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: S6O-00820

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christine Grahame (On Behalf of the SPCB) on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) whether the business case for the new Scottish Parliament website was presented to, and signed off by, the SPCB in the previous parliamentary session.

The project to put in place the new Parliament website was a significant and complex change project.

The business case for the project was considered and agreed by officials on the Digital Strategy Board. This is the usual governance for digital projects undertaken in the Parliament.

The budget for the project was included in the SPCB’s budget process in each of the financial years that the project was running.

Question reference: S6O-00869

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the most recent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service court backlog figures.

Question reference: S6W-06735

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 9 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the reported decline in wader populations, and how many it estimates have been lost in each year since 2007.

The Scottish Government’s Agri-Environment Climate Scheme fund includes options to help support waders and has so far committed £38.8m that will directly benefit waders since the scheme opened in 2015.

Working for Waders is a partnership project involving a wide range of land management and conservation organisations and groups across Scotland. The project provides financial support through small grants directly to farmers and other land managers for activities which support waders. NatureScot have provided £392,000 to the project in direct support of wader work in Scotland over the last four years, with contributions in kind from project partners including expertise and support to deliver outcomes.

It is not possible to provide year-on-year declines in the numbers of waders in Scotland as data on breeding birds in not gathered in a way that can provide this information. However the table below provides trend figures taken from the latest Breeding Bird Survey, published by the British Trust for Ornithology, for the main 5 species of wader that breed on Scottish farmland over five and ten years. Further details on that data, and the full Breeding Bird Survey, is available at:

% changes	Scotland
	Trends for five years 2013 – 2018	Trends for ten years 2008 - 2018
Oystercatcher	-10	-19
Lapwing	10	-39
Curlew	-7	-20
Snipe	6	-21
Redshank	No Scottish trend

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-06731

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 what plans it has to encourage (a) farmers and (b) landowners to plant more mixed woodland through government-funded schemes.

Scottish Government, and its agency Scottish Forestry (SF), has established a Trees on Farms sub group in support of its Customer Representatives Group, with the aim of working collaboratively across the farming / landowner and forestry sector to develop improved understanding and awareness of the benefits of planting more woodlands on farms and to promote opportunities for more mixed woodland through enhanced grant rates.

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-06756

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 Tom Arthur on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, under its plans for council tax rebates based on energy efficiency, whether farmers will be given separate consideration for ratings of private dwellings, such as farmhouses or cottages, which are included in the energy rating of the total farm business.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce new council tax rebates based on energy efficiency ratings for properties. Individual local authorities are required by section 80A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to establish their own energy efficiency council tax discount schemes. Advice and support on improving home energy efficiency is available through Home Energy Scotland, administered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government.

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.

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