Chamber and committees

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-18125

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken on public land that is managed by Forestry and Land Scotland to ensure that nests of (a) raptors, (b) red squirrels and (c) other protected woodland fauna are protected during the harvesting of commercial woodlands and at the time of their respective breeding seasons, where applicable.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) take the protection of (a) raptors, (b) red squirrels and (c) other protected woodland fauna within our woodlands very seriously, and when appropriate conduct our operations outwith their breeding seasons to avoid disturbance.

FLS have rigorous planning systems, checks and procedures with accompanying guidance to ensure all regulations and licence requirements to protect species are followed.

Question reference: S6W-18126

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what licensing provisions Forestry and Land Scotland has in place regarding the disturbance of red squirrels during commercial forestry operations.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) take the protection of priority species within our woodlands, such as red squirrels, very seriously, and when appropriate conduct their operations out with the Red Squirrel breeding season to avoid disturbance.

FLS adhere to the industry guidance set by the Scottish Government forestry regulator, Scottish Forestry, and where necessary apply for and follow the species licencing process regulated by NatureScot. They are recognised as a trusted and competent land manager and have an agreed licencing process in place that reflects that recognition.

FLS have rigorous planning systems, checks and procedures with accompanying guidance to ensure all regulations and licence requirements to protect species are followed.

Question reference: S6W-17948

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations in the Scope research publication, Disability Price Tag 2023: the extra cost of disability.

The Scottish Government recognises the findings that have been highlighted within the Disability Price Tag 2023 report, that disabled people have been disproportionately impacted by the current cost-of-living crisis.

One of the First Minister’s first acts upon taking office was to increase the budget for our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30 million for 2023-24 to ensure support is available to households who would otherwise be at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Assistance is provided on the basis of a holistic assessment of individuals’ circumstances, which can include increased energy usage arising from the need to run essential medical devices.

The Scottish Government provide a range of disability benefits to help disabled people and those with long-term conditions. These benefits provide financial support to disabled people to mitigate the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. In recognition of the cost crisis, all Scottish Government social security benefits were increased by 10.1% in April, except for Scottish Child Payment, which was uprated early, with an investment of around £430 million. This uprating is in line with inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.

Question reference: S6W-17947

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the use of camera technology to tackle littering and fly-tipping.

Our 2022 consultation on a new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy included proposals to explore the role of technology to obtain better data, deter litter and flytipping and aid enforcement of offences. ‘Littercam’ technology is currently being trialled on part of the trunk road network in a targeted scheme for the purpose of monitoring litter levels. The final National Litter and Flytipping Strategy will be published this year.

Question reference: S6O-02264

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to expand community-owned energy.

Question reference: S6O-02148

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has been a delay in announcing the projects that will form phase 3 of the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

Question reference: S6O-02122

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by Independent Age, which states that one in seven people in Scotland over the State Pension age live in poverty.

Question reference: S6W-15919

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of businesses with existing contracts to collect glass from commercial premises that may lose business as a result of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme.

During the development of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), a number of documents were produced, including the Full Business Case and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which look at the expected impacts to business and others of this scheme.

Scotland’s DRS represents a significant, transformative, change in the way in which waste is handled across the country. These changes present opportunities for waste handling businesses to work with Circularity Scotland and their primary logistics contractor Biffa, to help support the scheme.

Any companies which wish to participate in Scotland’s DRS activities should contact the DRS enquiries team at Biffa and this will be discussed with Circularity Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15918

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in total have registered with the Deposit Return Scheme to date, and how this compares with the number of businesses that were expected to register.

More than 670 businesses have registered so far, representing 95% of products sold in Scotland.

The number of companies in the drinks industry inevitably changes over time and, at the outset of developing a deposit return scheme, approximately 4,500 companies were estimated to have an interest in the scheme.

However, significantly less would have to register – for example, once groups of companies registering under one registration are identified, the number of individual producers/importers is likely to be below 2,000.

Question reference: S6W-15917

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the last date is that producers will be able to register with the Deposit Return Scheme and be able to trade their products in Scotland from the proposed launch date of 16 August 2023.

Producers who want to sell scheme articles to consumers in Scotland on or after 16 August 2023 must be registered with SEPA.

The DRS scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) estimates that the registration process takes approximately six weeks to complete. This is similar to schemes operating elsewhere in Europe.

If producers have questions about registration, or other DRS-related matters, they should contact CSL as soon as possible.