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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-35903

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many licences authorising the removal of beaver dams in response to concerns regarding activities that were restricting the passage of fish were issued by NatureScot to (a) riparian and (b) land managers in the calendar year 2020, and how many licences were refused.

Question reference: S5W-35905

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the 2021 NatureScot budget is for the (a) administration, (b) delivery and (c) monitoring of the Beaver Management Framework, and how much has been set aside for the (i) development and (ii) installation of non-lethal mitigation measures.

Question reference: S5W-35909

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many beaver lethal control licences were issued in the calendar year 2020 by NatureScot without a site visit being carried out by the agency or its agents in the six months prior to the issue to verify that each licence was required as a last resort.

COVID restrictions have limited NatureScot’s ability to carry out site-based activities in 2020.

NatureScot issued four licences that permitted the use of lethal control in 2020 without a site visit being undertaken. Of these one was subsequently revoked pending a site visit.

NatureScot uses a combination of information and photographic evidence provided by land managers, details of site topography and the knowledge of issues on neighbouring properties (which has been built up over time by staff and contractors), combined with the use of site visits, where appropriate, to inform the assessment of licence applications.

Question reference: S5W-35906

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many beavers were killed under licenced lethal control measures in the calendar year 2020, also broken down by the (a) date of each incident, (b) number of family groups of beavers that were killed, including how many were in each group and (c) sex and age of the beavers, and how many of the beavers were subject to a post-mortem by NatureScot or its agents to verify that there was compliance with the appropriate regulations.

Question reference: S5W-35910

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many spot-checks of licensees for the lethal control of beavers were carried out in the calendar year, 2020, also broken down by how many (a) discrepancies were identified and (b) licences were revoked.

COVID restrictions have limited some of NatureScot’s operational activities, including the ability to undertake site visits throughout 2020.

NatureScot has not carried out spot-checks on beaver licence compliance in 2020, but maintains contact with those in receipt of licences.

NatureScot is currently considering how routine site visits could be carried out in the future.

Compliance checks are made as part of checking licence returns.

(a) Discrepancies were identified in 3 licence returns from 2019 and have been followed up.

(b) 1 licence was revoked pending a site visit

Three licence holders failed to submit returns in 2020 and are currently being dealt with by NatureScot in accordance with the compliance process.

Question reference: S5W-35900

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many beavers were translocated to (a) suitable habitats in existing beaver ranges in Scotland and (b) contained trial sites in England in the calendar year 2020.

Question reference: S5W-36036

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the Food for Life programme to support the delivery of free school meals.

We will be working with our local authority partners to expand provision of universal free school meals to all primary children. The amended Regulations governing the nutritional requirements for food and drink served in schools will come into force on 8 April 2021, and all meals served as a part of our universal expansion programme will be required to meet these standards.

We have supported the Soil Association’s Food For Life Programme since 2012. Our support has helped 16 local authorities to achieve accreditation for their school meals under the Food for Life Served Here award framework. We will continue to support the Food for Life programme and encourage local authorities to sign up to it.

Question reference: S5W-35388

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will revise its model for determining whether cetaceans can be restored to, or maintained at, Favourable Conservation Status, in light of any evidence that measurements from field studies found a much greater area of disturbance than the model predicts.

Under Article 17 of the European Union (EU) Habitats Directive, the UK was required to assess and report on the conservation status of species listed in Annexes I, II, IV and V. The most recent report was submitted in 2019 and the UK assessments can be found on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee website. The assessments set out the criteria and data taken into account in determining whether or not a species is considered to be in Favourable Conservation Status.

See https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/article-17-habitats-directive-report-2019/ for details.

Regulation 3ZA of the Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994 places a duty on Scottish Ministers to continue publishing assessments of conservation status every six years. There are no current plans to change the assessment methodology used.

Question reference: S5W-35306

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 12 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the outcome of the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round will be published before the COP26 conference in November 2021.

Question reference: S5W-35384

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 10 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30448 by Mairi Gougeon on 15 July 2020, whether Cooke Aquaculture Scotland salmon farms use stronger, more rigid nets to enclose its stock than the Scottish Salmon Company farms and, if such nets are in use, what its position is on whether there are "satisfactory alternatives" to the use of acoustic deterrent devices.

Aquaculture companies use a range of non-lethal management measures to protect their stock including robust netting material and anti-predator nets. Information detailing the relative use of anti-predator or Seal-Pro nets by Cooke Aquaculture Scotland and the Scottish Salmon Company is provided in answer to S5W-35394 on 10 March 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

A European Protected Species licence can only be granted provided that it meets three tests, including that there must be no satisfactory alternative. We will give due consideration to any European Protected Species licence applications that are submitted on the merits of each individual case and taking account of all relevant factors. It would be inappropriate to pre-determine any part of this process.