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-00621

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support small rural businesses.

Question reference: S6W-05032

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date a review into the response to Storm Arwen will commence.

Work to review the response to Storm Arwen is already well underway.

I requested that the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division begin work on the scope and terms of a review into the Storm Arwen response on 30 November 2021, and on 14 December 2021 I formally commissioned the Scottish Resilience Partnership to collate evidence from local resilience partnerships to inform the findings of the review.

The Scottish Government will also gather evidence from other relevant groups, for example the voluntary sector and utilities companies.
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I aim to publish a review paper with recommendations as early as possible in 2022, although I now expect that to be later than originally planned due to the need to enable resilience partners to prioritise the pandemic response.

Question reference: S6W-04930

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) full- and (b) part-time jobs have been created through tree planting as a result of the activity of the Scottish National Investment Bank.

Question reference: S6W-05031

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what points in its Programme for Government are addressed by the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill.

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government contained a commitment to introduce a Good Food Nation Bill. The purpose of this Bill, introduced on 7 October, is to provide a clear, legislative framework introducing a statutory requirement for the Scottish Ministers and specified public authorities to publish good food nation plans. Those plans must set out the main outcomes they want to achieve in relation to food-related issues; the policies needed to do this; and the indicators or other measures required to assess progress.

The Bill underpins the work we are carrying out as part of the Good Food Nation programme of measures, delivering outcomes which support our nation’s social and economic wellbeing, the environment, people’s health and economic development. The subsequent plans will link together all the areas of food policy work that are addressed within the Programme for Government. Examples of such policies include our commitment to update and develop the Local Food Strategy following the recent consultation; plans to legislate for restrictions on unhealthier food and drink promotions; and a commitment to bring forward a plan to end the need for food banks and support people experiencing food insecurity.

Question reference: S6W-05036

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many miles of hedgerow have been (a) reinstated or (b) planted through agri-environment climate schemes.

Question reference: S6W-04546

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to establishing a gamekeeping taskforce.

The Scottish Government is clear that we expect gamekeepers, alongside other land managers, will play a key role in our plans to protect and restore biodiversity, and ensure that the land is managed to help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also recognise the economic and social value that sporting estates can bring to rural communities. As we develop and implement policy in these areas we will seek opportunities to engage with gamekeepers both formally and informally and we hope they will continue to share their expertise and experience.

Question reference: S6W-04667

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the amount of affordable housing in rural communities, in light of reports that the projects that it is funding have only been able to build 131 homes up to November 2021.

Over 6,000 affordable homes were delivered in rural and island areas across Scotland during the last parliamentary term. Our Programme for Government commits to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

As part of our Affordable Housing Supply Programme, communities will also be supported by the continuation of the demand led Rural and Islands Housing Fund backed by up to £30 million of investment in this parliamentary period. The fund has been described in a Scottish Land Commission report as ‘game changers’ for community-led housing development and were developed in collaboration with community housing trusts.

We have also committed to developing a Remote, Rural and Island Housing Action Plan and will engage with a wide range of stakeholders on its development to ensure it delivers for remote, rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6O-00548

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the red meat industry.

Question reference: S6W-04654

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote agriculture in the (a) primary and (b) secondary school curriculum, and how much funding has been allocated for this purpose since 2007.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is designed to be flexible, allowing teachers to deliver a broad general education suited to the needs of learners in their own contexts, including on agriculture. For example, the Social Studies Experiences and Outcomes enable young people to explore foods produced in Scotland, discuss agricultural production methods and consider sustainability.

The Scottish Government funds the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) and Education Scotland for programmes helping ensure children can explore where food comes from and learn about careers in food and farming. Since 2012 the Scottish Government has given RHET £563,276 for such projects, and has provided £3.32m to Education Scotland for the Food for Thought Fund, which supports food education projects in schools.

We have set up a Commission to review learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors, and provide Scottish Ministers with independent advice on how to improve learning pathways and attract more people into these sectors, supporting the delivery of a just transition to net-zero.

Question reference: S6W-04530

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of peatland have been restored in each year since 2003, and how this compares to the (a) relevant annual target and (b) overall target.

The Scottish Government first established firm annual peatland restoration targets in 2018 in its report Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) .

Based on a 1990 baseline, this set a commitment to restore 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2020 (including 10,000 hectares in 2017-18 and 20,000 hectares per year thereafter) as the first phase of a longer target to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

This implies a total restoration target of 70,000 hectares between 1990 and April 2021. Against this target, around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990 as shown in the following table. Annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot.

	1990-2013	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Restored (ha)	30,195 1	270 2	420 2	5570 2	2810 2	450 2	3,660 2	5,810 2	6,000 2	5,658 2
Target (ha)	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000

Data sources

1 Evans et al (2017) Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands , NEC05401, Issue number 1, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, Wales.

2 Peatland ACTION.

The Scottish Government has recently received the final report of work it commissioned from NatureScot in August 2021 on how to significantly increase annual peatland restoration rates. The Scottish Government will now review this work’s findings and recommendations and consider its next steps.