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: S4W-28481

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of Cleaner Air for Scotland, the Road to a Healthier Future, on what date (a) the low-emission zones will become operational and (b) it will achieve compliance with the Scottish regulatory standards on air quality.

Cleaner Air for Scotland sets out the Scottish Government's outline proposals for a National Low Emission Framework (NLEF). The NLEF includes an indicative timetable for potential introduction of low emission zones. The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland, in collaboration with partner organisations, will now begin to develop the details of how the NLEF will operate in practice. This work will cover the screening and assessment procedure for determining where low emission zones may be appropriate and how any such zones will be established, operated and monitored. We aim to publish the outcomes of this work by summer 2016, which will result in a procedure allowing local authorities to make informed decisions about which solutions are appropriate for their specific circumstances.

Cleaner Air for Scotland commits to significant progress towards revocation of all Air Quality Management Areas by 2020, which is the criterion against which compliance with Scottish air quality objectives is judged.

Question reference: S4O-04890

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support and develop the Energy Skills Partnership and a shift to a low-carbon economy.

Question reference: S4W-28326

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 20 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) it has been notified of under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, also broken down by the number of natural features; how many of the (a) SSSIs and (b) natural features have unfavourable conditions due to (i) invasive non-native species, (ii) recreational use, (iii) overgrazing, (iv) undergrazing, (v) inappropriate burning, (vi) other agricultural operations and (vii) other reasons, and what action (A) it and (B) the farming community is taking to address this.

1,423 sites of special scientific interest (SSSI), comprising 3,693 natural features, have been notified under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

434 of the SSSIs and 663 of the natural features have been assessed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) as being in ‘unfavourable no change’ or ‘unfavourable declining’ condition. Additionally, 184 of the SSSIs and 206 of the natural features have been assessed as being in ‘unfavourable recovering’ condition. A net total of 575 SSSIs have features with ‘unfavourable no change’, ‘unfavourable declining’ or ‘unfavourable recovering’ condition.

The following table provides information on pressures which might contribute to site condition. Sites and features can have more than one negative pressure, hence the totals in columns (a) and (b) are higher than the total numbers of SSSIs and natural features in unfavourable condition.

(a) SSSI sites

(b) SSSI features

	Unfavourable (no change or declining)	Unfavourable (recovering)	Unfavourable (no change or declining)	Unfavourable (recovering)
(i) Invasive non native	98	31	113	31
(i)(b) Invasive other	121	46	139	48
(ii) Recreation	48	8	66	9
(iii) Overgrazing	159	64	214	68
(iv) Undergrazing	71	23	79	25
(v) Burning	29	12	35	13
(vi) Other agricultural operations	169	42	199	46
(vii) Other	146	30	184	30

A wide range of data on the condition of Scotland’s natural features can be found at:

http://www.environment.scotland.gov.uk/get-interactive/data/protected-nature-sites/

The Scottish Government and SNH are committed to working with land managers to address the causes of unfavourable condition of features which are highlighted through SNH’s Site Condition Monitoring programme. This may take the form of advice, funding support through the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) or SNH’s Management Agreement programme where more specialist management is required and, if necessary, enforcement action.

The SRDP Agri-Environment Climate Scheme supports land managers to undertake a wide range of environmentally-beneficial management options, many of which can be used to manage the natural features of SSSIs. ‘Enhancing the condition of designated features of SSSIs, Natura and Ramsar sites’ is one of the national priorities in the scoring system for the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme. This means that applications are awarded additional points if they include land on or adjacent to a SSSI (or other designated site) and if the proposed management is likely to benefit the features of the site.

The new SRDP Environmental Co-operation Action Fund is available to help facilitate landscape-scale projects that meet the Scottish Government’s environmental priorities. This will support the delivery of a range of environmental actions (such as deer management, control of invasive non-native species and restoration of degraded habitats) and can also be used to improve the condition of SSSI features.

Question reference: S4W-28325

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding publishing data that has been gathered for the purpose of (a) an environmental assessment and (b) meeting a requirement for planning or other consenting procedures, and whether biodiversity data must be entered in the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

Where information is submitted to a planning or other consenting authority a range of statutory procedures concerning the notification and publication of that information may apply, including The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and, where relevant, The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, as amended. The latter sets out the procedures for the notification and publication of Environmental Statements where these are required to be submitted as part of a planning application.

There is no statutory requirement for data collected under (a) or (b) to be submitted to the National Biodiversity Network Gateway, but it has been encouraged by the National Biodiversity Network Trust as a matter of good practice. The 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity recognises the importance of the National Biodiversity Network in ensuring that information on habitats and species is collected on a consistent basis.

Question reference: S4O-04779

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action the Cabinet Secretary for Justice will take in light of the postponement of designating a specific offence of domestic abuse.

It is not correct to say that a specific offence of domestic abuse has been postponed. In our Programme for Government in November 2014 we committed to consult on the principle of creating a specific offence of domestic abuse. We consulted between March and June 2015. The views received to that consultation revealed broad support for the principle of having a domestic abuse offence, but no consensus on how such an offence should be developed.

In light of this, we committed in this year's Programme for Government to consult on a draft specific offence of domestic abuse. We consider the right approach is to listen to key stakeholders and take forward the development of such an important new offence informed by their views so that a consensus can be achieved. A draft offence will be shared with stakeholders in the next few weeks.

Question reference: S4W-27967

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 2 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it has consulted Scottish Natural Heritage under section 12 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004; what action it has taken in response to any advice it received, and whether it will publish that advice.

The following table shows the number of times the Scottish Government has consulted Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) under section 12 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 in each of the last five financial years:

2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	Total
19	11	15	4	8	57

Source: SNH

The consultation requests were made by various parts of the Scottish Government and details are not held centrally, hence the other information requested, if still held, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Scottish Government would, however, consider requests for details of actions taken in relation to specific cases or sites of special scientific interest.

Question reference: S4W-27968

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 2 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many times Scottish Natural Heritage has been consulted under section 12 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 in each of the last five years and by which public bodies.

The following table presents the requested information for each of the last five financial years:

Public Body	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	Total
Aberdeenshire Council			1	4	1	6
Angus Council			2			2
Cairngorms National Park Authority		1			2	3
City of Edinburgh Council				1		1
Community Council		1				1
Dumfries and Galloway Council			2			2
East Dunbartonshire Council				1		1
East Renfrewshire Council				1		1
Fife Council					1	1
Forestry Commission England				1		1
Glasgow City Council			1	1		2
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Dundee Airport)	1					1
Highland Council		1	2	2	2	7
Highlands and Islands Enterprise	1		2			3
Local authority (authority not specified)	8	6				14
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority		1				1
Ministry of Defence	6	5	2		2	15
Moray Council			1	1	2	4
Network Rail		1	1	1	3	6
Northern Lighthouse Board				1		1
Orkney Islands Council					1	1
Perth and Kinross Council		3		1		4
Renfrewshire Council					1	1
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh					1	1
Scottish and Southern Energy	1	6	4	2	2	15
Scottish Canals	2			2		4
Scottish Environment Protection Agency	1	1	2		2	6
Scottish Gas			1			1
Scottish Government	19	11	15	4	8	57
Scottish Natural Heritage		2		1	2	5
Scottish Power	1	1		2		4
Scottish Water	3	4	6	2	2	17
Total	43	44	42	28	32	189

Question reference: S4W-27966

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 2 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) there are in Scotland; how many natural features are notified for these SSSIs, and what percentage of those natural features has been considered to be in a favourable condition, in each of the last five years.

The following table presents the requested information, as at the end of each of the last five financial years:

Date	Number of SSSIs	Number of SSSI Features	Percentage of Favourable SSSI Features
31-03-2011	1,447	3,694	79.3%
31-03-2012	1,440	3,711	79.4%
31-03-2013	1,429	3,707	80.5%
31-03-2014	1,425	3,696	80.8%
31-03-2015	1,423	3,691	81.4%

Source: Scottish Natural Heritage

Question reference: S4W-27965

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 2 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what (i) nature conservation and (ii) land management orders have been made under chapters 2 and 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, broken down by (A) site and (B) date made.

(i) No land management orders have been made under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

(ii) Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) publishes details of nature conservation orders in force in its annual reports which are available online via the following web link:

http://www.snh.gov.uk/publications-data-and-research/publications/search-the-catalogue/?q=annual%20report.

Information on revoked and retained orders can be found on SNH’s website at: http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A556205.pdf.

Question reference: S4O-04725

Current Status: Withdrawn