- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to reducing business rates for ATM providers, and, in light of reports that ATMs require more than 3,500 withdrawals per month to be financially sustainable, what action it (a) can take and (b) is taking to encourage ATM providers to continue a service in rural communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government have continued to ensure that the sites of standalone ATMs in rural areas are exempt from rating. Other ATMs may benefit from as much as a 100% rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme.
Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, each local Council has wide-raging powers to create rates reliefs to reflect local needs. This may apply to a sole business, sector or area. The relief may be an adaptation of an existing national relief scheme or a unique standalone scheme.
Although the UK Government retains legislative and regulatory responsibility for banking and financial services, the Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with banks, regulators and the UK Government to ensure that the ability to freely and easily access cash is maintained. The Scottish Government has repeatedly requested that the UK Government appoint a regulator with sole responsibility for cash infrastructure.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what budget it has allocated to progressing its plans to establish new National Parks in Scotland.
Answer
In our Programme for Government we have committed £500 million over the course of this Parliament to protect and restore our natural environment. This includes funding to create a new National Park and to improve visitor facilities, safety measures and access opportunities in existing National Parks and in regional parks. This will support progressive development, address the climate emergency in the way we use our land, and improve public and community wellbeing .
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) timetable and (b) process is for identifying potential new National Parks in Scotland.
Answer
Our Programme for Government 2021-22 commits to the creation of at least one new National Park by the end of this Parliament, provided relevant legal conditions can be met.
This is a significant project which will involve widespread consultation, Parliamentary engagement and secondary legislation. There are a number of stages to this work, including scoping of candidate areas and analysis of proposals. The process for selecting and establishing a new National Park is set out in the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 which has a number of consultation and drafting stages. The legislation sets out that the first step to identify appropriate candidate areas is a thorough consultation process. Once that consultation has been carried out and a location agreed upon, work can begin on establishing a new public body. Assessment of the resources required to take forward this work is under way and recruitment will follow, with work expected to commence in Spring 2022.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) consideration it (i) has given and (ii) plans to give and (b) research it has undertaken regarding the impact of onshore windfarm developments on tourism.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no current plans to undertake research into the impact of onshore windfarms on tourism. As answered previously (S6W-02641 on 6 September 2021) our entire economic strategy is focused on sustainable and inclusive growth. While there are no plans for research in this specific area, any actions we take in terms of supporting immediate sector recovery and beyond will be focused on meeting the objectives of both our climate change and economic strategies.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what clinical trials are taking place on the early treatment of COVID-19 using vitamins and/or drugs to help reduce the number of people requiring hospitalisation.
Answer
The UK-wide Principle Trial (Platform Randomised Trial of Treatments on the Community for Epidemic and Pandemic Illness) funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is looking at early treatment for COVID-19 to prevent ill health and hospitalisation. It is evaluating a number of potential treatments. More information about this trial is at: Join the PRINCIPLE Trial — PRINCIPLE Trial
The Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office is also funding a trial of a potential anti-viral medicine as an early treatment of COVID-19. More information about this trial is at: GETAFIX - Glasgow Early Treatment Arm FavipiravirX (getafix-trial.org.uk)
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the creation of new national parks.
Answer
The Scottish Government believe that our National Parks bring many positive benefits to our environment and our economy, which is why our Programme for Government 2021-22 commits to the creation of at least one new National Park by the end of this Parliament, provided relevant legal conditions can be met.
The process for selecting and establishing new National Park is set out in the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000. That legislation rightly includes a thorough consultation process and Ministers will provide an update on the timings for that in due course.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2021
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its position regarding short-term lets licensing.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some local authorities do not have the capacity to consider planning applications for windfarms within the legal timescales.
Answer
In 2021-22 the Scottish Government allocated £11.7 billion to authorities and it is the responsibility of individual councils to manage their own budgets and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.
Some planning applications will have longer decision times due to their scale and complexity. Planning decision timescales have also inevitably been affected by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020-21, despite these impacts, authorities determined 149 planning applications for electricity generation developments.
The performance of the system is not the sole responsibility of planning authorities and everyone involved in planning must play their part in ensuring that the system functions effectively and efficiently.
The resourcing and performance of the planning system remain key priorities. That is why in 2019 we published a consultation which proposed making changes to the planning fee regime to increase the financial resources available to authorities. That work was paused during the pandemic but has recently been recommenced and we will work with the High Level Group on Planning Performance to take it forward.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many wind turbines, and of what generating capacity, will be required to meet its net zero targets.
Answer
We expect the journey to net zero to require major contributions from a range of renewable sources, which will include onshore and offshore wind turbines, but also other generation technologies such as solar, hydro and marine renewables. Our work to refresh the Energy Strategy over the coming year will consider the various pathways to net zero, and what that might mean in terms of renewable energy generation as a whole. In the meantime, we have announced an ambition to deliver up to 11GW of installed offshore wind by 2030, and will consult later this year on an ambition to see between 8-12GW of onshore wind developed in the same time frame
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 9 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a moratorium on windfarm development, pending the changes to the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a moratorium on windfarm development.
As set out in our position statement last year, we need to rebalance our planning system so that climate change is a guiding principle for all plans and decisions. We expect National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) will strengthen support for renewable energy developments, including the re-powering and extension of existing wind farms, as part of a spatial strategy to support a transition to net zero and economic recovery.
We will lay a draft NPF4 in Parliament this autumn and will carry out extensive public consultation at the same time.
