Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-09908

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 26 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet (a) last met and (b) will next meet in the Highlands and Islands region.

Question reference: S6W-09552

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what its position is on and (b) whether it supports the continued use of Asulox for the purposes of bracken control.

The Scottish Government has approved an emergency authorisation for the use Asulox for bracken control in 2022 in limited and controlled circumstances.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with stakeholders to explore options for long-term sustainable bracken control. Officials have been instructed to begin talks with the other UK administrations and the Health and Safety Executive, to further engage stakeholders and those working on alternative solutions, to ensure we have more sustainable forms of bracken control going forward.

Question reference: S6W-09551

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regarding the potential impact on Scotland of HSE's consideration of the application to re-licence the use of Asulox for the purposes of bracken control.

Question reference: S6W-09316

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will match the amount of grant funding that it offers to farmers and crofters through its Agriculture Transformation Fund with that of the UK Government’s Slurry Infrastructure grant.

The full amount of the Agriculture Transformation Fund of £5 million, which is part of wider transformative actions including the National Test programme, has been allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022 which will provide support for low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers only. Support for slurry infrastructure is offered through the Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) which provides support to farmers and crofters within the SEPA identified priority catchments. Retaining the arrangements for the slurry storage options under AECS reflects the overall capital picture for 2022-23 which is more constrained than in previous years.

Agriculture is devolved and it is for each part of the UK to develop policies for its own circumstances. We will continue to support the rural economy with stability and simplicity until 2025 and we remain committed to supporting active farming and food production with direct payments. EU Exit means we no longer have long-term certainty of funding and unilateral choices imposed by HM Treasury provide insufficient replacement EU budget. The support offered reflects this position and the available budget.

Question reference: S6W-09317

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Government’s Slurry Infrastructure grant offering funding of between £25,000 and £250,000, for what reason its Agriculture Transformation Fund only offers grants up to £20,000 towards slurry infrastructure investment.

The full amount of the Agriculture Transformation Fund of £5 million has been allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022 which has been designed to focus support on low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers that are proven to lower ammonia emissions and reduce adverse impacts on water quality resulting from the storage and spreading of livestock slurry and digestate. The amount of grant on offer has been based on standard costs and is set at a level that is proportionate to the costs of the eligible equipment.

Agriculture is devolved and it is for each part of the UK to develop policies for its own circumstances. We will continue to support the rural economy with stability and simplicity until 2025 and we remain committed to supporting active farming and food production with direct payments. EU Exit means we no longer have long-term certainty of funding and unilateral choices imposed by HM Treasury provide insufficient replacement EU budget. The support offered reflects this position and the available budget.

Question reference: S6W-08962

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is taking to assist ferry operators in the (a) prevention and (b) control of fires relating to electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries.

Fire prevention and awareness raising are an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The Service has been assured that manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (EVs) have taken steps to ensure that their products are safe. Provided that the Lithium Battery power source has not been damaged, available statistics show that fires started by EVs remain very rare. SFRS has therefore no specific contact with ferry operators on the transportation of EVs.

It is a matter for vessel operators to ensure any cargo carried is safe. There is currently no difference in the advice provided to ferry customers with EVs over that of customers with internal combustion engines.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out a consultation in relation to EV’s travelling on ferries that included firefighting best practice. The MCA published the outcome of this consultation in March 2022 and details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-safety-of-electric-vehicles-on-passenger-ro-ro-ferries .

Question reference: S6W-09072

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans the National Records of Scotland has to scan copies of the paper returns of Scotland’s Census 2022, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

All valid paper returns from Scotland’s Census 2022 will be scanned in full and digital files created. In addition, digital data from responses for all scanned census returns, including online or paper, will be produced and retained.

High quality scanned image files for all paper census returns will be retained by National Records of Scotland (NRS) and stored in a permanent archive for historical research purposes in future. Original paper questionnaires will be securely destroyed only after all data files for both digital data and high quality scanned image files have been produced and safely transmitted for storage.

Census information is kept secure and confidential for 100 years.

Question reference: S6W-08742

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority received of the £7 million that was committed for the provision of free music tuition in schools in the 2021-22 academic year.

In the 2021 academic year we provided a share of £5 million to local authorities based on the number of pupils 5-18 on the school roll in each area. In addition, an allocation of top-up funding of around £3m was provided to those authorities who had budgeted for instrumental music tuition fee income.

The following table provides a breakdown of the funding allocation for the provision of free instrumental music tuition in schools by local authority.

Funding Allocation by Local Authority

Local Authority	2021-22 Funding allocated (£) [LM1]
	£000s
Aberdeen City	112
Aberdeenshire	172
Angus	72
Argyll & Bute	48
City of Edinburgh	247
Clackmannanshire	32
Dumfries & Galloway	89
Dundee City	87
East Ayrshire	77
East Dunbartonshire	82
East Lothian	71
East Renfrewshire	83
Falkirk	104
Fife	239
Glasgow City	334
Highland	146
Inverclyde	47
Midlothian	64
Moray	57
Na h-Eileanan Siar	16
North Ayrshire	86
North Lanarkshire	234
Orkney Islands	13
Perth & Kinross	86
Renfrewshire	113
Scottish Borders	69
Shetland Islands	16
South Ayrshire	68
South Lanarkshire	214
Stirling	60
West Dunbartonshire	59
West Lothian	130

Question reference: S6W-08741

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to continue funding free music tuition in schools, and, in light of £7 million being committed for the 2021-22 academic year, what funding will be available for local authorities in the 2022-23 academic year.

Following agreement with COSLA, a total funding allocation of £8 million across local authorities on a per-pupil basis for the academic year 2022 has been agreed to continue funding free instrumental music tuition in schools.

An additional allocation of around £3 million was provided for those authorities which had budgeted for instrumental music tuition fee income.

Further consultation is ongoing to develop a sustainable funding model.

Question reference: S6O-01163

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how much additional funding it has allocated to the National Records of Scotland.

Chamber and committees