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: S6W-08259

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve support and care for people experiencing perimenopause symptoms.

Through the Women’s Health Plan, we are committed to improving support and care for people experiencing perimenopause symptoms.

A menopause platform has launched on NHS Inform to ensure women have access to information on menopause, including the signs and symptoms of perimenopause. One of the key actions in the Women’s Health Plan is to launch a public health campaign in order to raise awareness of the symptoms of menopause.

We want all women to have timely access to menopause support and services. For those who need specialist support, there is now a specialist menopause service in every mainland NHS Board and support in place for the Island health boards.

A Menopause Specialists Network meets regularly to provide consistent advice and peer support to health care professionals, including primary care teams.

We know that many women will seek support from their local GP practice for their perimenopause symptoms. To support primary care, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is developing menopause training for healthcare professionals, including Practice Nurses and GPs.

A Women’s Health Lived Experience Group has been established by Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland to ensure we continue to engage with women across Scotland on menopause and other areas of Women’s Health.

Question reference: S6O-01010

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the creation of new rural jobs, including in nature restoration.

Question reference: S6F-00950

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the Spring Statement.

Question reference: S6W-06757

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the 2021 report published by NatureScot, as part of the Scottish Entanglement Alliance, Understanding the scale and impacts of marine animal entanglement in the Scottish creel fishery, which identifies concerns about the entanglement rates of minke whales, humpback whales and other protected species, what financial support it will make available to implement new measures to prevent marine animal entanglements in creels.

The Scottish Government recognises the threat that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose to our iconic marine life. We therefore welcome the Scottish Entanglement Alliance project which improves understanding of entanglement of sensitive marine species in Scottish waters, and will consider its findings as we explore what further work may be required in terms of the development and testing of mitigation measures. This aligns with actions within the developing UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy and the Future Fisheries Management Strategy.

The Marine Fund Scotland will shortly set out its priorities for funding 2022-23 and we would encourage exploration of these opportunities by the creel sector.

Question reference: S6F-00874

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government will do to mitigate the impact of volatile gas prices.

Question reference: S6W-05889

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when all state-owned ferries will be replaced by zero or low emission vessels.

We will explore and consult, as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan, on pathways to zero/low emission ferry transport, learning from experience in other countries and on other modes.

In the short-term, there are possibilities for replacing smaller CalMac vessels operating on the shorter routes with low or zero emission vessels and this is being explored as part of the current Small Vessel Replacement Programme. Our current commitment is to have 30% of the fleet low or zero carbon by 2032.

However, the technology required for larger vessels has not yet reached a proven stage to allow it to be commercially available. We are however able to achieve greater efficiency through the delivery of new vessels with modern hull designs. For example on Islay this will deliver approximately 31% lower emissions than the MV Finlaggan currently operating on the route.

Question reference: S6W-05740

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on reported plans to bring forward UK-wide legislative proposals to ban the domestic sale and advertising of tourism experiences overseas that involve unacceptable animal welfare practices.

Question reference: S6W-05701

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 25 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting SEPA in response to the data breach in 2020, and when information that is vital for assessing fish farm applications will be made publicly available.

Scottish Government officials continue to hold frequent meetings with SEPA to support the organisations recovery measures following the cyber-attack in December 2020.

All applications made to SEPA for authorisation under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations for new marine finfish farms or significant changes to existing farms are subject to public consultation. Information about these applications is made publicly available on SEPA’s consultation hub: https://consultation.sepa.org.uk/permits/car-regulations-aquaculture-applications/

Additionally, as part of its pre-application process for marine finfish farm developments ( https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/water/aquaculture/pre-application/ ), SEPA produces screening modelling and risk identification reports. These reports are published on SEPA’s website (the first posted 6 September 2021) ( https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/water/aquaculture/screening-modelling-and-risk-identification-report/ ) to inform pre-application consultations with interested parties as well as the later consultation on any application. The reports

A small subset of the information submitted to SEPA by applicants (ie large raw data sets, such as visual imagery footage of the seabed) is not available via SEPA’s website because of the large data file sizes involved. This information is provided by other means to the public on request.

Information relating to assessing fish farms was unavailable for the majority of 2020, however was restored on 6 September 2021.

Question reference: S6W-05365

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the independent review of the aquaculture regulatory and planning framework will publish its recommendations for further work by the end of 2021, as committed to in the Scottish Government’s and Scottish Green Party’s Shared Policy Programme.

Question reference: S6O-00624

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support small community businesses.

The Scottish Government supports businesses of all kinds through a wide range of interventions delivered through our enterprise and skills agencies and partner organisations and values the role small community businesses.

In August 2021 we launched the £10 million Scotland Loves Local multi-year programme to support local businesses and encourage people to shop locally. We have also established a £325 million Place Based Investment Programme backed by a five year commitment over the course of the Parliament to accelerate our shared ambitions for Place, Town Centre Action, 20-Minute Neighbourhoods, Community Led Regeneration and Community Wealth Building.