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-27214

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 14 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22977 by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 November 2014, how many people had obtained an identification number by 1 August 2015.

Question reference: S4W-27213

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 14 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19275 by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 January 2014, how many people had attended the training by 1 August 2015.

Question reference: S4W-27099

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform on 11 August 2015, what criteria will be applied in determining whether the licensing of shooting businesses should be introduced, and when this determination will be made.

The Scottish Government has put in place a number of measures to tackle raptor persecution, including the introduction of vicarious liability, a scheme to remove illegal pesticides from the environment, and restrictions on the use of general licences on land where wildlife crime is believed to have occurred. The report of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group, which was commissioned to review the penalties for wildlife crime, will shortly be submitted to the Scottish Government.

It is important that we are able to assess the impact of the measures that have been recently implemented, or are still to be fully implemented, before consideration is given to the introduction of any further measures such as the licensing of shooting businesses.

Question reference: S4W-27097

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 3 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the findings of its study of the sentences applied in wildlife crime cases.

Question reference: S4W-27098

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 3 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the remit is of its examination of the regulation of game shooting, and when its findings will be published.

Question reference: S4W-27152

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement by the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform on 9 June 2015 that energy efficiency will be designated as a national infrastructure priority, what new measures it will take to deliver energy efficiency improvements in the transport sector.

The Scottish Government are delivering a number of energy efficiency improvements across the Scottish transport sector. We are installing LED Road Lighting luminaires on the Scottish Trunk Road Network, which can achieve a 50% reduction in energy consumption, and have procured the world’s two first sea going roll-on/roll-off diesel/electric hybrid ferries. Energy efficiency measures have been embedded within our public contracts. The new ScotRail franchise states that the new operator must ensure that all aspects of running the new franchise consider energy efficiency including rolling stock design, timetable preparation and stabling arrangements. There are additional targets to monitor and minimise train traction energy and invest in energy efficiency at Stations and Depots.

Question reference: S4T-01096

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with National Museums Scotland regarding the ongoing pay dispute.

Question reference: S4W-26499

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when planning decisions will be taken on the Allt Duine, Sallachy and Glencassley proposals for renewable development.

A decision has been taken on Allt Duine. The planning application was refused by Scottish Ministers on 30 July 2015.

In respect of Glencassley and Sallachy, the consideration that officials and ministers have been required to give to these proposals, including the associated environmental impact assessments, has been complex and time consuming. This meant we were unable to facilitate decisions before the change to Scottish Planning Policy in June 2014, at which point we had to consult further.

Now that the further consultation is complete Scottish Ministers should be in a position to make decisions shortly.

Question reference: S4W-26501

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring and enforcement tools it has put in place to ensure that fishing vessels comply with the pelagic discard ban; how many warnings have been issued to fishing vessels in Scotland for infringing the ban; how many infringements have been recorded; whether there have been prosecutions in Scotland for infringement of the ban, and, if so, how many.

Marine Scotland deploys three ocean-going marine protection vessels and two specialist maritime surveillance aircraft to monitor compliance with the pelagic discard ban and all other fisheries legislation in the Scottish zone.

In addition Marine Scotland operates a satellite based vessel monitoring system (VMS) which allows it to track the movements of all fishing vessels over 12 metres in Scottish waters.

No infringements have been detected in Scottish waters since the pelagic discard ban came into effect on 1 January 2015 and consequently no warnings or prosecutions have been initiated.

Question reference: S4W-26500

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how the implementation of the pelagic discard ban has affected the pelagic fleet and what evaluation it has undertaken of the success of the ban.

The pelagic landing obligation came into force on 1 January 2015. Those fisheries affected by its introduction are traditionally ‘clean’ fisheries, meaning that historic levels of discarding are recorded as negligible. Although no formal evaluation of the pelagic discard ban has yet taken place, Scottish Government officials engage regularly with the pelagic fishing industry and the impact on the fleet is considered low.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the fishing industry and the regional groups of member states to understand the impact of the pelagic discard ban and to learn lessons which can be applied ahead of the introduction of the demersal landing obligation, starting on 1 January 2016.