Claudia Beamish

29 Apr 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will give to local festivals and community celebrations across South Scotland, such as Beltane in Peebles, Lanimers in Lanark and The Wickerman Festival in Dumfries and Galloway.

21 Apr 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Beaver-Salmonid Working Group report, produced as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial, has been quality assured by Scottish Natural Heritage for scientific accuracy or will be subject to future scientific peer review.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Beaver-Salmonid Working Group (BSWG) report was not a Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) publication, and consequently it did not go through the standard SNH quality assurance process. The BSWG was made up of a number of organisations and independently chair…

21 Apr 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether all scientific reports produced to underpin the Scottish Beaver Trial have been subject to Scottish Natural Heritage quality assurance to confirm scientific accuracy.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Beaver Trial monitoring projects have been subject to the standard Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) quality assurance process, involving senior staff and independent assessors, where the project reports are being published as SNH Commissioned Repo…

10 Apr 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it would need to take if the Scottish Beaver Trial led it to propose full-scale beaver reintroduction across Scotland.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: Scottish Natural Heritage will, by the end of May 2015, provide a report to Scottish Ministers, drawing on the knowledge gained from the Scottish Beaver Trial, the Tayside Beaver Study Group and other relevant sources. Scottish Ministers will then consider a …

30 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24769 by Aileen McLeod on 17 March 2015, what guidance public bodies were given as to the completion and publication of biodiversity compliance reports; when the guidance was issued, and which public bodies were sent the guidance.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Public Bodies Unit of the Scottish Government included guidance regarding the completion and publication of biodiversity compliance reports in their Public Bodies Information Update 118 which was issued in September 2014. Local authorities were reminded o…

30 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24766 by Aileen McLeod on 17 March 2015, what action it will take to advise public bodies that have not published a report that they are in breach of a statutory obligation, and how it will encourage them to comply with the obligation.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government will write to all public bodies who have not advised us of the publication of a report to ask them to forward the relevant website link to us, following which the Biodiversity Scotland website will be updated. In addition, the Scottish…

30 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24768 by Aileen McLeod on 17 March 2015, whether it will add the names of the public bodies that have not notified it of the publication of a report alongside details of the published reports on its website.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government has published the names of public bodies which have notified us of the publication of their biodiversity duty report. This is available on the Biodiversity Scotland website and includes a link to each report. We do not plan to add the …

30 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24766 by Aileen McLeod on 17 March 2015, whether it will provide an overall analysis of data contained in the reports by public bodies.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government is commissioning a research project which will review the reporting mechanism and the submitted reports and also prepare updated guidance for the next reporting period. This project will be launched later in 2015.

23 Mar 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the National Performance Framework will address energy efficiency in light of the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change’s fourth report on reducing emissions.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government welcomes the advice from the Committee on Climate Change on the contribution of energy efficiency to reducing Scotland’s emissions. We will consider this advice as part of the current review of the National Performance Framework indica…

12 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will produce its annual update to the 2020 Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: We plan to publish an update to the 2020 Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland in the near future. The Scottish Government’s annual compendium of energy statistics was published on 29 January 2015. It confirmed that in 2013, the equivalent of 44.4% of gr…

12 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when Scottish Natural Heritage will produce the annual update to the wind farm footprint maps.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: There is no scheduled update of the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) wind farm footprint map. The Scottish Government and SNH are in discussion with the UK Government about securing more comprehensive data on wind turbines supporting better mapping of wind tur…

9 Mar 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what educational arrangements and support are in place for young carers and young adult carers in the transition from primary, secondary and tertiary education.

6 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many offences have been committed under the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013, broken down by offence.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 commenced on 16 September 2013. There have been no offences recorded under this Act on the Scottish Government criminal proceedings database. The latest data recorded on the database is for the financial year …

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions for badger baiting there have been since 2005 and how many led to a conviction, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Protection of Animals Act 1911 section 1(1)(c) makes it an offence to bait animals and there were no proceedings under this Act in the period referred to. The following table presents the number of persons proceeded against for the crime group offences i…

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15634 by Paul Wheelhouse on 25 June 2013, whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to address the reported decline in the bee population.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of protecting our pollinators and is involved in a number of actions and initiatives to support pollinators. Through the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity (2013) and the Honey Bee Health Strategy for …

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to prevent the spread of small hive beetles to Scotland; what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding reports that these insects have been found in Italy, and whether its experience from the outbreak of ash dieback disease in 2012 has helped inform…

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government take the threat of the introduction of the small hive beetle (SHB) extremely seriously. The Scottish Government has a contingency plan in place for any outbreak of SHB in Scotland and has taken a number of actions to ensure early detec…

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it is making to enforce the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is a voluntary accredited code and is independently audited to ensure membership compliance.

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the suggestion in the Fish Health Management Report: October to December 2014 that regular sea lice levels are above that recommended in the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture contains suggested criteria for the treatment of sea lice on individual farms sites rather than limits. The latest report highlights the ongoing challenge faced by industry in relation to the managem…

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will use the information gathered under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 to ensure that public bodies are upholding their biodiversity duty under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government is commissioning a research project to evaluate the compliance and quality of biodiversity duty reports. It will also revise the guidance available to public bodies. The research project will begin later in 2015.

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government where the public can access the biodiversity compliance reports submitted by public bodies in accordance with the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The biodiversity reports are available on each organisation’s webpage. A list of the links to those reports which have been notified to the Scottish Government can be found at: http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/duty/work/results/

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which public bodies are still to report on meeting their biodiversity duty as required by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011.  

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The Scottish Government encourages public bodies to inform it of the publication of reports on the biodiversity duty, however such notification is not a requirement. Therefore, we do not hold complete information regarding which public bodies are still to rep…

5 Mar 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which public bodies have published a report on their compliance with the biodiversity duty as required by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, broken down by date of publication. 

Answer · Aileen McLeod: Although the Scottish Government encourages public bodies to inform it of publication of their reports on the biodiversity duty, it is not a requirement for public bodies do so. From the reports notified to the Scottish Government, a total of 25 local authori…

2 Mar 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to community arts groups across rural South Scotland in the last year.

24 Feb 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the future of the Glasgow Centre for Integrative Care and its funding arrangements.

18 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out into diseases that mountain hares may carry.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: A study by Laurenson et al. (2003), which was part-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the then Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD), focused on how culling mountain hares can reduce tick burdens and l…

18 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many mountain hares there are in Scotland.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: The only published population estimate for mountain hares is now 20 years old and suggested that there were 350,000 mountain hares in Scotland, but this estimate had large error margins attached to it (+/- 50%). Furthermore, it pre-dates the trend over the pa…

18 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions have been made under the habitats directive for offences relating to native mountain hares.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: There has been one prosecution made under the habitats directive for offences relating to native mountain hares.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the final version of its Heat Generation Policy Statement.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has considered the responses received to the consultation on the draft Heat Generation Policy Statement and is currently finalising the document for publication.

26 Jan 2015 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making toward meeting the target of 11% of demand for heat being met by renewables by 2020.

15 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has (a) introduced and (b) plans to ensure that the work being carried out to increase finfish production by 2020 does not impact on the marine environment; how often it measures the impact of this work and with what methodology.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: Scotland has a regulatory framework in place, providing the right balance between growing aquaculture and protecting the marine environment on which farmed and wild fisheries depend. It was further enhanced by the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013…