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: S5W-26447

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to use the International Year of Plant Health to improve biosecurity measures.

I set out the Scottish Government's approach to marking the International Year of Plant Health in a statement to Parliament on 19 November. That statement can be found here

The Scottish Government is engaged continuously including by working with administrations and partners across the UK on biosecurity. More detail about activity planned activity for the International Year of Plant Health will be set out in due course.

Question reference: S5W-26346

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of the Wildlife Special Constables pilot project; how many constables participated each month in this, and how many suspected crimes they reported, also broken down by how many led to subsequent (a) arrests, (b) charges, (c) prosecutions and (d) convictions.

a)The Scottish Government is currently undertaking an evaluation of the Special Constable Pilot Project in conjunction with Police Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. We will announce a decision on the future direction of the project in due course.

b) There were five special constables in the project, employed on a part-time basis.

c) and d) From the information gathered in the review conducted by Police Scotland, there were no recorded crimes reported by the Special Constables during their patrols in the 12 month trial period. However, Special Constables were involved in meeting stakeholders and partners operating within the Cairngorms National Park to build relationships and understand the needs and demands of National Park users which will aid future intelligence gathering.

Question reference: S5W-26349

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding (a) it and (b) the Cairngorms National Park Authority allocated each year to the Wildlife Special Constables pilot project.

Question reference: S5W-26389

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much is being spent on the project to trial driverless buses on the Forth Road Bridge.

Question reference: S5W-26116

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it has provided to local authorities regarding the use of herbicides in public greenspaces.

The Scottish Government encourages membership of the Amenity Forum. The Amenity Forum is a UK voluntary initiative, recognised by the Scottish Government, which promotes best practice in all forms of weed management to ensure approaches that provide safe and healthy amenity spaces. We are working with the Amenity Forum to improve communications with Scottish local authorities and disseminate information on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to the amenity sector. Included in this work to improve best practice by local authorities will be an event in early 2020 on IPM hosted jointly by the Scottish Government and the Amenity Forum, to which, all local authorities will be invited.

The Scottish Government promotes the use of IPM, which aims to help land managers optimise and target pesticide use and make the most suitable use of all methods for controlling insect pests, weeds and disease.

Question reference: S5W-26343

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26108 by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 November 2019, on what dates (a) ministers and (b) officials have met the Health and Safety Executive to discuss operations at the Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran.

Officials met with representatives from the Health and Safety Executive to discuss the operations at Mossmorran on 14 November 2019. There have previously been telephone discussions with representatives from the Health and Safety Executive on 3 July, 17 September and 29 October 2019 in relation to Mossmorran. The purpose of these contacts was to gain a fuller understanding of the action that HSE is taking in relation to the plant.

There is extensive contact between SEPA and HSE on matters related to Mossmorran as a result of their respective regulatory functions.

Question reference: S5W-26096

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24902 by Mairi Gougeon on 12 September 2019, what actions it took to ensure that the discussions with the fishing industry were compliant with (a) section 126(10) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, (b) section 82(9) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and (c) the Aarhus Convention.

Previous advice from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee helped inform the voluntary restrictions. The advice states that "The offshore subtidal sands and gravels feature is broadly distributed across the site; we have no extra information available on the sensitivity of the feature which could inform where zones restricting demersal otter trawls and seines should be located".

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 does not apply in the Scottish Offshore Region. Details of the voluntary restrictions were made publicly available in Fishing News on 20 August 2019.

Question reference: S5W-26093

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24902 by Mairi Gougeon on 12 September 2019, for what reason it does not consider section 125(2) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to apply to fishing.

Question reference: S5W-26094

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24900 by Mairi Gougeon on 18 September 2019, what it considers to be "reasonable avoidance".

The Scottish Government considers that the effect of the act on the protected feature in question could not have been reasonably avoided where the act of sea fishing complied with all current regulations in place. If, for example, damage is caused while fishing is carried out in a way that does not comply with current laws and regulations, it may be the case that the damage could have been reasonably avoided.

Question reference: S5W-26095

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24905 by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2019, whether Marine Scotland Science observed trawl marks or damage to the PMFs while surveying the MPA.