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-14990

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update the legislation regarding the licensing late hours catering, including introducing a system of neighbourhood notification.

Under section 42 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, Licensing Authorities may operate a late night catering licensing regime for premises providing “food” between 11pm and 5am. Prior to the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, the 1982 Act referred to “meals or refreshments”. The 2010 Act changed that definition to “food” bringing late-night grocers and 24-hour stores within the scope of the provisions.

Licensing Authorities may impose conditions on a licence, including conditions fixing the days and hours of opening. Operating hours may differ for consumption on the premises and for consumption off the premises. It is for Licensing Authorities to determine which classes of premises actually require to be licensed.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to further amend legislation regarding the licensing of late hours catering.

Question reference: S5O-01917

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into Scots law.

Question reference: S5O-01896

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the health secretary has had with the housing minister regarding action that can be taken to mitigate the cost of health inequalities brought about by poor or unsuitable housing.

Question reference: S5O-01776

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to regulate the commercial short-term letting of domestic flats.

Question reference: S5W-13800

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 24 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to implement the outstanding recommendations of the paper, Report on Succession, which was published by the Scottish Law Commission in 2009, and what its position regarding whether women should be given a legal right to inherit land.

The Scottish Government has consulted twice on the recommendations in the Scottish Law Commission’s 2009 Report on Succession (Scot Law Com No 215).The first consultation resulted in the Succession (Scotland) Act 2016.

In the Programme for Government published on 5 September 2017, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government would publish its response to the remaining issues during 2018 - http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00524214.pdf.

Inheritance rights are not gender specific and apply universally. In Scots law, the legal rights of surviving spouses/civil partners and children, regardless of gender, to a proportion of a deceased’s moveable estate are a form of protection from disinheritance. The 2015 consultation sought views on whether the law on legal rights should be changed so that rights would apply to a proportion of the whole of a deceased’s estate, both heritable and moveable.

Question reference: S5O-01714

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to meet the health needs of homeless people, and whether the cabinet secretary considers that their health outcomes could be improved by adopting a "housing first" approach.

The Scottish Government has taken a series of actions to address rough sleeping and homelessness, which will have a positive effect on meeting the health needs of homeless people.

The short term Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group has moved rapidly to produce recommendations on minimising rough sleeping this winter, which are already being implemented in our cities with support from the Scottish Government, to help those that are most vulnerable to the detrimental effects that rough sleeping can have on their health.

The Group is now working on recommendations for ending rough sleeping for good and transforming temporary accommodation, which are due in the spring. The further development of the Housing First approach, which is already working successfully in parts of Scotland, will be part of this, along with advice on best use of the £50m Ending Homelessness Together Fund, established by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-13301

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of the (a) discussions, (b) meetings and (c) correspondence it has had with the Chief Scientific Adviser to Wildcat Haven CIC since 2007.

Details of (a) discussions, (b) meetings, and (c) correspondence the Scottish Government has had with the Chief Scientific Adviser to Wildcat Haven CIC since 2007 are as follows.

Dr Paul O’Donoghue, Chief Scientific Adviser to Wildcat Haven, met with Paul Wheelhouse, the then Minister for Environment and Climate Change, on 19 March 2014 to discuss the Wildcat Haven project, including a wildcat education programme.

Dr O’Donoghue, wrote to Paul Wheelhouse, on 29 August 2014 seeking funding for the Wildcat Haven project. The Scottish Government responded on 10 September 2014 that it was unable to provide funding towards the Wildcat Haven Project as all of the funding resources for wildcats were already committed to the Scottish Natural Heritage Wildcat Conservation Action Plan.

In addition, Wildcat Haven, through their lawyers Clifford Chance, also wrote to Roseanna Cunningham Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, in May 2016 requesting a meeting to outline their concerns regarding the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan. The request for a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary was declined but an offer was made to Wildcat Haven to meet with officials instead. This offer was not taken up.

Question reference: S5W-13525

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of private forestry land are owned by (a) individuals, (b) families, (c) resident owners, (d) absentee owners, (e) charitable bodies and (f) corporate bodies.

The Scottish Government does not hold data about these categories of ownership of private forestry. Information showing the estimated number of hectares of privately owned forests in the UK in the following classifications was published by the Forestry Commission in 2005, as part a one off assessment drawing on data from the last national forest inventory: forest land owned by individuals, owned by families, owned by forest industries, owned by private institutions, owned by co-operatives owned by religious institutions, owned by educational institutions, and owned by other private institutions.

This data is available at www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7aqk5z

As part of the current National Forest Inventory, Forest Research has collected a limited sample data-set on the ownership of woodlands in Scotland, England and Wales. This data was collected by means of a questionnaire. The data is currently being assessed for quality assurance purposes.

Question reference: S5W-13524

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of private forestry land is owned in holdings of (a) 0-10ha, (b) 11-50ha, (c) 51-200ha, (d) 201-1,000ha and (e) greater than 1,000ha.

Forest Research, through the National Forest Inventory, publishes data on the number of hectares of forests, including in Scotland, in the following size classes (hectares): <2, 2-10; 10-20; 20-50; 50-100; 100-500; 500 and above.

Summary data on the proportion of privately and publically owned forestry is also published.

This and other data on Scotland’s forests and woodlands can be found at: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/NFI_SCOTLAND-REPORT_010813.pdf/$FILE/NFI_SCOTLAND-REPORT_010813.pdf

Question reference: S5W-13527

Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the residency status of the owners of private forestry land.