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: S5O-00510

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to argue the case that Scotland's concerns are taken into account in relation to the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement.

Question reference: S5W-05173

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04978 by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 November 2016, by what date it will complete the (a) Strategic Environmental and (b) Habitats Regulations Assessment, and how it will protect the welfare of the beavers while this is being carried out.

The Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) of our proposed plan to allow beavers to remain in Scotland is expected to be completed in January 2017. We are also required to consider whether a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is required. The approach to the SEA and its timing depends on what issues are highlighted by the HRA.

It is not illegal to shoot a beaver at present, provided it is done humanely and in accordance with the laws on use of firearms. However, we continue to strongly discourage this as an option other than as a last resort. Land managers should work with Scottish Natural Heritage on practical long-term management solutions that will continue to work if it is confirmed that beavers become a protected species in Scotland. We have previously said that if evidence emerges that beavers are being culled in unacceptable circumstances we will consider the use of Nature Conservation Orders to prohibit their killing on specified areas of land.

Question reference: S5W-05293

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03348 by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016, what information it has on the outcome of the work between the EU Commission and Canada regarding the parameters of the Investor Court System in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and what changes to the original system have resulted from that work.

Question reference: S5W-05291

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03348 by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016, whether it has received a response from the UK Government regarding the request for NHS Scotland to be listed as exempt from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and, if so, whether it will publish the response.

Question reference: S5W-05289

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 supports participatory planning for coastal communities in relation to the development of fish farms, and what impact the proposals in the Islands Bill would have.

Each new fish farm site is dealt with on its merits by local authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, taking account of advice from statutory consultees plus any representations from other interested parties, including the general public.

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 does not affect how the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 works in practice but will improve outcomes for communities by improving the process of community planning, ensuring that local service providers work together even more closely with communities to meet the needs of the people who use their services.

The Islands Bill will include provision for island proofing, which is about considering the particular needs and circumstances of island communities and taking account of island characteristics when the Scottish Government and other relevant public authorities are exercising their functions and making decisions.

Question reference: S5W-05290

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of its initial assessment of the implications of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and what impact the agreement will have on jobs creation in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-05294

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03348 by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016, whether it will publish the response from the UK Government regarding why it has not put forward any Protected Food Names for inclusion in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) to give Scottish producers protection in Canada.

Question reference: S5W-05288

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that new fish farms do not undermine the conservation objectives of the marine protected area network.

There is a duty on all public authorities to comply with section 83 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 when making decisions on whether to permit activities that could affect a nature conservation Marine Protected Area within Scottish territorial Waters. The provisions are designed to ensure that there is no significant risk of the activity hindering the achievement of the conservation objectives of the protected features before consent is given.

Question reference: S5W-05292

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03348 by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016, what measures it will take, in addition to writing to the Secretary of State for International Trade, to ensure that NHS Scotland is listed as exempt from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

As indicated in response to S5W-00972 on 12 July 2016 and S5W-03348 on 16 November 2016, the Scottish Government carried out an initial assessment of the Section D provisions of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and considered it unlikely that these would, to any appreciable extent, restrict the legislation which the Scottish Parliament can pass in the interest of the public and the environment. Section D covers the Investment Protection and does not specifically cover the impact on jobs creation.

As indicated in response to S5W-003348, I wrote to the Secretary of State for International Trade re-emphasising that our ability to regulate, and our ability to determine, how the NHS in Scotland should operate should in no way be compromised by trade agreements. I have not yet received any response to this letter.

Regulation of international trade is currently a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998 and trade negotiations are led by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union's 28 Member States. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament do not therefore have a direct say in, or direct influence on, negotiations or the ratification of any agreement

Information on the ongoing work between the EU Commission and Canada regarding the parameters of the Investor Court System in CETA can be found on the European Commission website http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/

The UK Government response of 28 October 2015 regarding why it has not put forward any Protected Food Names for inclusion in CETA has been placed in SPICe (Bib number 58399).

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5O-00443

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has access to the information and systems that are needed to exercise its powers to top-up reserved benefits.

We have made a number of commitments to using our new powers including abolishing the bedroom tax, reinstating housing support for 18-21 year olds, introducing a top up to the Carer’s Allowance to the same rate as the Jobseeker’s Allowance, introducing a new Job Grant for young people, extending eligibility for Winter Fuel payments to families with severely disabled children and a new benefit, the Best Start Grant which will see support for all children being increased and substantially helping families on low incomes.

The Scottish Government has published a Memorandum of Understanding with the DWP on joint working arrangements to implement the Scotland Act 2016, which describes the way in which the Scottish Government can access information and systems that belong to DWP to plan for the exercise of the devolved powers.