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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-23070

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the reported decline in catches of salmon and sea trout is having on the (a) economic value of wild fisheries and (b) economy in rural areas.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any new assessment of the impact of the most recent salmon and sea trout catch statistics. Our most recent assessment comes from a report by economic consultants PACEC, commissioned in 2015 and published in March 2017. This can be found at https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00514801.pdf .

Separately, Scottish Enterprise is currently leading a study with the Tweed, Spey, Tay and Dee rivers to look at both the impact of the decline in salmon numbers and the opportunities that there might be to develop the total fishing offer for the future. I understand this work is progressing well and look forward to seeing the outcomes later in the summer.

Question reference: S5O-03269

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop resources to support the expansion of tourism and culture.

Question reference: S5W-22580

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20098 by John Swinney on 4 December 2018, in light of the cabinet secretary's comment that he had "paused the publication of the revised presumption of mainstreaming guidance and research into the experiences of children receiving additional support for learning...to enable further reflection...of the report Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved: A report on the experiences of autistic children missing school", for what reason the recently published, Guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting, does not make reference to that report.

The Guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting was informed by a wide range of information and evidence including the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report. The guidance takes account of the matters raised in the report, and these are framed within the advice and guidance to schools and education authorities in relation to the implementation of the presumption to mainstream education. The document therefore focusses on the legislative and practice requirements, for pupils with additional support needs and particularly highlights the need to focus on the individual needs of pupils. This is consistent with the recommendations of the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report.

In addition, and as part of our wider response to the Not Included, Not Engaged and Not Involved report the Scottish Government has convened a short life working group to consider Autism in schools. The group includes a wide range of stakeholders and the conclusions of the group will be made public in due course.

Question reference: S5W-22737

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns regarding illegal licencing practices by some caravan park site owners, whether it will review the maximum 10% commission entitlement to mobile home owners specified in the Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013.

The Scottish Government has carried out a considerable amount of work on mobile home issues since 2012. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Scotland) Order 2013 significantly enhanced the protection of mobile home residents in Scotland. As part of this work we conducted a full public consultation which included consideration of the commission rate and the decision was taken for it to remain at up to 10%. The key objective of the order was to provide better protection for site residents while ensuring the viability of privately owned sites. There are no plans to review the commission rate again.

A new site licensing regime for sites with permanent residents, set out in Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 was introduced on 1 May 2017. The new system puts in place a robust licensing regime which provides a range of measures to improve standards and further protect residents. This includes the introduction of a fit and proper person test for the licence applicant and anyone involved in the day to day management of a site. All existing licence holders were required to apply for a licence under the new system by May 2019.

Question reference: S5W-22818

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that windfarms are decommissioned correctly and, in particular, where companies owning windfarms are in liquidation or insolvent.

Question reference: S5W-22505

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) staff, (b) external legal and (c) other costs it incurred in its action against Ineos and Reach Coal Seam Gas regarding fracking.

The Scottish Government did not take “action against Ineos and Reach Coal Seam Gas” as has been asserted in the Member’s question.

However, on 09 January 2018 INEOS Upstream Ltd and Reach Coal Seam Gas Ltd announced their decision to seek a judicial review of the Scottish Government’s preferred policy position of not supporting unconventional oil and gas development in Scotland. On 19 June 2018, the Court of Session rejected their petition against Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the staffing costs of this specific legal case. Civil servants do not record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters as a matter of course. Dealing with this case was part of the normal range of duties undertaken by a range of civil servants across the Scottish Government. It is therefore not possible to say what the internal staffing costs for dealing with any particular matter is.

I can confirm that the fees paid to external legal counsel came to the total of £173,928. Court fees came to £1,200. All figures include VAT.

Question reference: S5W-22492

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with setting up low emission zones in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Dundee and (c) Edinburgh.

We are working in partnership with Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh city councils to deliver our commitment to introduce low emission zones in these cities by the end of 2020. Aberdeen is in the early stages of developing their plans and will be collecting new traffic data to help inform their LEZ scenario testing. Dundee is developing options and objectives for their low emission zone with elected members due to be updated by the end of April. It is expected Edinburgh will publish their detailed LEZ plans in May.

Question reference: S5W-22542

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many acres of land are and (b) what percentage of (i) land and property titles and (ii) land mass coverage is registered in the Land Register.

Question reference: S5O-02994

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill (not EU Withdrawal (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill).

Question reference: S5W-21758

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 5 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21286 by Clare Haughey on 18 February 2019, what outputs will be published at each stage of the public consultation, and by what date these will be released.

The independent review of Learning Disability and Autism in the Mental Health Act is due to report to Ministers by the end of this year. However, interim documents will be published at the end of each public engagement phase and can be accessed on the review’s website: https://www.irmha.scot The full timeline for the review is as follows.

Stage 1 (Discover) was about understanding people’s experiences of the Mental Health Act. Evidence from stage 1 has influenced the review’s outcomes framework for mental health law for autistic people and people with learning disability. The outcomes framework will be available on the review’s website after 8 March 2019. The review team expect to publish an interim report based on the evidence gathered in stage 1 by 31 May 2019.

In stage 2 (Develop), the review is inviting a broad range of organisations and individual experts to help us explore the range of options for the law. The findings from stage 2 will be reflected in the consultation documents for stage 3. Those documents should be available by 30 August 2019.

In stage 3 (Consult), the review will run an open consultation where they ask people and organisations for their views on what they've found. The findings from stage 3 will be reflected in the final report, which will be published by the end of 2019.

As this is a review of the law, the review’s outputs will not include a review of any individual or institution. All of the review’s outputs must protect the identities of individuals.