- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, of the number of wind farm applications submitted in the last two years, how many have been refused.
Answer
Scottish Ministers take decisions on wind farm applications that are made to them under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. No wind farm applications made to Scottish Ministers, under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, within the last two years have been refused. Two of the applications received within the last two years have been consented and three have been varied by Scottish Ministers. A further thirty nine have yet to be determined.
Wind farms that generate less than 50 megawatts of electricity do not require section 36 consent from Scottish Ministers but are instead determined by the local planning authority. Detailed Information on the determination of each wind farm application made, in the last two years, to local planning authorities is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
The right to appeal certain decisions made by local planning authorities is an important part of the planning system. The vast majority of appeals are decided by an independent reporter from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government. Of appeals referred to the DPEA in the last two years, seven have been refused, eleven have been allowed and three have yet to be determined. One appeal was withdrawn and a further three were found not to be within the jurisdiction of the DPEA to consider.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12331 by Lorna Slater on 5 December 2022, for what reason it does not hold information on the number of successful hen harrier nests on RSPB and non-RSPB nature reserves in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, and whether it will take steps to obtain this information prior to introducing any legislation on the licensing of grouse moors.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not routinely collate or hold this data. Details of hen harrier nest sites on RSPB and non-RSPB nature reserves are collated and analysed through the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme coordinated by British Trust for Ornithology. Annual data from 2016-2020 relating to the breeding success of hen harrier nest sites are available from their website at Hen Harrier | Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme
The Scottish Government does not believe it is necessary to hold information on the number of successful and unsuccessful hen harrier nest sites on RSPB and non-RSPB nature reserves prior to introducing any legislation on the licensing of grouse moors.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) owner-occupied (b) private rented (b) social and affordable rented properties have a (i) credit, (ii) prepayment and (iii) smart meter installed.
Answer
According to the 2019 Scottish House Condition Survey, 17% of all households in Scotland have a pre-payment meter and 33% have a smart meter.
35% of owner occupied households have a smart meter and 5% have a pre-payment meter. Around 20% of private rented dwellings have smart meters and 21% have pre-payment meters. In the social sector, 33% of households have smart meters and 43% have pre-payment meters.
However, the Scottish Government does not collect any data on households with standard credit meters.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to (a) protect the jobs of retail workers and (b) assist retail workers who have lost their jobs due to shop closures.
Answer
The UK currently faces a rapidly escalating cost crisis, an emergency on a similar scale to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential that the response from government at every level is commensurate, in scale and speed, to the nature and magnitude of the emergency.
We are using the powers we currently have and our finite resources to support businesses through the cost crisis, whilst also building a more resilient, sustainable, fair and prosperous economy. The Scottish Government will do everything in its power to help those affected by any forthcoming redundancies through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE).
The recently established Retail Industry Leadership Group (ILG) comprises senior business representatives, trades unions and industry groups. The ILG will deliver an increasingly sustainable retail sector, promote the delivery of all aspects of fair work across the sector and ensure those working in retail have the skills necessary to be successful.
- Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the publication, Neurological Conditions: estimating the prevalence in Scotland of selected conditions using General Practice and Hospital Admissions datasets, of those with a diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and in the GP practice dataset, what proportion were (a) female and (b) male.
Answer
This publication’s Supporting Documents include a spreadsheet file titled ‘General Practice recorded diagnoses’. Table 4 in this spreadsheet shows GP recorded diagnoses of neurological conditions, by sex and age, for each neurological condition shown . In some cases small numbers have been suppressed to help maintain patient confidentiality. Taking into account the suppression of small numbers, the approximate split of diagnoses for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is as follows: (a) Female – 69% (b) Male – 31%.
Please note that that this percentage breakdown draws on figures which do not cover the whole of Scotland. The general practices whose data are included represented 72.7% of registered patients at the time of the data extract.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many households it estimates will be impacted by the proposed ban on building new homes with gas boilers from 2024.
Answer
All households occupying a new home warranted after 1 April 2024 will be impacted by the proposed prohibition on the installation of Direct Emissions Heating Systems, including gas boilers, from that date. We will publish details on the projected number of new build homes and conversions impacted by the Standard as part of our Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) which will be made available alongside the regulations in spring 2023.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, of the wind farm applications submitted in the last five years that were refused, how many have been granted approval following a "material change" within the two years following the initial application.
Answer
Scottish Ministers take decisions on wind farm applications that are made to them under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. None of the eleven wind farm applications refused by Scottish Ministers over the last 5 years have been consented following a material change.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many transactions the Additional Dwelling Supplement has been applied to in (a) the 2022-23 financial year to date and (b) each of the previous four full financial years, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Revenue Scotland publishes monthly and annual data on transactions subject to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS). This data is available at: Statistics | Revenue Scotland .
The monthly data published by Revenue Scotland includes the number of transactions subject to the Additional Dwelling Supplement per month. Data up to and including November 2022 is currently available at: Monthly LBTT Statistics | Revenue Scotland . In total, 17,970 transactions were recorded for the period of April 2022 to November 2022.
Local authority level data is published on an annual basis, as part of Revenue Scotland’s Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes. The report for 2020-21, which provides data for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2021, is available at: Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes 2020-2021 | Revenue Scotland . The report for 2021-2022 is due to be published in early 2023.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports young people who are school non-attenders or not in mainstream education to have resources similar to the national Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) resources.
Answer
Local authorities are responsible for the education of all pupils who are registered within their school rolls.
It is for teachers, schools and local authorities to determine how best to deliver learning and teaching on any topic and subject, in line with Curriculum for Excellence. We expect teachers to use their professional judgement, experience and understanding of their pupils to respond sensitively to complex and challenging issues.
The national relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) resources are part of a wider package of resources available to all schools and teachers to support delivery of RSHP education. A summary of wider resources in use across Scotland is available on Education Scotland's National Improvement Hub at https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/a-summary-of-rshp-resources/ .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have accessed the national Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) resources and used them as part of the school curriculum since their creation.
Answer
Information on the number of times that the rshp.scot website has been accessed can be found at https://mailchi.mp/8e809fa117cf/rshp-resource-network-june22 . This information does not distinguish whether it was a teacher accessing the resource. Therefore the information specifically requested is not held centrally.