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-04511

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many successful applications to the New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme there were from women in each year for which the scheme was open for applications.

Question reference: S6W-04654

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote agriculture in the (a) primary and (b) secondary school curriculum, and how much funding has been allocated for this purpose since 2007.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is designed to be flexible, allowing teachers to deliver a broad general education suited to the needs of learners in their own contexts, including on agriculture. For example, the Social Studies Experiences and Outcomes enable young people to explore foods produced in Scotland, discuss agricultural production methods and consider sustainability.

The Scottish Government funds the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) and Education Scotland for programmes helping ensure children can explore where food comes from and learn about careers in food and farming. Since 2012 the Scottish Government has given RHET £563,276 for such projects, and has provided £3.32m to Education Scotland for the Food for Thought Fund, which supports food education projects in schools.

We have set up a Commission to review learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors, and provide Scottish Ministers with independent advice on how to improve learning pathways and attract more people into these sectors, supporting the delivery of a just transition to net-zero.

Question reference: S6F-00551

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to treat people with heart valve disease.

Question reference: S6W-04653

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of the cost of rural crime to rural communities, broken down by (a) livestock theft, (b) machinery theft, (c) fuel theft and (d) livestock worrying.

The Scottish Government does not publish information on the costs of rural crime. However, I am aware of the most recent NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report, published in August, which suggested that rural theft cost the UK an estimated £43.3 million in 2020.

The report noted that this was a fall of 20.3% on the previous year, making it the lowest annual cost recorded in five years. While this can be seen as encouraging, we are well aware of the impact of criminal activity in rural areas and are not complacent on this issue. We are therefore committed to supporting Police Scotland and all its partners in tackling all forms of crime and disorder which affect our rural communities.

In particular, the Scottish Government participates fully in the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), which is chaired by Police Scotland.

SPARC draws together key stakeholders from across the justice and rural sectors to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to rural crime and to support activity at local level. This includes preventative action such as the development of Rural Watch Scotland, which has been delivered by Neighbourhood Watch Scotland working with other partners through SPARC.

Furthermore, the link between rural crime such as machinery theft and serious organised crime is well recognised. The work of SPARC makes a valuable contribution to securing some of the outcomes set out in Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy by helping rural communities become more aware of serious organised crime and how to mitigate its risks.

Question reference: S6W-04502

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04175 by Mairi Gougeon on 12 November 2021, how many applications, following appeal, were (a) approved and (b) not approved, in each year since 2015.

Question reference: S6W-04655

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises are unable to access (a) superfast broadband and (b) full fibre ultrafast broadband, broken down by local authority area.

Through a combination of the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage, every premises in Scotland will be able to access a superfast broadband connection.

We do not hold data on full fibre coverage across Scotland. However, Ofcom provides this data as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information, including local authority area breakdown, can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report .

Question reference: S6W-04652

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of livestock worrying have been recorded in each local authority area since 2007.

Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land.

A table showing the information requested has been prepared and a copy of this table titled 'Table 1: Offences of Protection of Livestock from Dogs, North Ayrshire, 2007-08 to 2020-21' is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 62925).

Question reference: S6W-04505

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) how many staff employed by the SPCB have been (a) advised by their office or group head to declare a potential conflict of interest and (b) in a circumstance that might reasonably give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest, due to a financial, political or professional reason, in (i) Session 5 and (ii) Session 6 to date, broken down by the committee or team that the staff were supporting.

The process for declaring an interest is outlined in the SPCB staff conduct rules.

The purpose of the Code of Conduct is to set out standards of behaviour required of SPCB staff. The Code of Conduct is a tool for ensuring that SPCB staff meet their contractual obligations and for enabling managers to manage staff conduct.

All staff are required under the Code of Conduct to inform their Head of Office/Group if they have a private interest which may impact on the conduct of their duties. The responsibility rests with the individual member of staff who must declare all interests of a personal, financial, political or professional nature which may compromise or be reasonably perceived to compromise that person’s ability to perform their role in an impartial or objective manner.

The Code of Conduct requires managers and staff to take steps to mitigate for the risk of a potential conflict of interest so that it, or the perception of a conflict, can be removed. Management action can include requiring the member of staff to withdraw from the work where the conflict has or may arise, referring decisions to others or requiring the member of staff to withdraw from the activity giving rise to the actual, potential or perceived conflict.

The People and Culture Office maintains a central record of interests. This is a live register which is updated regularly. This means that new interests can be added as and when they arise, and interests can be removed as they cease to be relevant. For example, when a member of staff ceases to carry out an activity which gave rise to a potential conflict of interest the activity is removed from the register.

The SPCB is aware that there is an increased level of scrutiny of standards in public life and that transparency is important to give re-assurance. The current arrangements, including the central register of interests, have been in place since 2010. The SPCB is currently reviewing the Code of Conduct and has asked officials to provide advice on this matter.

The SPCB will publish the outcome of its review in line with the SPCB’s Publication Scheme and will notify the Member when it has done so.

Question reference: S6W-04506

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) whether the central register of interests held by the People and Culture Office is (a) published and publicly available in the interests of transparency and (b) monitored regularly to prevent breaches of the code of conduct for SPCB staff, including clerks, and whether any breaches of the code of conduct for SPCB staff, including clerks, are recorded.

The central register of interests is not published. The register is updated as and when new interests emerge and on an annual basis Group Heads are requested to review entries on the register for their staff to ensure that it remains accurate. However, the SPCB recognises that transparency is important to ensure confidence in the process for managing conflicts of interest for SPS staff. Officials are currently reviewing the Code of Conduct and as part of this review the SPCB will consider whether publication of all or part of the register of interests is appropriate. The SPCB has requested advice from officials to assist it with its consideration of this matter.

Question reference: S6W-04496

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many loans have been provided to customers through the Low Carbon Transport Loan scheme to cover the purchase of used electric vehicles in the Scottish Borders area, and what the total value is of these loans.

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan. In September 2020, this interest free loan scheme was extended to support individuals and businesses across Scotland purchase used electric vehicles.

As of 23 rd November 2021, 17 loans have been provided to individuals and businesses across the Scottish Borders to support the purchase of used electric vehicles to the value of £231,109.50

NECGS	Successful applications from women
2015	1
2016	17
2017	30
2018	80
2019	42