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-14299

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans Transport Scotland has to include any road traffic accidents that are caused by wild deer in its annual statistics.

Statistical information about injury road accidents is collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Government using the GB-wide "STATS 19" returns.

At the moment, the only information available from STATS-19 is accidents involving an animal in the carriageway and we cannot determine from the database, what type of animal.

Transport Scotland have no plans to seek to include accidents that are caused by deer in STATS-19. You may be interested to refer to the last review of the database here: Road accidents and safety statistics: user engagement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

Question reference: S6W-14300

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many serious road traffic accidents have been caused by wild deer in the last 12 months.

We do not hold this information in the Transport Scotland injury road accidents database. At the moment, the only information we collect is accidents involving an animal in the carriageway and we cannot determine from the database, what type of animal. The only other information that we are aware of in relation to traffic accidents involving deer, is available in an Nature Scot study publication here: NatureScot Commissioned Report 950 - Deer-vehicle collisions in Scotland - data collection and collation to end 2015 | NatureScot

Question reference: S6W-14343

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-13877

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that the freeze on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) capital budget at £32.5 million will have upon the ability of SFRS to modernise its current estate.

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including how to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

Question reference: S6W-13876

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 20 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure there are welfare facilities within all fire stations in Scotland, so that firefighters can decontaminate themselves following any exposure to cancerogenic fire contaminants.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24, which will bring the total budget to £362.7m.

I am aware that SFRS has been engaged with the FBU and the work of Lancaster University for a number of years and its well established contamination working group has taken action across all aspects of operations to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants. This includes investment in new fire appliances and fire station facilities.

This continues to be a priority for SFRS and the contaminants group will continue to consider the research and take appropriate action.

Question reference: S6W-13246

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the point at which the Deposit Return Scheme commences, what enforcement measures will be available to SEPA to ensure that all UK retailers outside Scotland include the cost of the 20p deposit on all scheme articles that are for sale online to customers in Scotland.

Where an offence has been committed the enforcement options remain the same for retailers based outside Scotland as they are for those in Scotland. These include:

provision of advice and guidance;
fixed monetary penalties (FMP);
variable monetary penalties (VMP);
report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) recommending prosecution.

SEPA’s enforcement response would reflect the nature of the offence and be designed to be the most effective way of restoring compliance. SEPA holds a number of investigatory powers which will support evidence gathering across the UK.

Question reference: S6W-13244

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme, whether any estimates have been made of the potential financial impact on producers and retailers in Scotland of any UK retailers outside Scotland that do not include the cost of the 20p deposit on scheme articles that are for sale online to customers in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13245

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the point at which the Deposit Return Scheme commences, whether all UK retailers outside Scotland will be required to include the cost of the 20p deposit on all scheme articles that are for sale online to customers in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13173

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital will be permanently adopted, and, if this is the case, when.

Question reference: S6W-13172

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the implementation of the Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital.

We launched the Interim Principles in Parliament on March 31 2022. They set out in more detail our ambition for a high integrity, values-led market for responsible investment in natural capital including our commitment that communities are engaged in, and benefit from, this market. We aim to strengthen and finalise the Interim principles during the course of this Parliament. For example, the Scottish Forestry Strategy Implementation Plan published in June 2022 includes a commitment to demonstrating the Interim Principles in the delivery of woodland creation. Also, the Investment Ready Nature Scotland grant fund launched in August 2022, and referred to in the preceding question, includes a requirement for projects to comply with the Interim Principles. We will also seek to strengthen the Principles through our policy programme such as our work on the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement.