Questions and answers

Question reference: S6F-00711

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00712

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-05704

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason self-catering, bed and breakfast accommodation and guest houses have reportedly been excluded from COVID-19 business funding delivered through VisitScotland, while hotels and hostels have been eligible for support.

The funding package to deal with the Omicron crisis was focused on those businesses most severely impacted by the cancellations due to public health advice and re-introduction of regulations on some businesses. The hostel sector whose business model is reliant on accommodating large numbers of (often unrelated) households mixing at one time, was particularly impacted during this period. Similarly hotels with bars and restaurants were particularly affected and therefore made eligible for hospitality top-up payments.

We sympathise with businesses such as self-catering, B&Bs and Guesthouses and others which have also been impacted by COVID-19. However, with limited funds available we have had to focus support on those most severely affected by restrictions. We will continue to consider the impacts of COVID and make the case with the UK Government for more comprehensive support.

Question reference: S6W-05718

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed new climate-relevant standards and modules for apprenticeships, with incentives to choose green pathways and greater flexibility in access to learning opportunities.

Apprenticeships are a key way for all employers to invest in their workforce, providing the skills the economy needs both now and in the future.

Published in December 2020, the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) sets out the actions we need to take to ensure our workforce is able to support the transition to net zero. Agile and responsive work-based learning, including apprenticeships, will support these ambitions and the CESAP notes the importance of developing new work-based learning pathways to capitalise on net-zero opportunities and maximising the uptake of apprenticeships in green jobs.

In this context, the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) commissioned IFF Research to carry out a consultation with SAAB members, and other employers, covering industry views on the importance of reflecting sustainability into Scottish apprenticeships, and the steps required to achieve this. A final report of findings and recommendations was published in November 2021.

Ministers are due to meet SAAB to discuss its findings on 27 January 2022. Work is already underway to update National Occupational Standards (NOS) and the apprenticeship frameworks for sectors that are critical to the transition, to include mandatory net zero elements. The Scottish Government is also keen to work with SAAB and industry to explore how we can incentivise and increase apprenticeships taking up opportunities on green pathways.

The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board to maximise apprenticeships and prioritise a recovery that creates new jobs, good jobs and green jobs, supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy.

Question reference: S6W-05626

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been to it in each of the last 10 years to process, decide upon or administer planning appeals in relation to onshore wind farms, including section 36 wind farm appeals that have been decided upon by the Scottish Government in the first instance, also broken down by the local authority area to which the applications and appeals applied.

Parties involved in planning cases are expected to meet their own costs. The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government will meet the costs of the reporter and administrative staff; advertisement of the case and the cost of the inquiry venue if necessary; and the general administrative costs of the case. DPEA deal with a wide range of casework and reporters and administrative staff normally deal with a number of different case types at the same time. The cost of an individual case can vary depending on a number of factors including the complexity of the case and whether an inquiry is necessary. DPEA do not record the cost of dealing with wind farm appeals or Section 36 wind farm applications.

Question reference: S6W-05215

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the approval rate is of wind farm applications in each local authority area, broken down by those (a) determined and (b) not determined by Scottish Ministers, in each of the last five years.

Wind farm applications under 50MW are considered under planning legislation whilst proposals over 50MW are dealt with under the Electricity Act.

Planning legislation cases

Information on the approval rate of wind farm applications in each local authority area, not determined by Scottish Ministers, is not held centrally. The Scottish Government publishes figures on the approval rate of all planning applications determined by Planning Authorities for different types of development in Scotland. Over the past 5 years the approval rate has been consistently over 93.7% (this includes the development type Electricity Generation, which includes wind farm applications). The information is available on the following website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/

Scottish Ministers have called-in two planning applications from Orkney Islands Council and issued decisions in 2021 granting consent for both applications.

The following table confirms the position in relation to planning appeals. All bar two of these appeals were decided by reporters from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government. The two appeals not decided by reporters were in the Argyll and Bute Council area, one in 2017 and one in 2019, and were both allowed by Scottish Ministers.

	2017			2018			2019			2020				2021
Planning Authority	Cases	Appeal Allowed	Percentage Allowed	Cases	Appeal Allowed	Percentage Allowed	Cases	Appeal Allowed	Percentage Allowed	Cases	Appeal Allowed	Percentage Allowed	Cases		Appeal Allowed	Percentage Allowed
Aberdeenshire										1	1	100%	1		1	100%
Argyll and Bute	1	1	100%	1	1	100%	2	1	50%
Scottish Borders				3	3	100%	2	1	50%	2	0	0%
Dumfries and Galloway	2	0	0%	1	0	0%	3	1	33%	1	0	0%	2		2	100%
East Ayrshire	6	4	67%	5	1	20%	1	1	100%
East Renfrewshire				1	0	0%
Fife	1	1	100%
Highland	4	3	75%	2	0	0%	2	1	50%				1		1	100%
Moray							1	1	100%
North Lanarkshire	1	1	100%
Orkney Islands							2	2	100%
Perth and Kinross				1	1	100%	1	1	100%
South Ayrshire	1	1	100%				1	0	0%	2	1	50%
South Lanarkshire				1	1	100%				1	0	0%
West Lothian				1	0	0%
Total	16	11	69%	16	7	44%	15	9	60%	7	2	29%	4		4	100%

Electricity Act cases

The following table confirms determinations made by Scottish Ministers on applications for wind farms made under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 where a Public Local Inquiry was held following an objection to a wind farm by the relevant planning authority(s) (i.e. the planning authority(s) for the land on which the wind farm would be built). Where the planning authority did not object consent was granted by Scottish Ministers. The percentage consented column therefore only refers to cases where a public inquiry was necessary.

	2017			2018			2019				2020				2021
Planning Authority	Decisions	PLI required	Percentage Consented (post PLI)	Decisions	PLI required	Percentage Consented		Decisions	PLI required	Percentage Consented		Decisions	PLI required	Percentage Consented		Decisions	PLI required	Percentage Consented
Argyll and Bute	2	2	0%					3	2	0%		2	0			1	1	100%
Dumfries and Galloway	1	1	100%					1	0			2	0			3	2	50%
Dumfries and Galloway/ South Ayrshire												1	0			1	0
East Ayrshire				2	1	100%		1	1	100%		1	0			3	0
East Ayrshire/ Dumfries and Galloway	1	1	100%
Highland	4	3	67%	3	3	33%		4	2	50%						3**	2	100%
Moray	1	1	100%									1	1	100%		1	0
North Lanarkshire			100%
Perth and Kinross								1	1	0%
Scottish Borders	1	1	100%	1	1	0%						1*	1	0%		1	0
Scottish Borders/East Lothian								1	0							1	1	100%
Shetland Islands	1	0						1	0
South Ayrshire				1	0							1	0			1	0
South Ayrshire/ Dumfries and Galloway																1	1	100%
South Lanarkshire								3	1	0%		1	0			3	0
South Lanarkshire/West Lothian				1	0
Total	11	9	78%	8	5	40%		15	7	29%		9*	3	67%		19**	7	86%

* Does not account for Fallago Rig variation which was for an extension of operational period to a wind farm which was already built and operating.

** Does not account for Farr Wind Farm variation which was for an extension of operational period to a wind farm which was already built and operating.

Question reference: S6W-05585

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual staffing numbers for ScotRail have been in each year since 2011, broken down by (a) full-time equivalent positions, (b) head count and (c) seasonal workers.

Question reference: S6W-05516

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in each year for which records are available, what emissions have been reported for the incineration of (a) household waste, (b) commercial and industrial waste and (c) all waste included in its Climate Change Plan.

The data specified in the question is held in a range of different data sources as summarised below. As each element of the answer is taken from a different data source there will be variations in methodology which mean that they are not directly comparable.

The Carbon Footprint of Scotland’s Household Waste publication published by Zero Waste Scotland ( 2019 Carbon Metric HH Brief - V01.00.pdf (zerowastescotland.org.uk) ) provides estimates of emissions from household waste. The relevant information is provided in the following table.

Year	Household waste incineration (MtCO2e)
2007	-
2008	-
2009	-
2010	-
2011	0.02
2012	0.01
2013	0.01
2014	0.03
2015	0.03
2016	0.03
2017	0.03
2018	0.05
2019	0.13

The Green House Gas Inventory includes information on emissions from the disposal of commercial and industrial waste via incineration without energy recovery. This mainly comprises sewage sludges and clinical wastes. However, separate information on the disposal of commercial and industry waste with energy recovery is not held, as only total emissions data that includes municipal wastes is available from these facilities

Information on emissions from the incineration of all waste can be calculated from the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) published by SEPA. The relevant information is summarised in the following table. This includes emissions from incineration of all waste types with and without energy recovery.

Year	All incineration facilities (MtCO2e)
2007	0.24
2008	0.25
2009	0.26
2010	0.52
2011	0.27
2012	0.28
2013	0.31
2014	0.67
2015	0.65
2016	1.06
2017	1.14
2018	0.96
2019	1.57

Question reference: S6W-05570

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to appropriately preserve information across government for the public inquiry into the handling of COVID-19 in Scotland.

Our approach to information governance underpins all government business, including our ongoing response to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government Information Management Strategy and Records Management Plan clearly set out the Scottish Governments approach to the preservation of information, in line with the requirements set out in the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011.

For further information refer to the Scottish Government Information Management Strategy
For further information refer to the Scottish Government Corporate Records Management Plan
For further information refer to the NRS Public Records [Scotland] Act 2011

Question reference: S6W-05525

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many eligible people have not received anti-viral medication because of the time taken for them to (a) receive the result of their COVID-19 PCR test and (b) be contacted by Test and Protect meant that they could not receive the medication within the five-day treatment window.

From 22 December 2021, adults and children (aged 12 years and above) are eligible to be assessed for their suitability for new COVID-19 treatments if they:

have received a positive PCR test for COVID-19 in the last five days; and
have symptoms of COVID-19 that started in the previous five days; and
are associated with one of the patient groups considered at high risk from coronavirus and with a clinical condition prioritised for treatment.

Health Boards can accept a positive lateral flow device (LFD) test result from eligible individuals whilst waiting for confirmation of a positive PCR test in certain circumstances. The LFD test is not complete until eligible individuals report their result, either online or by phone, and receive a result confirmation notification.

Some COVID-19 positive individuals who meet the eligibility criteria will decide not to receive anti-viral treatments, or may be unable to, for example due to other medications they are taking. Patients are asked to contact their local Health Board if they believe they are eligible for treatment.

There is also ongoing work to proactively contact (e.g. by text message) individuals who may be eligible with a reminder of the access arrangements at the point of a positive PCR test result.

Chamber and committees