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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-32656

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of animal cruelty were reported to the police in 2023-24; of these cases, how many resulted in a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction, and, of those that resulted in a conviction, what proportion resulted in a custodial sentence.

There is no single crime of animal cruelty and such crimes are identified differently in the annual Accredited Official Statistics publications on Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. These publications are based on separate and unlinked data sets and cannot be considered as proportions of each other.

Recorded Crime in Scotland is based on a count of crimes reported to Police Scotland. The year is based on when any crime(s) were reported to police. Animal cruelty offences are only identifiable at crime level. In 2023-24 there were 274 offences of animal cruelty reported to Police Scotland. This breaks down into 49 offences of cruelty to protected animals (excluding dogs), 177 offences of cruelty to dogs, 15 offences of cruelty to wild animals and 33 offences of hunting with dogs.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland is based on a count of people proceeded against in court (and the number of those resulting in conviction). Data for 2023-24 is not yet available.

Question reference: S6O-04188

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to transform participation rates for women in entrepreneurship.

Question reference: S6W-32130

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31824 by Shona Robison on 9 December 2024, for what reason it considered that there would be a disproportionate cost in providing data for appointments prior to 2020, in light of such data being provided in the answer to question S6W-12529, and whether it will set out the (a) cost of supplying the answer to question S6W-12529 and (b) estimated cost of providing pre-2020 data for question S6W-31824.

In accordance with the Public Appointments Team’s data retention policy, the retention period for documents supporting the public appointments process is five years after the appointment tenure in post has ended. Therefore we do not hold any information regarding public appointments which ended prior to December 2019.

We also do not hold any information regarding public appointments made prior to 2011.

To provide data for appointments made between 2011 and 2019 would include data from over 360 appointment rounds, some of which were for several appointees. Information for each appointment round would have to be searched individually for the information requested, which we estimate would take at least seven working days, therefore incurring a disproportionate cost.

We are unable to provide estimated costs of providing the information requested in questions S6W-12529 and S6W-31824 but would like to confirm that these costs would be disproportionate for the reason given above.

Question reference: S6W-32472

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31981 by Gillian Martin on 17 December 2024, whether it has asked SEPA to review local authority efforts to identify contaminated land downstream of disused lead mines, in light of reports of the UK Government tasking the Environment Agency to do so in England.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, land contamination is the responsibility of local authorities. Any land which is identified as being contaminated, including any downstream of disused lead mines, should be managed in accordance with their routine regime of identifying and securing remediation for contaminated land. The Scottish Government expects that local authorities will prioritise based upon risk to the environment and human health, rather than source of land contamination.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to ask SEPA to review local authority actions in this area.

Question reference: S6W-32129

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31821 by Shona Robison on 9 December 2024, whether it will provide the (a) estimated cost of supplying the information requested and (b) number of legal cases it would have to consider in order to provide an answer to the question, and what range of data it would consider reasonable in order to provide an answer to question S6W-31821.

a) The exact cost of obtaining the information has not been calculated but it is estimated to exceed the cost limit due to the number of cases and other matters that would require to be considered individually by officials.

b) Link to the published SG accounts on the SG website can be found here to show legal costs across multiple financial years. –

– Financial reports and accounts - Government finance - gov.scot

Question reference: S6W-32791

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023, whether discarding is continuing in the Nephrops trawl fishery, and what action is being taken to reduce any such food waste or ecosystem harm.

The abundance of fish in Scottish waters means that a varied industry has developed over time, with many different types of fishing vessels operating as part of a mixed fishery. There are different target fish species, depending on the type of fishing vessel and where it operates, and different issues around unwanted catch. Discarding in the nephrops trawl fishery does occur as whitefish may be caught alongside nephrops. Since the introduction of the landing obligation, this unwanted catch can amount to a disproportionate cost for fisherman who have to land and then dispose of it. As such, the Scottish Government have utilised lawful exemptions to the landing obligation for these fish, in order to lessen the financial burden on these small nephrops vessels. These exempted fish are fully accounted for in quota calculations and factored into stock assessments.

As part of the policy development of our Future Catching Policy, we have been working with industry to explore pragmatic technical and spatial measures to support fishers to reduce discarding. We also know there are improvements we can make to the implementation of the landing obligation that will make the rules around discarding more effective and will work with industry and others to develop this.

Question reference: S6W-32391

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31828 by Gillian Martin on 10 December 2024, in light of the information not being held centrally, which sources would be required to gather the information requested.

Data on the usage of the noted material could be obtained through a range of activity including population surveys, waste composition analysis, cross-border trade analysis and studies of the weight and carbon impact of typical products.

It should be noted that, as the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 place restrictions on supplying the single-use plastic products in question in the course of a business, sales data in Scotland would therefore be of limited value in ascertaining usage.

Question reference: S6W-32390

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31828 by Gillian Martin on 10 December 2024, what quantity of single-use plastic items has been seized from individuals and/or businesses in contravention of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 since the regulations came into force.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 do not include a power to seize single use plastic items. They do, however, allow the taking of samples of articles or substances found in any premises that the enforcement officer enters. These samples, which could include single use plastic items, can then be retained for the purposes of examination and testing and to be used in evidence in any proceedings for an offence under the Regulations. Information on any samples taken and retained may be available from the enforcement authorities.

Question reference: S6W-32471

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31982 by Gillian Martin on 17 December 2024, what plans it has to assess any land contaminated by historic metal mining.

Question reference: S6W-32655

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were banned from keeping animals in 2023-24.