Questions and answers

Question reference: S6F-01684

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-13311

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 5 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects to announce new policies to support its biodiversity strategy, which was published on 13 December 2022.

We published our new draft Biodiversity Strategy on 13 December 2022, which sets out 26 Priority Actions to put us on the path to a nature positive future, and halt biodiversity loss by 2030. We are now working closely with public bodies and other stakeholders to develop the first 5 year delivery plan which will support this strategy. The delivery plan, to be published in 2023, will set out how we will achieve the vision and outcomes in the new strategy, and will include further details of key related policies. The strategy will also be supported by a Natural Environment Bill, which will provide a framework for statutory targets for nature restoration.

We will be undertaking further consultation work on the strategy and delivery plan from early 2023.

Question reference: S6W-13247

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding the impact in Scotland of the UK's continuing membership of the International Energy Charter.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about the continuing discussions to renegotiate the Energy Charter Treaty, with a view to identifying and mitigating any particular impacts on Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of the concerns raised by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others that International Investment Agreements, such as the Energy Charter Treaty, may lead to ‘regulatory chill’. That is why, in our Vision for Trade, we are clear that no part of a trade or investment agreement should limit the ability of the Scottish Parliament to regulate in devolved areas, or constrain much-needed action to achieve our net zero goal.

Question reference: S6W-13312

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to update its agriculture strategy in order to improve biodiversity, in light of the publication of its biodiversity strategy on 13 December 2022.

Biodiversity is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture and our ambition to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland.

Our aim is to develop a support framework that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high-quality food production.

In addition the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 sets out a clear ambition for Scotland to be Nature Positive by 2030, and to have restored and regenerated biodiversity across the country by 2045. Work is underway to ensure agricultural policy aligns with these goals and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-13072

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12660 by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what the specific timeline is for the removal of all of Hikvision cameras and equipment that are installed within the Scottish Government estate; by what date it expects this work to be completed, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.

The work to replace and upgrade the security equipment across the Scottish Government estate is part of a multi-year improvement programme, and is therefore subject to the usual resourcing and prioritisation variables, common with such large-scale programmes.

It is not in the public interest to publicise details of the Scottish Government’s physical security across its estate, however I can confirm that all Hikvision CCTV cameras have been replaced at those Scottish Government buildings identified as “sensitive sites”, as described in the recent UK Government statement.

Question reference: S6W-12815

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 19 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) guidance it offers and (b) regulations are in place for local authorities, in relation to the siting of 5G mobile telecoms masts.

The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 is the principal piece of legislation governing the use and development of land. The act is supported by various pieces of subordinate legislation, such as the Town and Country Planning General Permitted Development (Scotland) Order, which provides permitted development rights for certain categories of digital communications infrastructure. Guidance on these permitted development rights is set out in Scottish Government Circular 2-2015

Specific guidance in relation to the siting of telecommunications equipment is contained in Planning Advice Note 62: Radio telecommunications This document is currently in the process of being updated and will include guidance on the siting of 5G mobile telecom masts. The intention is to publish this in the early part of 2023.

Through our revised draft National Planning framework 4 , we have proposed policies which support the delivery of such infrastructure which is carefully balanced amongst other factors such as visual and amenity impacts.

Question reference: S6W-12636

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 13 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much public money it has spent on preparing for a second independence referendum since the UK General Election in 2019.

On 22 March 2021, the Scottish Government published a draft Independence Referendum Bill. The total costs of publication were £258.22.

Costs incurred for the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court were published on 22 September. The information can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . The information will be updated with final costs later this month.

Question reference: S6W-12814

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to (a) review and (b) update alcohol licensing legislation for on-sales premises.

While the Scottish Government keeps alcohol licensing legislation under review, there are no current plans to update legislation for on-sales premises. Operation of the alcohol licensing regime is the day-to-day responsibility of independent Licensing Boards and Scottish Government officials regularly engage with a range of licensing stakeholders including clerks to Licensing Boards to help inform regular review and assessment of whether any legislative changes should be considered.

Question reference: S6W-12637

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide the attendance figures for (a) Dandelion project and (b) any other Scottish UNBOXED events.

Unboxed was a major UK-wide programme celebrating creativity and innovation, featuring ten large-scale commissioned projects designed to reach millions on-line and in person, bring people together and showcase the Four Nation's creativity.

Scottish Ministers appointed EventScotland as the Strategic Delivery Body for the commission and delivery of the Scottish UNBOXED project, Dandelion, which was funded by the Scottish Government through EventScotland.

The detailed external evaluation of all ten of the Unboxed programme, including Dandelion, is due to be published in Spring 2023. In the interim, the latest details are set out below under the relevant headings.

(a) attendance figures for Dandelion projects

Live events and hands-on schools activities

The following table shows the engagement figures to date for Dandelion, involving over 1,000 events at over 500 locations across Scotland.

	Overall Dandelion Attendance
Live & Participation	336,927
Schools Participation – including 89,101 pupils and families in 468 schools	252,134
Total In Person Attendance/Participation	589,061

In total over 589,000 people took part in person in live events and hands-on schools activities, across Scotland. The figures in the table above detail the number of people who took part in activities in person; both those that took part in person in the festival and public events elements of the programme (336,927) and those pupils and family members that took part in person in the learning and participation programme involving schools (est. 252,134).

These events included (but are not limited to):

Two free outdoor Dandelion festivals in Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow (17 – 19 June 2022) and in Inverness (2- 4 September 2022) which attracted almost 67,000 attendees to two three-day festivals celebrating community growing and sustainability, with programmes featuring live music, locally food, workshops, talks, hands-on activities for all ages, representation from activists and community groups, plus free plants to take home encouraging audiences to ‘grow-their-own';
Events in the 12 Unexpected Gardens (and a ‘Floating Garden’ which toured Scotland’s canal network) which hosted over 500 events engaging more than 18,000 audiences and participants from communities, in particular young people, during the arc of the growing season from March-September 2022;
20 Free For All (FFA) events involved Dandelion giving away thousands of seeds and plant plugs to over 13,000 visitors to try their hand at growing;
The "Schools Growing Initiative’’ saw an estimated 89,101 pupils (plus their family members) in 468 schools become citizen scientists using vertical farm growing cubes. (The cubes are miniature vertical farms, growing hundreds of seedlings under LED light in an accelerated setting, combining design craft, traditional horticultural expertise and technological innovation). Schools across Scotland also took part in the "Big Tattie Experiment’’, which included sowing 258,000 potatoes in 2,000 tonnes of specially made, sustainably sourced, growing medium taken home by pupils to grow;
In addition to the school cube growing initiative, over 96,000 people at 17 locations across Scotland experienced ‘Show Cubes’ (integrated with multiple speaker systems) that either toured Scotland on cargo bikes or were installed in key locations such as the V&A Dundee, connecting with local bike clubs and introducing eleven local communities to future food growing technologies.

Digital and broadcast

In addition to the in person attendances detailed above, Dandelion’s digital and broadcast content allowed the programme to reach a broader audience who might not have been able to take part in events and activities in person, or the schools programme. Dandelion's digital and broadcast content engaged with 869,960. This included specially commissioned digital short films and featured broadcast content.

(b) Attendance figures for other Unboxed projects within Scotland

Four Unboxed projects toured to Scotland, providing free events and experiences in Paisley, Edinburgh, Dundee, Dumfries, Orkney Islands, and the Highlands. As the Strategic Delivery Body for Scottish activity, EventScotland offered advice and support to those cross-UK Unboxed events with a delivery footprint in Scotland, when asked to do so by the individual project.

Responsibility for, and funding of, these events remains with the central Unboxed organisation and the UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and therefore the Scottish Government does not hold attendance information for these projects.

Question reference: S6W-12570

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next review Land and Buildings Transaction Tax thresholds.

As the Deputy First Minister noted in his appearance at the Finance and Public Administration Committee meeting on 4 October 2022, decisions in respect of amendments to the rates or bands for LBTT are to be taken as part of the Scottish Budget. This ensures that any prospective decisions are taken with all the relevant data and evidence in hand, while also supporting the principles of tax certainty and stability.

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