Claudia Beamish

20 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will help farmers in remote rural and island areas access farm plastic recycling services once they are no longer able to incinerate plastics on-farm after 1 January 2019.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Recycling service providers already provide services to island communities, including Bute and Orkney and they have indicated that they plan to significantly extend their collection area to cover other areas as farmers and crofters move into compliance and st…

20 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will introduce to ensure that farmers across Scotland are able to recycle plastic once they are no longer able to incinerate plastics on-farm after 1 January 2019.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: A working group was in place from late 2016 until recently to plan the transition towards a position where the ban could be enforced, with membership from NFUS, SEPA, Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Government and waste plastics collectors and reprocessors. Th…

18 Sep 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Scottish Tourism Alliance and what issues were discussed.

17 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it (a) monitors and (b) reports the impact of beavers on agricultural land in Tayside.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) commissioned a survey of impacts of beavers on agricultural land in Tayside in late 2017 / early 2018. SNH also monitors beaver impacts on agricultural land through advisory visits by SNH staff and specialist contractors to far…

17 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement in its Programme for Government, how much extra funding will be made available for flood forums, and when the extra funding will be made available.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Programme for Government commits the Scottish Government to fund the Scottish Flood Forum to raise awareness and increase resilience of communities at risk. The Scottish Government is providing funding to the Forum of £157,000 in 2018-19. This will ensure…

17 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that the development of the second national flood risk assessment prioritises community involvement and social justice.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The second National Flood Risk Assessment (NFRA) has been developed by SEPA as part of its duties under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. The second NFRA includes the following new key community and social justice components:Significant improveme…

17 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding streams in its Biodiversity Challenge Fund.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The details of the Biodiversity Challenge Fund are currently being developed by Scottish Natural Heritage and an announcement will be made in due course.

17 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult the public on its development of the second national flood risk assessment.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The second National Flood Risk Assessment (NFRA) has been developed by SEPA as part of its duties under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. SEPA ran a three month public consultation on the NFRA from the beginning of May to the end of July 2018. T…

29 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering the introduction of an environmental charge or levy on cans and bottles, alongside the planned deposit return system.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government is currently consulting publicly on the full range of options that could make up a Scottish Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), building upon the detailed analysis work done by Zero Waste Scotland. The consultation closes on 25th September 20…

7 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the impact on biodiversity of the recent dry weather.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The main biodiversity concerns during the recent spells of dry weather relate to bodies of freshwater. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water hold weekly water scarcity management meetings to iden…

6 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on using its powers under (a) Chapter 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and (b) regulations 19 and 21 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 to issue a land management order to ensure the appropriate management of the Dornoch Firt…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: A Land Management Order can only be made when Scottish Natural Heritage has offered a management agreement to a land manager who subsequently has refused or failed to enter into the agreement or has failed to comply with an existing agreement. Such agreements…

6 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many proposals have been made each year by Scottish Natural Heritage to issue land management orders under (a) Chapter 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and (b) regulations 19 and 21 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: Scottish Natural Heritage has made no proposals regarding Land Management Orders under (a) Chapter 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 or (b) regulations 19 and 21 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.  

6 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many land management orders have been issued each year under (a) Chapter 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and (b) regulations 19 and 21 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 to ensure that appropriate management work is carried out on natura sit…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: No Land Management Orders have been made under (a) Chapter 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 or (b) regulations 19 and 21 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.  

1 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether SEPA plans to routinely publish the names of salmon farms that fail SEPA's compliance assessment on environmental standards.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: SEPA currently publish details on salmon farms that pass or fail SEPA’s compliance assessment of environmental standards on: • a quarterly basis on Scotland’s aquaculture website ( http://aquaculture.scotland.gov.uk/data/data.aspx ). This outlines specific…

12 Jul 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the General Medical Council stating that it does not specify what medical schools should teach regarding particular conditions, and reported concerns regarding some medical schools teaching that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a psychological disorder that is treatable thr…

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15984 on 26 April 2018 and S5W-16584 on 22 May 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliamen…

18 Jun 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of forestry there were in the period (a) 2004 to 2008 and (b) 2014 to date, also broken down by local authority area and by (i) public and (ii) private plantings.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Forest Research, an agency of the Forestry Commission, collects and publishes data on forest area and new planting as part of the National Forest Inventory and its Forestry Statistics. The number of hectares of forestry and the amount of public and private tr…

18 Jun 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how repeat planning applications are monitored to identify and understand the extent of any issue across Scotland, and how many repeat applications there have been since 2013, also broken down by local authority.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government does not hold information on planning applications for development on land which had been subject to previous applications.

7 Jun 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported welfare crisis that is being faced by farmed salmon because of the use of mechanical lice treatments.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government published Scotland’s 10 Year Farmed Fish Health Framework in May [ http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535697.pdf ]. The framework, which was developed in collaboration with the sector, will drive further improvements to fish health …

17 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications will be for the (a) delivery of the favourable condition of protected areas, (b) Partnership Against Wildlife Crime Scotland aims and (c) open habitat restoration and species conservation targets on the National Forest Estate of the proposed restructuring of Forest …

Answer · Fergus Ewing: We do not expect there to be any negative impacts and FES remains committed to all its obligations on these matters, including meeting its target of having 94% of designated sites in favourable condition.

17 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many dedicated conservation staff there were at Forest Enterprise Scotland prior to the proposed organisational restructure; how many there will be following the changes, and whether it will provide regional staff structure charts for the (a) previous and (b) proposed structure.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: There are 38 staff who are members of the dedicated Environment team in Forest Enterprise Scotland currently. Work is ongoing, including consultation with Forestry Commission Trade Unions, to determine the details of the staffing structures in the new adminis…

17 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) open ground priority habitat, as identified by the Forest Enterprise Scotland Habitat Action Plan survey, has been planted (a) in total and (b) with (i) native tree species and (ii) non-native conifers on the National Forest Estate by Forest E…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: More than 104,000 ha of priority open habitats have been identified to date through surveys on the National Forest Estate. The way that we hold the data means that we can only say which component parts of the estate containing priority open habitats have also…

17 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications will be for the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy on the National Forest Estate of the proposed restructuring of Forest Enterprise Scotland.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The integration of FES Specialist Environmental advisors into the land management planning activity will allow for the creation of more comprehensive plans and give FES the opportunity to deliver, at a landscape scale, more environmental outcomes which will h…

14 May 2018 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether powers devolved to the Parliament over onshore oil and gas licensing under the Scotland Act 2016, which commenced in February, give ministers the authority to take decisions on granting and extending Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences for onshore fracking.

11 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what protocols are in place regarding (a) the transportation and (b) reporting incidents of spillage of animal by-product waste, including ensuring that spillage is cleaned up to (i) meet public health standards and (ii) protect natural resources from contamination.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Anyone who transports animal by-products (ABPs) needs to be approved or registered by the Scottish Government under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (ABPR). The key control when transporting ABPs is to do so in vehicles and con…

11 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will confirm the status of the carers allowance supplement for the purpose of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Answer · Derek Mackay: I can confirm that income from Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be disregarded within the Council Tax Reduction scheme. We will be laying Regulations later in the year to achieve this.

11 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many recipients of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme receive carers allowance.

Answer · Derek Mackay: This information is not currently available. We are working with local authorities, who administer the Council Tax Reduction scheme, to establish more robust data on the status of Council Tax Reduction scheme recipients.

9 May 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on serial planning applications.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: There are provisions in the Planning Act allowing planning authorities to refuse to deal with repeat or serial applications in certain circumstances. We will reflect further on the effectiveness of these provisions during the progress of the Planning (Scotla…

4 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the review of the lethal control of ravens licence that was granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders will be completed; what aspects of the licence will be reviewed, and whether the review will consider repealing the licence.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Natural Heritage’s Scientific Advisory Committee will review at the end of May of how the licence that was granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders fits with the wider work on adaptive action to save waders. The Committee will c…

4 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what lethal methods Scottish Natural Heritage has allowed the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders to use under its control of ravens licence.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The licence permits the control of ravens by shooting and the use of crow cage traps.

4 May 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what non-lethal alternatives were considered prior to Scottish Natural Heritage granting the lethal control of ravens licence to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Natural Heritage considered whether the quality and management of the habitat in the licence area for waders should be improved and whether other predator control should be extended as potential alternatives to the action proposed in the licence appl…