Claudia Beamish

17 Jan 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research suggesting that there is a possible link between Alzheimer’s disease and air pollution.

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) Forestry Commission Scotland and (b) Scottish Natural Heritage has spent directly on deer management in culling and fencing on public land in each of the last five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details are as follows: a) Forestry Commission Scotland Year Culling Fencing 2011-12 £3.049m £0.894m 2012-13 £3.286m £1.492m 2013-14 £3.288m £0.711m 2014-15 £3.722m £0.753m 2015-16 £3.763m £0.656m Details are as follows: b) Scottish Natur…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been to Scottish Natural Heritage of each of the current section 7 agreements under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, including all grant support, staff time and expenses incurred during negotiations.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The current suite of Section 7 agreements were negotiated by the Deer Commission for Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) does not hold data which allows for the costs of negotiating these agreements to be identified. There are currently 3 Section 7 …

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of Scottish Natural Heritage assistance to deer management groups to improve their deer management planning, including training and deer management plan delivery, in each of the last five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details are as follows: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has provided funding to deer management groups to improve their deer management planning, including training and deer management plan delivery, in each of the last five years as follows: Year Total sp…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) Forestry Commission Scotland has spent on deer fencing grants on third-party, private land in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Details are as follows: a) The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. However, Scottish Ministers have committed the following amounts for deer fencing grants on third party, private land in each of the last 5 years through the Rural P…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding the Association of Deer Management Groups has received from (a) the Forestry Commission Scotland and (b) Scottish Natural Heritage for collaborative projects in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Details are as follows: a) Forestry Commission Scotland has provided approximately £5,000 of funding to the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) for collaborative projects in each of the last five years. b) Scottish Natural Heritage has provided fun…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Association of Deer Management Groups has received from (a) the Forestry Commission Scotland and (b) Scottish Natural Heritage in venison levy to support its work in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Details are as follows: a) Forestry Commission Scotland has not provided any venison levy to support the work of the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) in each of the last five years. b) Scottish Natural Heritage has provided venison levy to the A…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of Scottish Natural Heritage support for aerial counts of deer populations to support the work of deer management groups in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Details are as follows: Year Total spend 2011-12 £218,089 2012-13 £213,937 2013-14 £99,470 2014-15 £283,480 2015-16 £243,838

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue the Environmental Co-operation Action Fund (ECAF) contracts that were due in July 2016.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Environmental Co-operation Action Fund as originally designed cannot now be taken forward. Applicant organisations are being contacted to inform them of this decision and to encourage them to apply when the scheme is re-launched. Work will be undertaken w…

19 Dec 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Justice last met Scottish Women's Aid and what issues were discussed.

14 Dec 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the IT system for common agricultural policy payments.

29 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all (a) demersal, (b) pelagic and (c) shellfish landings into Troon Harbour in each year from 2011 to 2015 inclusive.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government publishes annually the quantity and value of total demersal, pelagic and shellfish for each district in the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics report. Landings into Troon Harbour are reported with landings into the district of Ayr. The …

24 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what account has been taken of the effects on the marine environment in moving toward the 2020 target of a 50% increase in fish exports.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government supports the aquaculture industry’s sustainable growth including production targets of 210,000 tonnes marine (whole wet) finfish and 13,000 tonnes shellfish by 2020 as outlined in the UK Multi Annual National Plan for Aquaculture and S…

24 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of statistics published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), which show that the number of fish farms that rated poor rose from 42 in 2014 to 58 in 2015, what action it will take to address this.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Environmental regulation and compliance are matters for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). The Scottish Government is, however, committed to supporting ongoing dialogue between SEPA and stakeholders to encourage the sustainable growth of the a…

24 Nov 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made a comparison of fish farm regulations, in terms of environmental conditions, between Scotland and Norway.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The environmental impacts of fish farms on the water environment are regulated through the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. The Scottish Government has not made any comparison of these Regulations with regulations in Norw…

17 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any ministers or officials will be attending the Conference of the Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP13) in December 2016.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: No Ministers or Officials will be attending.

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed by Scottish Natural Heritage to undertake deer management in each of the last five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details of the number of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) staff for whom deer management is the majority of their work is set out in the following table. There are other SNH staff who undertake work on or related to deer management. Year Posts (FTE) 2012-13…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much Scottish Natural Heritage has spent on deer management in each of the last five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Estimates of Scottish Natural Heritage costs attributed to deer management are provided in the following table: Total £M* 2012-13 0.904 2013-14 0.607 2014-15 0.917 2015-16 1.231 2016-17 1.139 *includes project and paybill costs but excludes indi…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase the resources available to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to carry out sustainable deer management pending the outcome of the SNH deer management review.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The proposed budget for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for the next financial year will be set out by the Scottish Government when it publishes details of Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2017-18 in December. There are no plans to submit a budget r…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the proposed Strathy South wind farm since February 2016 with (a) the applicants, (b) Scottish Natural Heritage, (c) The Highland Council and (d) the European Commission.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: A key function of the Public Local Inquiry was to allow all interested parties to engage in debate on the issues of key importance in an open forum. The Scottish Government wishes to avoid disadvantage to any interested party through holding closed discussion…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the recent extension to the Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve will be considered in the determination of the application for the Strathy South wind farm, which would be on a site adjacent to the reserve boundary.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Scottish Planning Policy states that development which affects a National Nature Reserve should only be permitted where the objectives of designation and the overall integrity of the area will not be compromised; or any significant adverse effects on the qual…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have expressed (a) concerns and (b) support regarding the proposed Strathy South wind farm.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: To date, the Scottish Government has received 27 public representations in support of the application and 245 in opposition. Scottish Ministers are also aware of representations RSPB Scotland has received from its supporters who object to the proposed wind f…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the evidence regarding the potential vulnerability of hen harriers to wind turbines, which has been published since the close of the public inquiry into the proposed Strathy South wind farm, will be considered in the determination of the wind farm's application.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Ornithological matters were a key feature of the Public Local Inquiry. However, the Scottish Government will continue to take into account representations on the application received regarding any relevant matter, including hen harriers, until a decision is t…

16 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital appointments in NHS Lanarkshire were rearranged due to cancellations to patient transport arranged through the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 2013.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on the number of re-arranged hospital appointments in NHS boards.

16 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost of a cancelled or rearranged hospital appointment is.

Answer · Shona Robison: The specific information requested is not available centrally. However information on the average cost of an outpatient appointment or inpatient or day case admission can be obtain from Scottish Health Service Cost Book which can be found at: http://www.isdsc…

13 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £14 million for the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund remains unallocated.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Funding of over £9m is being offered to applicants for projects which met the Pilot criteria. All remaining funding is being recycled back into core domestic and non-domestic energy programmes and will be fully allocated.

13 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the pilot projects that have received support from the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: An announcement on successful pilot projects receiving support from the SEEP Pathfinder Fund will be made in the next few weeks once contracts are finalised.

13 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the suggestion in its 2016-17 Programme for Government that it will require £10 billion worth of investment to eliminate energy efficiency as a driver of fuel poverty and its investment of £500 million from capital stimulus funds toward this, how it will fund the additional …

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Programme for Government set out that Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme will be a 15-20 year programme to improve the energy efficiency and increase the use of low carbon heat in Scotland’s homes and our public, industrial and commercial buildings. R…

13 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will spend the £500 million investment on energy efficiency programmes over the next four years that it announced in the 2016-17 Programme for Government.

Answer · Angela Constance: Further information on our investment in energy efficiency will be included in the draft Budget Bill which will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later in 2016.

13 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund, and how many were approved.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: 19 local authorities submitted applications to the SEEP Pathfinder Fund and 11 are being offered funding. An announcement on successful pilot projects receiving support from the SEEP Pathfinder Fund will be made in the next few weeks once contracts are finali…