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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-19203

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the 2022-23 official woodland creation statistics, to be published on 15 June 2023.

The statistics released today show that last year Scotland created 8,190 hectares of new woodland, with England creating 3,130, Wales 1,190 and Northern Ireland 450 hectares respectively. Throughout the whole of the UK, Scotland is outstripping other countries and creating around 63% of all new woodland.

Scotland has by far the most ambitious woodland creation targets in the UK and despite the challenges of Brexit, Covid and winter storms, landowners have created around 51,000 hectares of new woodland in the past five years or around 102 million trees.

The current planting levels are disappointing and the Scottish Government announced an action plan earlier this week designed to speed up the woodland creation application process and encourage more landowners to get trees in the ground.

A Scottish Forestry Summit, with industry leaders and land management bodies, will be held later in the year to secure agreement on getting planting levels back on track.

Woodland creation targets are set in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan and are rising year on year, rising to 18,000 hectares a year by 2024-25.

Question reference: S6O-02342

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how secondary school pupils in Aberdeen will be supported through the launch of ABZ Campus.

Question reference: S6W-17923

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve access to clinical trials for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The NHS Research Scotland (NRS) Cancer Network is funded by the Scottish Government to increase, support and sustain clinical trial activity in cancer care within NHS Scotland. The fundamental aim of NRS Cancer is to support the recruitment of cancer patients into clinical research and to thereby contribute to improving the quality of cancer care for patients across Scotland, including those diagnosed with ovarian cancer. https://nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/research-areas/cancer

The Scottish Government also works with Cancer Research UK to support the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC's) in Glasgow and Scotland. These are part of a UK-wide ECMC Network of 18 adult centres and 11 paediatric locations https://www.ecmcnetwork.org.uk/ Glasgow’s Adult ECMC and Paediatric ECMC, together with Edinburgh’s Adult ECMC receive around £1 million annually to help doctors and scientists develop the cancer treatments of the future for both adults and children, including in ovarian cancer. The funding is split 50:50 Scottish Government / Cancer Research UK

On 13 February 2023 we published an Independent Report on Improving Equity of Access to Cancer Clinical Trials. We will be working closely with the cancer research community here to prioritise the report’s recommendations.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/improving-equity-access-cancer-clinical-trials-scotland/

Question reference: S6W-18077

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed the ACORN project with the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-18076

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what benefits the ACORN project may offer to the economy of north east Scotland.

The Acorn storage project at St. Fergus is a vitally important part of a wider Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage opportunity in Scotland. Scottish Government economic scenario analysis shows CCUS would have a positive impact on the Scottish economy. In 2045 Scottish GDP could be 1.3-2.3% (£3.8Bn-£6.7Bn) higher in scenarios with CCUS, than without. By deploying CCUS, hydrogen and direct air capture technologies in Scotland, the Scottish Cluster believes it could support an average of 15,100 jobs between 2022-2050, with a peak of 20,600 jobs in 2031.

Whilst these significant benefits will undoubtedly positively impact the North-East, the Scottish Government’s ambitions for CCUS extend Scotland-wide, and the development of strategically located CCUS infrastructure in Scotland’s industrial clusters in Grangemouth and the North-East could protect and ensure the just transition for important domestic industries into a low-carbon future, protecting jobs and utilising existing skills.

Question reference: S6O-02295

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many farmers and crofters it has supported this year through the Single Application Form.

Question reference: S6O-02278

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the role that it anticipates that the low carbon and renewables sector will play in the transition to net zero, including on any relevant discussions that took place at the recent All-Energy conference in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-17804

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to help households deal with increased energy bills.

While the powers to take meaningful action in regard to energy pricing sit with the UK Government, we are doing everything we can to support households with high energy bills.

We recently tripled our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30m for 2023-24, to support anyone at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing their energy use. That fund continues to provide a lifeline to households at risk of self-rationing or self-disconnecting their energy. We also made an additional £1.2 million available to help our advice services meet increasing demand last year.

Our new Winter Heating Payment replaces DWP’s Cold Weather Payment and provides a stable, reliable annual £55 which will help around 400,000 low-income individuals with their heating expenses each winter.

We have allocated £350m to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures in 2023/24, including £119m targeted at fuel poor households, while our £1.4m Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund is supporting those in our island communities who traditionally see higher costs for food and fuel.

We have called repeatedly on the UK Government to provide additional, targeted support for consumers in vulnerable circumstances. I am due to meet with the UK Government Minister for Energy Consumers later this month and will raise again the need for further action to support those who have been most affected by the ending of the Energy Bills Support Scheme ending as well as the need for a social tariff for energy consumers.

Question reference: S6W-17803

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to support carbon capture utilisation and storage.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to supporting carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and we have set out a positive vision for this in our Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. Since taking up office, I have held a roundtable with the Scottish Cluster to seek industry’s view on how best we can support, accelerate and scale up CCUS following recent UK Government announcements. I have also met with the UK Government Minister Andrew Bowie to discuss the Energy Bill, to ensure this vital piece of enabling legislation best reflects Scotland’s interests. Yesterday I also met with the Carbon Capture and Storage Association to discuss the opportunities around Track-2 and the development of the sector.

We remain wholly committed to supporting the advancement of the Scottish Cluster and CCUS, and also stand firmly behind our commitment to make available £80 million of financial support. We continue to urge the UK Government to provide a clear timetable for when the Scottish Cluster will be awarded.

Question reference: S6O-02180

Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding projects in Scotland that will contribute to meeting net zero targets.