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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-16434

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-15878 and S6W-15879 by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023, what steps it is taking to identify, support and advance potential community purchases of land and to encourage alternative models of ownership in the areas covered by the Memorandum of Understanding.

The partnership is actively exploring alternative models of ownership with the Scottish Land Commission and has already held two workshops to explore these opportunities. In addition, existing routes to community ownership remain open across the whole of Scotland, not just in this area, through Asset Transfer Request and Community Rights to Buy. The Scottish Government also continues to support community ownership through the Scottish Land Fund, which will be doubled to £20m by 2026.

Question reference: S6W-16430

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances were (a) sought and (b) received by NatureScot from Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, in concluding the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), that any private investment deployed in Scotland as a result of the MOU would not come from entities or individuals operating from offshore jurisdictions and that any return on investment would not be paid directly or routed to individuals or entities beyond UK or Scotland tax jurisdiction.

Question reference: S6F-02011

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2023

To ask the First Minister what immediate action the Scottish Government will take to improve the situation regarding ferry services across the Highlands and Islands, in light of recent reports of unprecedented disruption.

Question reference: S6O-02115

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will review the NHS Scotland Patient Travel Scheme and Highlands and Islands Patient Travel Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-15876

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment NatureScot made of how the Memorandum of Understanding with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium would contribute to wealth owned by the communities local to the investment areas, and whether it will publish any such assessment.

The partnership will seek to deliver direct community benefit as a result of the investment, in line with the expectations of the Scottish Government’s Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. This will include full consideration of community wealth building opportunities and exploring potential ways the investment could support more diverse land ownership, drawing on current and emerging advice from the Scottish Land Commission. No assessment has been completed at this stage as the project partners are in ongoing dialogue about how the investment model will work. However, assessments will be published after completion of the project design phase.

Question reference: S6W-15869

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what other models to achieve natural capital investment in Scotland were examined before NatureScot agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, and whether it will publish any assessment of alternative models that it undertook.

The Scottish Government has increased public investment and support in our natural capital through a variety of methods. This includes the £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, and the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) that was launched in February this year. However, the Global Biodiversity Framework that was agreed at COP15 last year identified leveraging responsible private finance as a key target, and in Scotland alone it is estimated that there is a finance gap of £20 billion to meet nature-related outcomes.

For the purposes of this agreement, NatureScot entered into discussions with Hampden & Co., Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium and mutually agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding would best define the ways of working and respective roles of parties, as is commonplace.

Question reference: S6W-15868

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium confers any guarantees or preferred status to this consortium of companies in relation to public funds and grants for the area set out in the MOU, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not confer any guarantees or preferred status to the partners and allows NatureScot to work and enter agreements with other parties, both in the locations identified in the MOU and across Scotland. MOU signatories will not have exclusive access to land managers and external parties will still be able to submit applications for public funds and grants. The usual processes and policies for public grants will apply.

Question reference: S6W-15866

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the opportunity of agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium was open to public competitive tender, and, if not, what its position is on how the decision reached by NatureScot can be regarded as being the best available.

Question reference: S6W-15872

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, in addition to investment from public funds, what specific matters it anticipates any private investment will be spent on.

Question reference: S6W-15875

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment NatureScot made of how the Memorandum of Understanding with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium would support achieving a greater diversity in land ownership in Scotland, and whether it will publish any such assessment.