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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-05304

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with SEPA, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Benchmark regarding the use and release of imidacloprid-based treatments in Scotland’s marine environment.

Question reference: S6W-05190

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of applications for planning permission for the proposed Hoy and Quanterness wind farms.

Ministers granted permission (subject to conditions) on 21 December for the proposed Hoy and Quanterness wind farms in Orkney, on the basis that they are justified by their benefits, including their contribution towards the case for a new electricity interconnector to export renewable energy from Orkney to the Scottish mainland.

The decision letters are available to view at www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Document.aspx?id=814579 (Quanterness) and www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Document.aspx?id=814699 (Hoy).

The decision letters set out in full the grounds for the decisions. Ministers cannot comment beyond what is set out in the decision letters.

Question reference: S6W-04884

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 11,000 hectares, which have reportedly been planted with trees in the last year, were planted as (a) commercial forestry, (b) agroforestry and (c) private/community woodland.

The area of new woodland that has been planted as (a) commercial forestry, (b) agroforestry and (c) private/community woodland in Scotland in the last year, December 2020 to November 2021, is shown in Table 1. There were no grant applications for the specific agroforestry option, which is different from tree planting on farms. More than half of the applications for tree planting in private and commercial forestry were from the agricultural sector.

Commercial Forestry	7,379	ha
Agroforestry	0	ha
Private or Community Owned Forestry	11,399	ha

Question reference: S6W-05180

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates will be raised by the higher property rate in 2022-23, broken down by industry sector, and how many properties in each industry sector will be liable for the supplement.

Table 1 presents the estimated number of properties with a Higher Property Rate (HPR) liability in 2022-23, and the gross additional non-domestic rates income estimated to be raised in 2022-23 through the HPR, by property class.

Table 1 shows gross amounts and does not take account of reductions in liability due to reliefs awarded in 2022-23. This is in part due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief in 2022-23 which means that it is not possible to robustly estimate the breakdown of these figures by property class at this time.

Figures in Table 1 are broken down by property class as the Scottish Government does not hold data property-level on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Estimated number of properties subject to the Higher Property Rate, and gross HPR income, by property class in 2022-23

Property class	Number of properties with a HPR liability	Gross HPR income by class (£)
Shops	2,970	23,559,000
Public Houses	200	836,000
Offices	1,820	14,237,000
Hotels	570	5,109,000
Industrial Subjects	2,470	18,803,000
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	520	3,956,000
Garages and Petrol Stations	150	766,000
Cultural	80	955,000
Sporting Subjects	20	239,000
Education and Training	1,340	12,592,000
Public Service Subjects	520	5,880,000
Communications	80	531,000
Quarries, Mines, etc.	40	222,000
Petrochemical	70	2,931,000
Religious	30	92,000
Health and Medical	310	4,685,000
Other	210	2,316,000
Care Facilities	340	1,363,000
Advertising	10	72,000
Statutory Undertaking	340	23,934,000
All	12,090	123,081,000

Source: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October 2021.
‎ Figures may not sum due to rounding. The number of properties is rounded to the nearest 10, income rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Question reference: S6W-05179

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its proposal that rates relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will continue at 50% for the first three months of 2022-23, whether this rates reduction will be awarded automatically, or will businesses be required to apply for it.

Question reference: S6W-05108

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it intends to appoint a chair of Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited, to succeed Erik Ostergaard.

Question reference: S6W-05739

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the coronavirus legislation in place.

Regulations amending the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 were made today.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (“the principal regulations”) and will take effect on17 January 2022.

The Amendment Regulations remove the physical distancing requirements in the Principal Regulations at outdoor event venues, outdoor exhibitions and outdoor spaces in sports stadia.

The Regulations also amend definitions in the Principal Regulations in relation to the certification requirements, in particular to the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’. To be considered fully vaccinated for domestic certification purposes, a person must have had a booster, if 120 days have passed since their primary course of a MHRA vaccine. If not boosted within 120 days, the person would be treated as if they had not been vaccinated and would require to show evidence of a negative test result within the previous 24 hours as an alternative to requiring full vaccination.”

The Regulations also remove the requirement in the Principal Regulations that a person must not organise an outdoor event of more than 500 people.

The Regulations have been published at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ssi/2022/6

Question reference: S6O-00646

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding culture-led regeneration of town centres.

Question reference: S6O-00643

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what staffing resources it has allocated to the preparation work for a new independence referendum.

Question reference: S6O-00648

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting people working in the cultural and arts sectors.