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: S6W-20930

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of any benefits of gene editing for the Scottish agriculture and horticultural sectors in terms of improving the sector's efficiency and profitability.

Question reference: S6W-20931

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of any benefits of gene editing for the Scottish agriculture and horticultural sectors in terms of increasing the resilience of crops to diseases and pests, and improving yields and reliability.

Question reference: S6W-21031

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the minutes that were taken at each of its public workshops on its proposed Agriculture Bill.

Question reference: S6W-21030

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total level of attendance was at the workshops on its proposed Agriculture Bill that took place in 2022 on 5 October in Inverness, 6 October in Skye, 25 October in Inverurie, 1 November in Oban, 3 November in Melrose, 8 November in Stirling, 10 November in Dumfries, 14 November in Ayr, and 28 November in Orkney.

Question reference: S6W-21029

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the view expressed in responses to the consultation on its proposed Agriculture Bill that the proposed payment system could be complicated or unwieldy for some users, what measures it is taking to adapt the proposed four-tier payment system to take such views into account.

A consultation on the Bill’s proposals ran from 29 August 2022 to 5 December 22, where a wide range of views were received. On 22 June 2023, the Scottish Government published the Agriculture Bill - Analysis of Consultation Responses which details the findings of this extended engagement.

As is convention, following consultation on proposed legislation, Ministers are considering the views received to inform a new Agriculture Bill which will be introduced in 2023. In turn, Parliament will consider the proposals and provide further comment on draft proposals, accordingly.

Question reference: S6W-20506

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to hold a summit on tackling violence in schools.

Details of the upcoming summit have been confirmed with the Education, Children and Young People Committee.

In order to provide opportunity for sufficient depth of discussion across core topics, a multi-stage approach is planned, with the first taking place on 5th September. This will be followed by further stages in October and November 2023. This events follow the Head Teacher’s taskforce, which convened in June to focus on the issues surrounding school exclusion.

The approach as outlined will allow for progress to be informed by the most up-to-date data following the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools research in autumn.

Question reference: S6W-20173

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who submitted an application to the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme were unsuccessful, and what the most common reasons were for applications being unsuccessful.

Since 2015 a total of 22,817 initial applications to Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) did not progress to work being carried out under the scheme. The scheme is targeted at alleviating fuel poverty for the most vulnerable households and so the most common reason for an unsuccessful application to Warmer Homes Scotland is that the household does not meet the eligibility criteria for age or lower income.

Applications to the first phase of Warmer Homes Scotland closed on 31 March 2023 and at this time all households were required to meet all 6 of the high-level qualifying criteria:

Be a homeowner or tenant of a private sector landlord
Live in the home as a main residence
Lived at the property for more than twelve months (unless in receipt of DS1500 or BASRiS certificate)
Live in a property with a SAP of 72 or lower which is under 230m 2 in floor size
Live in a home that meets the tolerable living standard set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006
Not received support for energy efficiency measures though WHS funding in the last 5 years

As well as meeting the six high level criteria, customers must be 16 or over and be in receipt of certain benefits. The exception to this is if you are 75 or over with no working heating system, then there is no benefits receipt requirement.

The table below outline the most common areas of eligibility that are not met by households. This information is from the launch of WHS in September 2015 to the close of applications on 31 March 2023.

Reason given	Number of households
Household does not meet age, children in home (under 16) or benefits criteria	10,168
Customer not private tenant or owner occupier	1,144
Has not lived in the property for sufficient time	1,336
SAP rating too high	3,953
No suitable measures available under Warmer Homes Scotland	3,032

Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) is the national fuel poverty scheme and is one of a number of home heating and energy efficiency schemes run by the Scottish Government. Other schemes include the HES grants and loans scheme, which is available for all owner-occupiers across Scotland, and Area Based Schemes, which is targeted at those in fuel poverty and is delivered by Local Authorities.

Question reference: S6W-20504

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its proposals to permit the use of night sights to cull deer at night will be subject to licensing, or require any qualification, in order to be practiced.

All night shooting of deer requires a specific authorisation by NatureScot. That means that anyone seeking to shoot deer at night must apply to NatureScot and provide the details of the planned management, including where and when the deer will be culled.

There are requirements for a deer stalker to be fit and competent as part of that process and NatureScot will be updating the Night Shooting Code of Practice and Best Practice guidance will be developed ahead of these proposals being introduced.

Question reference: S6W-20508

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the potential animal welfare issues that could arise as a result of the normalisation of culling deer at night.

As outlined in response to S6W-20504 on 1 September 2023, culling deer at night can only be done under authorisation from NatureScot. In order to be authorised to shoot deer at night applicants must be able to evidence fit and competent status and comply with Best Practice.

To register as fit and competent applicants must provide evidence that they have completed either Deer Stalking Certificate Level 2 (DSC2) or Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 (DSC1). They must also provide two referees (one of whom must be DSC1 certified) who can provide evidence that the applicant meets required standards.

In 2019-20, 17.33% of total deer culled in Scotland were shot under a night authorisation.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-20505

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that would suggest that a reduction of the minimum weight of bullet permitted to be used in the culling of deer could lead to increased suffering by the animal when shot.