- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to amending Regulation 15 of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2002 to (a) broaden the scope of legal aid to include community groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and (b) ensure that legal aid is available in public interest litigation on environmental matters, in order to comply with access to justice requirements under Article 9(4) of the Aarhus Convention, before the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee’s deadline of 1 October 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. We also remain committed to retaining a demand-led and sustainable system of legal aid, with legal aid funding to remain available to support individuals with the most need. Legal aid can be made available, at present, to individuals whose litigation engages matters of wider public interest, provided it can be demonstrated to the Scottish Legal Aid Board that the outcome of the case will have a direct tangible benefit to them. Our “Vision for Justice in Scotland: three year delivery plan” contains an action to engage with key stakeholders to inform and shape future legislative proposals in relation to the reform of legal aid. Discussions on legal aid reform will take place this year and will include environmental stakeholders.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27509 by Ivan McKee on 30 May 2024, whether it will release (a) copies of the letters sent by the minister and (b) the responses received from the (i) chairs and (ii) chief executives mentioned.
Answer
My recent letter to chairs and chief executives of public bodies can be viewed at www.gov.scot/publications/making-the-most-of-resources-letter-to-public-bodies/ .
In my letter, I reminded chairs and chief executives that it is incumbent on each public body to adhere to the statutory duties to which it is subject, which for many includes reporting requirements in Part 3 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
No substantive response from chairs and chief executives has, so far, been received to this letter.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement a Scottish version of the UK Government's national school breakfast club programme, specifically with a view to tackling child poverty.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children.
Breakfasts are being provided across Scotland by a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We are working with Local Authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map existing provision. This work is ongoing and alongside learning from other approaches across the UK, will inform the development of a delivery strategy for breakfast provision, including how a future offer can support the Government's mission to eradicate child poverty.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27511 by Ivan McKee on 30 May 2024, whether it will release the correspondence from its (a) ministers and (b) officials with the (i) chairs and (ii) chief executives mentioned.
Answer
My recent letter to chairs and chief executives of public bodies can be viewed at www.gov.scot/publications/making-the-most-of-resources-letter-to-public-bodies/ .
Contact by Scottish Government officials took the form of routine informal engagement between public body sponsor teams and staff in the organisations they sponsor. There was no formal correspondence from officials to chairs or chief executives.
As I have stated in other PQ replies (including S6W-27509 and S6W-27510 on
30 May 2024), it is for each public body to ensure that it fulfils all statutory duties to which it is subject, and to answer for its actions.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to any (a) current and (b) future mineral mining exploration and related activities in Scotland, what plans it has to ensure that just transition principles are applied to support any communities in Scotland that are affected by such activities.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a just transition to net zero for all communities in Scotland, working with those most impacted to provide a fairer, greener future for all. Our approach is therefore being informed by communities, businesses, workers and their trade unions across Scotland.
Where new development proposals come forward, Policy 33 of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for the sustainable extraction of minerals will only be supported by that policy where relevant criteria are met. This includes where it is demonstrated that there are no significant adverse impacts on nearby homes and local communities, provision of an adequate buffer zone between sites and settlements, and the inclusion of schemes for a high standard of restoration and aftercare.
Where any mineral extraction takes place, relevant environmental permitting and licensing requirements will apply ensuring continuing environmental protection.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement NatureScot has had with the Bat Conservation Trust regarding the protection of bat species from the loss of roost sites.
Answer
NatureScot considers bat surveys submitted as part of a licence application against the Good Practice Guidelines developed by the Bat Conservation Trust. NatureScot also contributed to the creation of these guidelines. The guidelines ensure that bat roost sites are appropriately surveyed to inform species licensing decisions and allow NatureScot to assess what is the appropriate level of mitigation and compensation to protect bat species.
- Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding any modernisation of the energy consenting regime, as it relates to the UK Electricity Act 1989, to make pre-application community engagement mandatory.
Answer
The Scottish Government agreed with the UK Electricity Networks Commissioner that changes are required to modernise Scotland’s consenting regime under the UK Electricity Act 1989 to accelerate determinations and put pre-application community engagement on a statutory footing. This would improve public engagement and confidence in the consenting process, drive better applications and reduce delays to applications caused by insufficient information.
Prior to the General Election announcement, Scottish Government and UK Government officials had been discussing the scope of a potential review of Scotland’s consenting regime, in line with the commitment made in the UK Government’s Transmission Acceleration Action Plan. The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy recently wrote to the UK Government to urge that this wider work continues at pace and we will re-engage with an incoming UK Government as a matter of priority.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to (a) the First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls 2024 Report and (b) reported concerns that a lack of urgency, coherence and accountability on the part of the Scottish Government has prevented the implementation of all previous recommendations of the advisory council.
Answer
We are grateful to the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls and the Empowering Women Panel for the considerable work they put into the 2024 report. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the Council and Panel to meet our shared goal of greater equality for women and girls. We welcome the report are giving it our full consideration before responding formally to the Council.
While we recognise progress has been made in this area, there is much more to do. I met with the co-chairs of the NACWG recently and discussed how we can best make that progress. I look forward to carrying on that discussion and taking forward any actions required.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27514 by Ivan McKee on 30 May 2024, whether it plans to publish the findings of the internal review and the report provided to ministers, and when it expects ministers to respond.
Answer
Scottish Government officials have reviewed the Chief Executive Framework and the report is being finalised. This report will be provided to Ministers for consideration in the summer. The outcomes of the review will be shared with relevant stakeholders and a new Chief Executive Framework published thereafter.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government on what date its Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP) reportedly granted a request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered from 134,0000 children in the Health and Wellbeing Census, and whether it will provide any documentation that shows for what reason any such request was granted, in light of the Information Commissioner's Office advice to the Scottish Government in August 2023 that the arrangements for processing the data did not meet requirements of Article 4(5) of the UK GDPR around pseudonymisation, and Article 25 around Data Protection by Design and Default, which created "serious risks" and put children at risk of "potential harms".
Answer
The Scottish Government has a robust process in place when it receives access requests to its data for statistics and research purposes: Scottish Government statistics: request our data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
This web page includes a list of projects that have been approved by the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (SPBPP).
The request by the University of Strathclyde to access data gathered in the 2021-22 Health and Wellbeing Census did not progress to final approval and as such this data access request does not feature in the list of approved projects.
