Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-06167

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a three-week notice period is a suitable length of time for creel fishers and other fisherman, in light of the planned removal of customary exemptions to a seasonal ban on white fish catches, which is expected to come into force on 14 February 2022.

Although we carried out a consultation on this issue in autumn 2021, we acknowledged the strong reaction from the fishing industry around this change of policy in January 2022 and engaged further with them and other stakeholders to refine the policy. We have worked at pace to develop revised closure areas which minimise disruption to fishers (through a reduction in size of the overall closure areas) while increasing protection for cod in the areas where they are spawning.

Question reference: S6W-06019

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of Clackmannanshire Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06033

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of Glasgow City Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06165

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons it plans to remove customary exemptions to a seasonal ban on white fish catches, which is expected to come into force on 14 February 2022.

A seasonal spawning closure in the Firth of Clyde has been in place for over 20 years to provide an area to protect cod during their spawning season (14 February – 30 April). Since its introduction in 2001, the closure has included exemptions to allow Nephrops trawlers, creels and scallop dredgers to continue to fish in the area, due to the low numbers of cod they catch. However, despite the ongoing seasonal closure, the stock has shown little sign of recovery. The Scottish Government has therefore decided to introduce a revised and more targeted closure. The overall size of the closure compared to previous years has been reduced by 28%, while providing increased protection to spawning cod by prohibiting all fishing activity in the closed areas for 11 weeks from 14 th February in both 2022 and 2023.

This decision is underpinned by analysis of sediment distribution in the Clyde, as well as by scientific research which suggests that any fishing activity within 10m of the seabed (which would include trawling, dredging and creeling) has the potential to impact on cod spawning activity. Given the vulnerability of cod to any disturbance during the spawning season, we believe that it is appropriate not to continue the exemptions in order to provide a higher chance of stock recovery and contribute to a more sustainable fishery in the West of Scotland in the medium-longer term. We will be increasing monitoring in the area during the period of the closure. We will also arrange a review meeting with stakeholders at the end of the closure to assess its effectiveness and practicality.

Question reference: S6W-06049

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of West Dunbartonshire Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06037

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of Moray Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06032

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of Fife Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06168

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can guarantee that the planned three-month removal of customary exemptions to a seasonal ban on white fish catches, which is expected to come into force on 14 February 2022, will not be extended further.

Question reference: S6W-06042

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has met the leader of Renfrewshire Council since May 2021; what was discussed at each meeting, and what the agreed outcomes were.

I regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, and their national body COSLA, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide-range of information including details of the organisation / individual I met along with the subject discussed.

Question reference: S6W-06716

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in the (a) North Ayrshire, (b) Inverclyde, (c) Renfrewshire, (d) East Renfrewshire, (e) West Dunbartonshire and (f) East Dunbartonshire local authority area are eligible to receive a free bicycle, and, of those, how many (i) have received and (ii) are yet to receive a free bicycle.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme which will help establish eligibility. In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout. Scottish Cycling are running a pilot in North Ayrshire and Cycling Scotland are running a pilot in Renfrewshire. Within these pilots access is being provided through training provision rather than ownership models. For that reason we do not have the specific number of bikes issued, but training is wide spread.

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