- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government which regulatory body is responsible for the potential impact of escaped farmed salmon on Scotland’s wild salmon stocks.
Answer
Local authorities are responsible for considering the potential environmental impacts of fish farms, including escaped fish, when determining planning applications. NatureScot, District Salmon Fishery Boards and Scottish Government Marine Directorate provide advice as statutory consultees.
Scottish Government Marine Directorate is responsible for monitoring and enforcement of containment and escapes provisions within the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007, Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 and the Fish Farm Record Keeping (Scotland) Order 2008.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to regulate the salmon farming industry since 2018.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24412 on 22 January 2024, to the answer to question S6W-23642 on 7 December 2023, and to the answer to question S6W-20127 on 21 July 2023. 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: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly brought forward the date of its review of the target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with a focus on the delivery timeline.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24405 on 22 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the scope is of its reported forthcoming review of the target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with a focus on the delivery timeline.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24405 on 22 January 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many escapes of farmed salmon have occurred in each year since 2018, broken down by location, and whether it can provide the total number of individual fish that have escaped.
Answer
Information held by the Scottish Government on fish farm escapes is available on Scotland’s Aquaculture Website at: Scotland's Aquaculture | Home .
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a newborn screening programme for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).
Answer
Any decisions on whether to introduce screening programmes in Scotland are guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises Ministers and the NHS in all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. The UK NSC last reviewed adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) in 2021 and did not recommend screening for this condition. Further information regarding the reasons for this decision can be found on their website.
The UK NSC is expected to review ALD screening again in 2024-25. Should the UK NSC recommend screening for this condition, the organisations that oversee screening in Scotland, including the Scottish Screening Committee, will advise Scottish Ministers on introducing and implementing an ALD screening programme.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23865 by Jenni Minto on 21 December 2023, whether records are kept of the condoms issued to prisoners on the female prison estate; if so, how many have been issued in each month of the last two years, and for what reason condoms are issued on the female prison estate if conjugal visits are not permitted.
Answer
Data on the numbers of condoms issued in prisons is not collected centrally.
Condom provision is one of the most effective harm reduction interventions to control sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and therefore condoms are available to all prisoners to support health protection in the prison population.
While centralised data is not collected, prison healthcare teams report that women access condoms for home visits and liberation.
- Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the ClimateXChange report, Clean heat and energy efficiency workforce assessment, finding that "Most small businesses interviewed had a low awareness of current funding available for training and upskilling/reskilling, only mentioning the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and the Skill Development funding", what action it is taking to increase awareness of such funding among businesses.
Answer
Information on public sector support available to businesses in Scotland can be found on FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot.
Skills Development Scotland (SDS) frequently refer businesses to this resource to identify the funding and training that is available to them. SDS also offer a range of services to support businesses including their Employer Hub.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action (a) SEPA and (b) Marine Scotland has taken to reduce the level of (i) sea lice infestation, (ii) gill disease and (iii) fish deaths in the salmon farming industry since 2018.
Answer
Improving fish health, reducing mortality to lowest possible levels, and ensuring satisfactory measures are in place for the prevention, control or reduction of sea lice is the responsibility of aquaculture production businesses. The Fish Health Inspectorate’s main objective is to prevent the introduction and spread of listed and emerging fish and shellfish diseases in Scotland. This is achieved by statutory inspection and sampling programmes, providing advice and implementing regulatory functions in accordance with the relevant animal health regulations. Details of strengthened regulation of sea lice on fish farms introduced by the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate is provided in the response to S6W-24417 on 22 January 2024.
Furthermore, over the time period the Scottish Government has also taken a collaborative approach to working with the sector, regulators, fish vets and innovation centres to better understand and address key health and welfare issues.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) does not have responsibility for the regulation of fish health. In October 2021 the Scottish Government identified SEPA as the lead body responsible for managing the risk to wild salmonids from sea lice from marine finfish farms. SEPA has subsequently developed a risk based framework for regulating sea lice emissions from fish farms which will be implemented from 1 February 2024.
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: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has undertaken since 2018 to investigate the potential impact that environmental standards in the salmon farming industry have on the health of farmed fish.
Answer
The Scottish Government and its relevant agencies proactively consider the potential impacts of any introduction of, or changes to, regulatory controls in place to prevent damage to the marine environment. When a new regulatory control is being considered for the purpose of maintaining the environment, consultation is the standard approach applied by the relevant body prior to explore all potential impacts, including those relating to fish health. Recent examples include consultation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) throughout its development of the forthcoming spatial framework for managing interactions between sea lice from marine fish farm developments and wild Atlantic salmon, SEPA published its response to its most recent consultation on 7 December 2023. In addition, the Scottish Government undertook consultation on the implementation of the new Environmental Quality Standard for Emamectin Benzoate. This consultation closed on 24 July 2023 and responses are being carefully considered.