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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: S5W-04820

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the objectives of the Political Declaration on Energy Cooperation between the North Seas Countries; what involvement it will have in delivering its aims; what contribution it is making to its work programme, and whether it is taking action to ensure that the declaration will (a) take account of ecological impacts and (b) support research and development in offshore renewable technologies.

The Scottish Government supports the objectives of the Political Declaration on Energy Cooperation between the North Sea Countries – to roll out a regionally optimised North Sea Grid that will enable electricity trading and the integration of offshore renewables in the most cost effective manner.

The work plan for the Declaration has created four sub-groups attended by North Sea Country officials. Prior to the UK Government signing the declaration on Monday 21 November 2016, Scottish Government officials attended an inception meeting and the first meeting of Support Group one as observers. Now the declaration has been signed, Scottish Government officials will be able to participate fully in the groups and work with UKG officials to ensure that Scottish views are considered when representing the UK. Regrettably, Scotland cannot present its views or negotiate as a nation state in our own right, while current constitutional arrangements persist.

The Declaration will work within the confines of the European Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Directives to take account of ecological impacts. The Declaration will support the further development of offshore renewable technologies by ensuring cost-efficient offshore and onshore grid development and, clearly, believe Scotland has a key role to play in supporting developing those existing technologies.

Question reference: S5W-03345

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it (a) has carried out and (b) plans regarding the potential impact of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on (i) each economic sector and (ii) workers' rights in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-04479

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not participate in the recent case in the High Court of Justice between ClientEarth (No.2) and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question reference: S5W-04478

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent ruling in the High Court of Justice in the case between ClientEarth (No.2) and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question reference: S5W-04593

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Thermolicer is licensed for use in Scotland and, if not, what information it has regarding whether Marine Harvest had a Home Office licence to carry out experiments using the device.

Question reference: S5W-04592

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted a safety and welfare review of use of the Thermolicer device in salmon farms.

Question reference: S5W-04594

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what precautions are taken to ensure that there is no leakage of disease contaminated waste into bodies of water containing wild fish when salmon that have been killed by disease are transported from the Highlands and Islands for incineration in England.

Transporters of animal by-products are required to register with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). When transporting Animal By-Products (ABPs) transporters must ensure that they;

Use vehicles and containers that are covered and leak-proof

Clean, disinfect, and dry vehicles and containers before and after every use

Keep different categories of ABPs in separate containers and separate parts of the vehicle

Only move animal protein in a vehicle designed for that purpose alone

Any leakage of ABPs may result in prosecution by Local Authorities.

Question reference: S5O-00376

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue guidance to schools regarding how the money raised through its council tax reforms can be spent to raise attainment levels.

Question reference: S5W-03348

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-00972 and S5W-00973 by Keith Brown on 12 July 2016, whether it will publish its assessment of the possible impact on Scotland of the Section D provisions of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The Scottish Government believes in free and open trade and we welcome the benefits that trade agreements can bring, in CETA, particularly the elimination of nearly all import duties and strengthened cooperation between European and Canadian standard setting bodies. However we must take the greatest care to ensure that issues about which the public are rightly concerned are dealt with.

NHS Scotland has not been specifically listed as exempt from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

As indicated in response to S5W-00972, the Scottish Government carried out an initial assessment of the Section D provisions of CETA and considered it unlikely that these would to any appreciable extent restrict the legislation which the Scottish Parliament can pass in the interests of the public and the environment. Since then, it was announced on 29 February 2016 that the European Commission and the Canadian Government have agreed to include a new approach on investment protection and investment dispute settlement, the investor Court System in CETA.

Whilst this goes some way to addressing concerns about ISDS, the Scottish Government remains of the view that, given the established legal systems and strong rule of law in the EU and Canada, disputes between investors and states should be settled in domestic courts. Furthermore, the Scottish Ministers have emphasised that Governments must be free to act and regulate in the public interest and that CETA must not include anything which enables companies to sue because they disagree with democratic public policy. We understand that the Commission will work with Canada to further elaborate some of the parameters of this new system and look forward to seeing the outcome of that work.

Our initial assessment constituted legal advice and, as such, we would not publish that advice.

In September 2016, the former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment wrote to the UK Government's Secretary of State for Agriculture, Rural Affairs and the Environment seeking an explanation as to why, when other countries have sought protection, the UK Government does not appear to have put forward any Protected Food Names for inclusion in CETA to give Scottish producers protection in Canada. However we welcome the fact that the agreement means the EU can add other products' names to the list in the future.

Now that Canada and the EU have signed the agreement it will be laid before the UK Parliament for ratification. Now is an opportune time to re emphasise to the UK Government that our ability to regulate and our ability to determine how the national health service should operate in our country should in no way be compromised by trade agreements and I have written today to Secretary of State for International Trade in those terms.

Question reference: S5W-03347

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the legal impact would be of it introducing a complete ban on fracking if the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is agreed.