Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-17642

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Delivery Plan will include a commitment to ensure that Social Security Scotland is a fully trauma-informed organisation.

Question reference: S6W-17754

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will use any forthcoming national good food plan to highlight the reported negative impact of the over-consumption of ultra processed foods on public health and the environment.

The Scottish Government is currently preparing the first national Good Food Nation Plan, as required by the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022.

The national Good Food Nation Plan will set out the main outcomes in relation to food-related issues that we wish to see achieved in Scotland; the indicators or other measures by which progress towards the outcomes can be assessed; and the policies we will pursue in order to secure those outcomes. The Plan must be prepared with regard to the scope for food-related issues to affect outcomes in relation to, among other things, health and physical and mental wellbeing, and the environment. It must also have regard to the principle that high quality, nutritious and culturally appropriate food has the ability to improve the health and physical and mental wellbeing of people, and to the role of a sustainable food system and supply chain in contributing to mitigation of climate change, halting and reversing of loss of biodiversity and improvement in animal welfare.

The national Good Food Nation Plan offers us an opportunity to take a fresh approach to food policy in Scotland, and to consider all aspects of the food system.

Question reference: S6W-17719

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will introduce to improve the reading skills of secondary school students.

The 2022 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data tells us that 79% of P7 pupils achieved the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) level for reading by the end of primary school, which represents an increase of around 4 percentage points on the previous year. 2022 also saw increases in overall pass rates for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher English since the last exam year in 2019.

Education Scotland continues to support teachers’ understanding of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in the area of reading at national, regional and local levels. Their literacy networks, the National Literacy Network and the Literacy and English Curriculum Network, provide the forums to share effective literacy practice with local authorities and schools.

A National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) co-led by Education Scotland, Scottish Government and ADES, is underway to identify excellence as well as opportunities for improvement in literacy. The NRIL programme board consists of representatives from a range of stakeholder organisations including each of the six Regional Improvement Collaboratives and The Scottish Council of Deans of Education.

In addition, the Scottish Government also funds the Scottish Book Trust to deliver a range of programmes aimed at improving a young person’s literacy levels and encouraging a reading for pleasure culture in schools, at home and in the community.

Question reference: S6W-17693

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making towards reviewing its guidance, The Right Tree in the Right Place, in line with the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), and in light of the importance of tree cover for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

‘The Right Tree in the Right Place: Planning for Forestry and Woodlands Guidance’ provides Scottish Government advice to planning authorities on planning for forestry and woodlands. It supports Scottish Ministers’ desire to see a significant expansion in woodland cover, delivering multiple benefits to society. This includes advice regarding the preparation of Forestry and Woodland Strategies.

As set out in the first iteration of National Planning Framework 4’s Delivery Plan there is a commitment to review ‘The Right Tree in the Right Place’ Guidance as a short to medium term action (2023 – 2028). This review will be a joint piece of work between Scottish Forestry and Scottish Government Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Division officials. This commitment is also reflected as an action in the current Forestry Strategy Implementation Plan (2022 – 2025).

Question reference: S6W-17731

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to granting hospices extra funding to enable them to match the NHS pay uplift.

Question reference: S6W-16931

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the quantity of textile material fit for reuse, that is instead recycled in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-17045

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it advertised its public consultation on Highly Protected Marine Areas on (a) Facebook, (b) Twitter and (c) Instagram, and if so, whether it will provide details of engagement figures for each platform.

As well as a press release and supporting social media on the consultation opening on 12 December 2023, ?the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate frequently promoted the consultation, stakeholder information sessions and the extension of the consultation on its Twitter (@marinescotland) and LinkedIn channels, which have a combined following of more than 12.5K stakeholders. Please note that @marinescotland does not have an Instagram account.

A total of 15 posts were shared by @marinescotland which reached almost 80,000 people and achieved a good engagement rate of 2.7% (anything between 1-5% is considered good by social media marketing experts, according to Hootsuite). This equated to a total of 2,147 engagements (interactions) with the social media posts such as clicking on the link to the consultation, sharing, ‘liking’ and commenting on the posts.

It is important to note that the actual engagement with the online consultation will be much higher as this just reflects the social media promotion. For example, while 565 people clicked onto the consultation directly from these 15 social media posts, others will have visited the consultation directly from elsewhere, such as from stakeholder engagement activity and seeing press coverage.

Evaluation summary

A breakdown of the @marinescotland social media is included below, including the engagement rate calculation for transparency:

15 December – ‘ consultation now open ’ – 113 link clicks, 13,566 opportunities to see, 332 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 43 clicks, 1,576 OTS, 58 reactions)7 February – stakeholder information sessions – 63 link clicks, 4,096 opportunities to see, 202 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 76 clicks, 1,637 OTS, 34 reactions)

9 February – still spaces left to attend stakeholder information sessions – 18 link clicks, 3,727 opportunities to see, 51 engagements

7 March – closes on 20 March – 22 link clicks, 1,890 opportunities to see, 67 engagements

10 March – you have until Monday to respond – 9,968 opportunities to see, 274 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 5 clicks, 122 OTS, 2 reactions)

16 March – consultation extended by one month – 82 link clicks, 22,420 opportunities to see, 264 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 20 clicks, 790 OTS, 24 reactions)

29 March – stakeholder information sessions – 29 link clicks, 3,388 opportunities to see, 99 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 28 clicks, 882 OTS, 6 reactions)

31 March – stakeholder information sessions – 6 link clicks, 1,402 opportunities to see , 20 engagements

11 April – consultation closes in one week – 37 link clicks, 13,046 opportunities to see, 139 engagements ( LinkedIn post – 23 clicks, 922 OTS, 9 reactions)

Accurate as of 17 April:
LinkedIn followers – 3,245

Twitter followers – 9,325

Total followers – 12570

Total number of posts – 15

Opportunities to see (OTS) – Twitter – 73,503; LinkedIn – 5,929 = 79,432

Clicks – Twitter – 370 and LinkedIn – 195 = 565

Engagements – Twitter – 1448 and LinkedIn – 133 = 1581

Total engagements (clicks + engagements) – 2,146 ?

Engagement rate (total engagements / OTS x 100) – 2.7%

Question reference: S6W-17066

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what basis it determined that the £25 million investment for the north east, which was announced on 4 April 2023, was the amount that should be allocated from the existing Just Transition Fund for that purpose; whether it will provide its (a) written analysis and (b) evidential basis for that decision; and what preparatory work had been done to ensure sufficient detail and planning to enable the announcement to be made on 4 April 2023.

The £25 million which has been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24, is part of the ten year, £500 million Just Transition Fund. It will be invested on a commercial basis in line with the Bank's Investment Strategy.

Officials and the former Minister for Just Transition engaged with a range of stakeholders from the region, including Enterprise Agencies, to inform the decision to allocate funding to the Bank.

Question reference: S6W-17046

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its public consultation on Highly Protected Marine Areas, what external organisations it met in advance of the consultation launch, and on what date each meeting took place.

During this initial phase of policy development on Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), in 2022, the Scottish Government met with a range of stakeholders including -

British Trout Association (BTA) – 17 March
Coastal Communities Network (CCN) – 22 March
Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) - 23 November
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) – 24 March
Crown Estate Scotland (CES)–28 March
Oceana – 13 May
Royal Yachting Association (RYA) – 5 May
Salmon Scotland – 17 March and 6 April
Scottish Environment LINK–18 March, 14 July and 2 December
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) – 8 March
Scottish Renewables – 13 May
Scottish Sea Farms Ltd–23 May
Scottish Seaweed Industry Association (SSIA) – 25 April

Please also refer to the answer under S6W-16733 on 15 May 2023 for a list of meetings with the fishing industry where HPMAs were discussed. 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-17065

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the £25 million investment from the Just Transition Fund for the north east, which was announced on 4 April 2023, including which organisations will receive the funding, when the funding be delivered and what criteria will be used to determine who receives the funding.

The £25 million funding will be allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank for 2023-24 to invest in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, and in support of a Just Transition to net zero in the region. The funding will be invested by the Bank on a commercial basis, to leverage further private investment towards accelerating a just energy transition across the North East and Moray.

The Bank has a proven track record having committed £415.1 million across 27 investments, alongside over £680 million of third party capital since 2020. Utilising the Bank’s commercial investment expertise and experience represents a key opportunity to unlock third party finance at the scale required to realise our ambition for a just transition in the region.

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