- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when the specification and guidance for the provision of environmental control equipment was last updated.
Answer
To the extent such systems are addressed under Scottish Building regulations, such provisions were updated as part of the February 2023 publication of Scottish Building Standards Technical Handbooks and supporting documents.
Provisions relating to the control of fixed building services are set out in the 2023 Domestic and Non-domestic Building Services Compliance Guides.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs there are projected to be in 2060 under the (a) Base and (b) Growth Case scenario outlined in Project Willow.
Answer
Our immediate priority is to capitalise on the near term opportunities set out in Project Willow, with a focus on bringing forward new jobs at Grangemouth as quickly as possible. The Grangemouth investment taskforce is delivering on this priority by working with businesses with an interest in developing projects aligned to those suggested in Project Willow.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government by what year it expects 500 jobs to have been created by the nine projects under Project Willow in the (a) Base Case, (b) Growth Case and (c) Full Potential scenario.
Answer
Project Willow sets out what could be possible at Grangemouth if the public and private sectors work together. Scottish Enterprise is triaging proposals from private sector developers and investors. As set out in their 2025- 2028 operating plan, Scottish Enterprise is driving investment at Grangemouth with a view to creating up to 800 direct jobs in low carbon fuels and sustainable manufacturing across the industrial cluster by 2028.
- Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s May 2025 recommendation that statutory codes of practice or official guidance for the welfare of farmed and ornamental fish should be established, in light of the reported finding by the Animal Law Foundation that there have been no known prosecutions in Scotland under existing fish welfare laws, despite reported instances of poor welfare.
Answer
The Scottish Government takes the welfare of farmed fish very seriously and has already committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for farmed fish, as set out in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee’s recommendations following its Follow Up Enquiry into Salmon Farming in Scotland.
As stated in my response of 10 June we are developing guidance for the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter, which has been developed with the industry and animal welfare bodies.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are responsible for considering welfare complaints and investigating potential breaches in welfare legislation, and will continue to apply their professional knowledge and training to assess fish welfare against the provisions set out in The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to section 3(1)a of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, when (a) the proposed plan will be laid before the Scottish Parliament and (b) the expiry of the 60-day period will fall.
Answer
The proposed national Good Food Nation Plan must be laid in Parliament on or before 29 June 2025. The date on which the expiry of the 60 day scrutiny period will fall will depend on the date on which the proposed national Good Food Nation Plan is laid before Parliament. A minimum of 30 of the 60 days must be days on which the Parliament is not in recess or dissolved.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish a dedicated strategy for scaling up ecosystem-based approaches to climate mitigation, and, if so, when such a strategy will be released, and how it will be resourced.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to publish a separate dedicated strategy for scaling up ecosystem-based approaches to climate mitigation, as these issues are addressed in our Biodiversity Strategy and Climate Change Plans.
Our Biodiversity Strategy and Climate Change Plans include policies to develop healthy and restored ecosystems with landscape scale nature-based initiatives, contributing to our nature and climate targets. This is an effective framework for policy, and we have recently announced that Scotland's Peatland ACTION partnership has put 14,860 hectares of degraded peatlands on the road to recovery last year, which represents a new record in one year.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the enforcement of the wrasse fishery licensing conditions, how many fixed penalty notices (FPN) have been issued since April 2021, and how many of those went unpaid; of those FPNs that went unpaid, how many have (a) been referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) proceeded in the courts, and, of any that resulted in convictions, what the (i) nature of the offence, (ii) value of the original FPN and (iii) court disposal was.
Answer
In the period since April 2021, the Scottish Government have issued no Fixed Penalty Notices in relation to the enforcement of the wrasse fishery licence conditions.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the views of local communities, as expressed during public inquiries and local planning processes, are given full consideration when ministers make a final decision on renewable energy applications.
Answer
Energy Consents applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis, with all relevant information considered to ensure balanced decision-making. This includes environmental information, consultee responses and if applicable, the inquiry report.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to section 3(3) of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, by what date the Scottish Ministers will (a) lay the national good food nation plan before Parliament under section 1(1) and (b) deliver a statement setting out details of any (i) representations, (ii) resolutions and (iii) reports mentioned in subsection (1)(b); what changes they made to the plan in response to any such (A) representations, (B) resolutions and (C) reports, and what the reasons were for any such changes.
Answer
The national Good Food Nation Plan and section 3(3) statement will be laid in Parliament before the end of the period of 3 months, which begins on the expiry of the 60 day period of parliamentary scrutiny.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the detailed Project Willow report by EY-Parthenon, in what year
the number of total jobs in operational phase (including direct, indirect and
induced impacts) falls to zero in the (a) Base Case, (b) Growth Case and (c)
Full Potential scenario, as set out at page 203.
Answer
Our immediate priority is to capitalise on the near term opportunities set out in Project Willow, with a focus on bringing forward new jobs at Grangemouth as quickly as possible. The Grangemouth investment taskforce is delivering on this priority by working with businesses with an interest in developing projects aligned to those suggested in Project Willow.