Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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-06734

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many gamekeeping courses there currently are at colleges in Scotland, and how many there have been in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-06730

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide support to increase the number of small mobile abattoirs in Scotland, in order to increase capacity for processing game and venison.

Scottish Government considers there to be sufficient abattoir capacity in Scotland for farmed venison and flexibility to increase that capacity if required. For wild venison, £80,000 has been made available through the Covid Recovery Opportunities Fund to create new local chill and processing units. These will be demonstration projects and will support delivery of the Scottish Venison Strategy action to invest in area-based facilities to maintain wild carcass quality and build supply of local product. Contracts have recently been offered and details of the projects will be announced in due course.

Question reference: S6W-06737

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much Forestry and Land Scotland has spent on deer stalking contractors for the management of deer populations on its land in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-06725

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to revise and update the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, in light of a reported increase in livestock worrying incidents.

There are no plans to review the Access Code. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is clear that conduct excluded from access rights includes being on or crossing land while responsible for a dog which is not under proper control. The Access Code sets a balance between the rights of those taking access and those of land managers. It states that when in a field of farm animals, people should keep their dog on a short lead or under close control and keep as far as possible from the animals. Dogs should not be taken into fields where there are lambs, calves or other young animals.

The Scottish Government considers that this advice accords with the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 which strengthened the law around livestock worrying by increasing the maximum penalties for offences. The small minority who do not treat livestock with respect and care must be held accountable and consequences must appropriately reflect the severity of their crime.

The Scottish Government, in November 2021, issued a joint protocol for the examination of dogs suspected of livestock worrying and seized by Police Scotland under the 2021 Act. That offers guidance to veterinarians who may be asked to examine such dogs.

Question reference: S6W-06726

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider allowing local professional and recreational deer stalkers to be a part of the Forestry and Land Scotland deer management plan.

Question reference: S6W-06729

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will produce a venison strategy to promote Scottish venison domestically and internationally.

Question reference: S6W-06724

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when Skills Development Scotland will produce a new Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland for 2022 and beyond.

The Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland (SAPRS) is a joint initiative supported by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Government, Plan stakeholders and partners.

An evaluation of the SAPRS is currently underway; it will be published in Summer 2022.

This will help inform what future action is needed to drive forward coordination and delivery of skills for rural Scotland and as such we are keen not to pre-empt the outcome of the evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-06305

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its latest review into snaring, which, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, was due to be completed by December 2021.

Question reference: S6O-00838

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is offering communities and organisations across Scotland to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Question reference: S6W-06227

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what specific support will be offered to crofters to increase uptake of agri-environmental climate funding schemes.

The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) is open and available to crofters that are registered on the Scottish Government’s Rural Payments and Services website.

An important feature of the scheme is a scoring system designed to avoid discrimination against smaller businesses, including crofters. This aims to promote applications by small businesses by awarding points where the application value is less than £20,000 (1 additional point) and more for applications less than £10,000 (3 additional points).

Where an applicant’s business has less than 30 hectares, some beneficiaries are able to access small unit supplementary payments across many of the options over and above the income foregone payments for AECS options. This extends to allow some businesses of less than 30 hectares to access important socio-economic options like native breed cattle introduction and retention.

Financial Year	Expenditure on Deer Culling Contracts (£)
FY 16-17	£1.7M
FY 17-18	£2.1M
FY 18-19	£2.0M
FY 19-20	£1.9M
FY 20-21	£1.9M