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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: S6O-02017

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with its Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, including in relation to expanding free school meal provision.

Question reference: S6O-02008

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact increases in prices and energy costs have had on the ability of NHS boards to deliver capital projects.

Question reference: S6O-01998

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when its response to the Agriculture Bill consultation will be published.

Question reference: S6O-02005

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the recruitment of breast cancer oncologists in NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S6O-02002

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its initial assessment is of the potential impact of the Windsor Framework on the food and drink supply chain in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15371

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to tackle any increase in the number of feral pigs in Scotland, in light of reported concerns raised by rural stakeholders.

The primary responsibility for controlling feral pig populations in the wild lies with land managers who should work in partnership with local communities.

It is an offence under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release any type of pig, including wild boar. It is also an offence to allow them to escape from captivity.

Further information can be found on the NatureScot website at Managing feral pigs in Scotland | NatureScot

Question reference: S6W-15330

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the datasets that are published within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio, and what the frequency of publication of each is.

The Scottish Government published the following datasets within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio in the last 12 months:

Publication title	Frequency of publication	Last published	Link
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics	Monthly	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-february-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-january-2023/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-december-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-november-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics/
Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise	Ad-hoc one off publication	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/
The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands IndexSM – Scotland	Every 2 years	February 2023	https://www.gov.scot/publications/anholt-ipsos-nation-brands-indexsm-2022-report-scotland-scottish-government-constitution-international-migration-analysis/
Local Government Candidate Diversity Survey 2022	No plans to repeat	November 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-government-candidates-survey-2022/
Scottish Social Attitudes Survey – Core module Attitudes to Scottish Government and Parliament	Every 2 years	October 2022 (Survey data 2021/22)	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-2021-22/
Scottish Household Survey : Culture and Heritage	Annually	February 2022	https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2020-telephone-survey-culture-heritage-report/pages/2/
Survey of the extension of the voting franchise to prisoners	No plans to repeat	May 2023/TBC	Not published, forthcoming publication

Additionally, the Scottish Government publish a calendar of forthcoming statistical releases. The calendar can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

Question reference: S6W-15227

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported trend of incidents of youth violence in Scotland being filmed and circulated across social media platforms, what action Police Scotland (a) can and (b) will take to ensure that such videos are immediately (i) removed from social media and (ii) investigated, and whether it will allocate funding to create community safe spaces for young people in Scotland who are experiencing bullying.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone lives free from violence, in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.

For Police Scotland to take any action, the uploading images of violence would be deemed criminal if they breached the evidential threshold of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in terms of sharing grossly indecent, obscene, menacing character or offensive messages etc.

The removal of offensive content is the responsibility of the social media platforms themselves and can be done by users flagging the content as breaching the community guidelines/terms and conditions. There are report/removal tools operated by Police Scotland’s partner organisations to remove content from the internet, however these are generally aimed at indecent images.

We are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement, an increase of over £793 million compared with the 2022-23 budget. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate financial resources available to them, including on youth services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-15367

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines have been dispensed for livestock worrying since November 2021, and what the total value was of any fines.

From November 2021 to December 2022 (the most recent available data), six fines were dispensed for charges under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953, section 1(1)&(6). The value of these fines are in the following table:

Table 1: Fines dispensed between November 2021 and December 2022 for livestock worrying.

Period	Disposal - Fine
Dec-21	£200
Jan-22	£100
Feb-22	£200
May-22	£160
Sep-22	£200
Oct-22	£315
Total	£1,175

Source: Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) administrative database (COPII)

Question reference: S6W-15415

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to biosecurity concerns beyond avian populations, such as conifers seeding into peatlands, grey squirrel expansion into the Highlands, and ash dieback in forests.

Scottish Government gives very serious consideration to the maintenance of plant and animal health and welfare through a range of biosecurity measures that aim to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms.

On Plant health Scotland’s Chief Plant Officer for Scotland provides advice to Scottish Ministers and ensures strategic and tactical leadership, across forestry, crops and the natural environment, to minimise the risk and impact of plant health biosecurity threats in Scotland. The CPHOS works closely with UK Plant Health service colleagues to co-ordinate the Scottish Government’s plant health response in terms of policy, inspections and surveillance activities. Scotland’s Plant Health Centre of Expertise provides rapid call down evidence to inform policy and SG invests £50 million a year into a portfolio of strategic research.

On animal health and welfare, in both wild and farmed populations, SG funds ongoing disease surveillance and risk communication work through the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and SRUC, as well as working with the other UK Administrations to collate data on current threats through International Disease Monitoring and Veterinary Risk Groups. Outputs from these groups inform policy decision making, both with regards to our borders and within Scotland. In addition the EPIC Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks is funded to provide epidemiological advice which informs actions to protect health and welfare.

On the specific examples, ash dieback is present across Scotland and management efforts are now focused on mitigating safety risks from diseased trees. Scottish forestry recently published advice for forest managers, Scottish Forestry - Ash dieback in Scotland . The Scottish Government provides funding through its Forestry Grant Scheme to control grey squirrels, Sustainable Management of Forests – Species Conservation – Grey Squirrel Control (ruralpayments.org) where they are a threat to the red squirrel population. The Forestry Grant Scheme also grant aids removal of regeneration, Seedling Tree Removal (Mechanical) (ruralpayments.org) where it will affect the hydrology of a raised bog or blanket bog, and hinder the recovery of the open bog habitat.