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 MSPs 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-02041

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is ensuring that legal aid funding is easily available to tenants in order to defend eviction proceedings.

Question reference: S6F-01913

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister, ahead of the publication of the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change next week, what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that Scotland plays a leading role in tackling the global climate emergency.

Question reference: S6O-02013

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on delivering the Bute House Agreement commitment to ensure that community housing trusts are adequately funded so that they can support the delivery of enhanced rural home building plans.

Question reference: S6W-14761

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to reduce the potential risk of future high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) transmission from released pheasants to (a) wild birds of prey, (b) waterfowl, (c) corvids and (d) gulls, which were assessed as “high” or “very high risk” in the Risk Assessment on the spread of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) to wild birds from released, formerly captive gamebirds in Great Britain, which was published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in December 2022.

As set out in my response to S6W-14760 on 24 February 2023, the Scottish Government is examining the risk assessment conclusion in detail, given the serious impact of HPAI (High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza) on wild and kept birds. We will monitor risk levels and carefully consider our response over coming months.

When gamebirds are kept in captivity, they are subject to the same legislation as any other bird species in that there is a legal requirement to report suspicion of notifiable avian disease. The release of game birds is also prohibited within an avian influenza protection zone and surveillance zone.

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

Question reference: S6W-15424

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service employs a dedicated rural wildfire investigation officer or team.

Question reference: S6W-14755

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-native gamebirds are released in Scotland each year.

Question reference: S6W-14881

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering introducing further restrictions on the shooting of native woodcock, in light of the reported decline in European woodcock populations over the last 10 years, current pressures from bird flu and the unusually cold winter.

The Scottish Government understands concerns over the decline of European woodcock populations. At present, all woodcock in Scotland are classed as a quarry species and as such are listed on Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which determines the species that can be killed or taken.

As set out in my response to PQ S6W-14320, NatureScot are currently carrying out a review of Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Once the review has been completed, they will provide a report to the Scottish Government for Ministers to consider whether any changes to the Schedule are required.

Question reference: S6W-14885

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Scottish Parliament legislation could be used to remove the inalienable right to wildfowling on the foreshore, as opposed to through byelaws.

Question reference: S6W-15426

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of all rural wildfires attended by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in the last five years have been officially investigated by the SFRS to determine the cause, and where any such investigation reports are published.

Question reference: S6W-15425

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of rural wildfires attended by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last five years have been caused by (a) deliberate fire-setting and (b) prescribed muirburn that accidentally got out of control, based on Scottish Fire and Rescue Service data.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 781 large outdoor fires, 243 of which were deliberate (31%). Th Scottish Fire and Rescue Service does not routinely gather information on the number of wildfires that happen as a result of Muirburn. However, a 2019 sample of the available evidence for the most severe wildfire incidents concluded that out of control burning was a relatively rare cause of these incidents.