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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-04667

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the amount of affordable housing in rural communities, in light of reports that the projects that it is funding have only been able to build 131 homes up to November 2021.

Over 6,000 affordable homes were delivered in rural and island areas across Scotland during the last parliamentary term. Our Programme for Government commits to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

As part of our Affordable Housing Supply Programme, communities will also be supported by the continuation of the demand led Rural and Islands Housing Fund backed by up to £30 million of investment in this parliamentary period. The fund has been described in a Scottish Land Commission report as ‘game changers’ for community-led housing development and were developed in collaboration with community housing trusts.

We have also committed to developing a Remote, Rural and Island Housing Action Plan and will engage with a wide range of stakeholders on its development to ensure it delivers for remote, rural and island communities.

Question reference: S6W-04546

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to establishing a gamekeeping taskforce.

The Scottish Government is clear that we expect gamekeepers, alongside other land managers, will play a key role in our plans to protect and restore biodiversity, and ensure that the land is managed to help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also recognise the economic and social value that sporting estates can bring to rural communities. As we develop and implement policy in these areas we will seek opportunities to engage with gamekeepers both formally and informally and we hope they will continue to share their expertise and experience.

Question reference: S6O-00548

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the red meat industry.

Question reference: S6W-04720

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04529 by Mairi Gougeon on 26 November 2021, how many hectares of peatland will be restored under the scheme as a result of the 251 successful applications, and how many hectares in total were the subject of the 49 unsuccessful applications.

Question reference: S6W-04511

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many successful applications to the New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme there were from women in each year for which the scheme was open for applications.

Question reference: S6W-04530

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of peatland have been restored in each year since 2003, and how this compares to the (a) relevant annual target and (b) overall target.

The Scottish Government first established firm annual peatland restoration targets in 2018 in its report Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) .

Based on a 1990 baseline, this set a commitment to restore 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2020 (including 10,000 hectares in 2017-18 and 20,000 hectares per year thereafter) as the first phase of a longer target to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

This implies a total restoration target of 70,000 hectares between 1990 and April 2021. Against this target, around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990 as shown in the following table. Annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot.

	1990-2013	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Restored (ha)	30,195 1	270 2	420 2	5570 2	2810 2	450 2	3,660 2	5,810 2	6,000 2	5,658 2
Target (ha)	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000

Data sources

1 Evans et al (2017) Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands , NEC05401, Issue number 1, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, Wales.

2 Peatland ACTION.

The Scottish Government has recently received the final report of work it commissioned from NatureScot in August 2021 on how to significantly increase annual peatland restoration rates. The Scottish Government will now review this work’s findings and recommendations and consider its next steps.

Question reference: S6W-04654

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote agriculture in the (a) primary and (b) secondary school curriculum, and how much funding has been allocated for this purpose since 2007.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is designed to be flexible, allowing teachers to deliver a broad general education suited to the needs of learners in their own contexts, including on agriculture. For example, the Social Studies Experiences and Outcomes enable young people to explore foods produced in Scotland, discuss agricultural production methods and consider sustainability.

The Scottish Government funds the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) and Education Scotland for programmes helping ensure children can explore where food comes from and learn about careers in food and farming. Since 2012 the Scottish Government has given RHET £563,276 for such projects, and has provided £3.32m to Education Scotland for the Food for Thought Fund, which supports food education projects in schools.

We have set up a Commission to review learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors, and provide Scottish Ministers with independent advice on how to improve learning pathways and attract more people into these sectors, supporting the delivery of a just transition to net-zero.

Question reference: S6F-00551

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to treat people with heart valve disease.

Question reference: S6W-04653

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of the cost of rural crime to rural communities, broken down by (a) livestock theft, (b) machinery theft, (c) fuel theft and (d) livestock worrying.

The Scottish Government does not publish information on the costs of rural crime. However, I am aware of the most recent NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report, published in August, which suggested that rural theft cost the UK an estimated £43.3 million in 2020.

The report noted that this was a fall of 20.3% on the previous year, making it the lowest annual cost recorded in five years. While this can be seen as encouraging, we are well aware of the impact of criminal activity in rural areas and are not complacent on this issue. We are therefore committed to supporting Police Scotland and all its partners in tackling all forms of crime and disorder which affect our rural communities.

In particular, the Scottish Government participates fully in the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), which is chaired by Police Scotland.

SPARC draws together key stakeholders from across the justice and rural sectors to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to rural crime and to support activity at local level. This includes preventative action such as the development of Rural Watch Scotland, which has been delivered by Neighbourhood Watch Scotland working with other partners through SPARC.

Furthermore, the link between rural crime such as machinery theft and serious organised crime is well recognised. The work of SPARC makes a valuable contribution to securing some of the outcomes set out in Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy by helping rural communities become more aware of serious organised crime and how to mitigate its risks.

Question reference: S6W-04652

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of livestock worrying have been recorded in each local authority area since 2007.

Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land.

A table showing the information requested has been prepared and a copy of this table titled 'Table 1: Offences of Protection of Livestock from Dogs, North Ayrshire, 2007-08 to 2020-21' is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 62925).

NECGS	Successful applications from women
2015	1
2016	17
2017	30
2018	80
2019	42