priority catchment work. These include SEPA’s overhead costs. They do not include SEPA work on flood warning and flood risk management.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what compensation is available to seed potato farmers who have been ordered by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture to destroy their crops (a) in general and (b) when the crops have been planted with previously certified seed.
Answer
The Scottish Government do not provide compensation to potato farmers who have been ordered by SASA to destroy their crops to prevent further growth.
Article 4 of The Plant Health (Potatoes) (Scotland) Order 2006 provides an explicit power to require that the grower of a potato crop (seed or ware) takes immediate action (within 72 hours of the service of a notice) to ensure the destruction of the haulm of a potato crop which has been determined by official inspection to present a clear plant health risk to other potato crops due to high levels of virus in the crop.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its definition is of (a) genetic modification and (b) gene editing in the context of agriculture.
Answer
There is no single definition of a GMO for the agricultural context. Different definitions for GMOs exist in different regulatory regimes, including:
- in relation to deliberate release: section 106 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990,
- in relation to contained use: regulation 2 of the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2014,
- in relation to food and feed: article 2 of the retained EU Regulation (EC) 1829/2003.
While there is no legal definition of gene editing in Scotland, we recognise that gene editing is typically used to refer to a precise and targeted form of genetic modification. Gene edited organisms are legally considered GMOs.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many beavers have been culled in Scotland in each year since 2007.
Answer
NatureScot only hold details of beavers controlled under licence since they became European Protected Species in May 2019.
The data from 2019 and 2020 licence returns is available on the NatureScot website at
https://www.nature.scot/doc/naturescot-beaver-licensing-summary-1st-may-31st-december-2019
https://www.nature.scot/doc/beaver-management-report-2020
NatureScot are currently collating beaver licence returns for 2021 and plan to publish this information by May 2022.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to issue guidance to public bodies in Scotland that no public money should be spent on bookings with P&O Ferries until the company has reinstated the workers who were made redundant on 17 March 2022.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold any contracts with P&O Ferries, and has no plan to issue guidance to public bodies regarding bookings with P&O Ferries.
