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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-29996

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29523 by Alasdair Allan on 16 September 2024, how it accurately monitors the total installed solar capacity, of all types, approved by local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-29997

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29352 by Gillian Martin on 17 September 2024, what approaches have been made to (a) academia and (b) the private sector to explore the potential for new recovery solutions.

Question reference: S6W-29998

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the area of (a) prime and (b) other agriculture land that is currently used for renewable energy projects, also broken down by the type of renewable energy project.

Question reference: S6O-03776

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns over its reported plans to downgrade the neonatal intensive care unit at Ninewells Hospital.

Question reference: S6W-29352

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being implemented to support the recovery of (a) potassium, (b) nitrogen, (c) sulphur, (d) phosphorus, (e) magnesium, (f) calcium and (g) any other nutrients from waste water.

Recovering these nutrients from wastewater is expensive and the income generated from the sale of recovered resources does not cover the costs of recovery – as a result it is not widely done by Scottish Water. For this reason, in our recent consultation on water, wastewater and drainage policy, we sought views on whether resource recovery is something that Scottish Water should be undertaking, and to what extent they should be able to use the money it receives from customer charges to do this. The consultation responses show broad support for our proposals and there was a recognition to support a circular economy through resource recovery. We will consider how this activity can be progressed further as part of our on-going development of policy in Water, Wastewater and Drainage services.

Question reference: S6W-29915

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much new incineration capacity has become operational since June 2022.

Question reference: S6W-29910

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29351 by Gillian Martin on 12 September 2024, what measures (a) it has taken to expand the provision of reuse options at household waste recycling centres and (b) will be taken forward as part of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 to expand the provision of such options.

Question reference: S6W-29916

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards developing an indicative declining cap on residual waste treatment capacity, as outlined in the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-29523

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 16 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of new solar developments approved in the last five years have been (a) ground and (b) non-ground mounted.

Solar energy developments with a capacity over 50MW are considered by Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. All solar developments approved by Scottish Ministers in the last five years have been ground mounted.

Solar energy developments with a capacity of 50MW or less require planning permission from the relevant planning authority. The Scottish Government does not hold information on planning applications determined by planning authorities for ground mounted or grounded solar panels. However, this information could be obtained from individual planning authorities.

Householders and businesses also have certain permitted development rights (PDR) for the installation of solar panels on their properties. Provided that the relevant conditions are complied with, these PDR allow for the installation of solar panels without the requirement for a planning application. In doing so, they save the time and expense associated with applying for planning permission. Accordingly, data is not available on those developments carried out under PDR.

Question reference: S6W-29351

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being implemented to apply the waste hierarchy to waste wood.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the application of the waste hierarchy to reduce waste and maximise the value of any waste that is generated in order to encourage the sustainable use of our limited resources and help reduce emissions.

There are currently a number of measures already underway that apply the waste hierarchy to waste wood. The ‘Wood cascading in Scotland’ report, published in 2023 by Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) for Scottish Forestry and Zero Waste Scotland, provides an overview of existing measures and future opportunities to efficiently utilise wood to prolong its life cycle and ensure effective end of life management for energy recovery. The report is available at https://be-st.build/media/fospozdi/be-st_wood-cascading-in-scotland_2023.pdf.

Examples of existing measures include:

?Scotland’s forest industries continue to work in close collaboration with a range of internal and external partners to maximise best practice in waste management in accordance with the waste hierarchy at all stages of supply chains. There are already well-established pre-existing markets for the buying and selling of pre-used wood products according to the type of wood and grade of waste. At present, from UK production of 9.8 million tonnes annually, the sector disposes of 306,000 tonnes (3.1%) to landfill.

?Four Recycling Improvement Fund projects include wood as a material stream in order to increase the amount of wood that is recycled.

?Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) prioritise wood recycling and most HWRCs will have a container for wood to be recycled and this would be encouraged at site to divert from residual to recycling. A small number of sites may have some reuse options available, such as for community groups.

Going forward, the powers in the Circular Economy Act and the proposals in the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map will further promote the use of surplus and reuse in the construction sector, aiming to move all construction waste and surplus up the waste hierarchy, including wood products. In addition, the Scottish Government’s draft Bioenergy Policy Statement sets out that the bioenergy sector should prioritise the use of available waste feedstocks, including waste wood, and that the use of biomass must comply with the principles of a circular economy.