Liam Kerr

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement of 13 projects being selected as part of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process on 24 March 2023, whether any (a) funding and (b) polices will be introduced to increase skills development and recruit and train any workers required to…

Answer · Mairi McAllan: INTOG provides significant support to the delivery of the oil and gas sector’s decarbonisation targets in the North Sea Transition Deal and offers the opportunity for the transfer of skills from one sector to the other. With INTOG projects, we are supportin…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work was carried out to determine that a Memorandum of Understanding with financial partners, as announced on 1 March 2023 on the NatureScot website, was the best vehicle for increasing private funding in nature projects, and what alternative approaches were considered and ruled out…

Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15869 on 24 March 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-committee…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how human rights will be monitored in the supply chain for developers that have been offered exclusivity agreements as part of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process announced on 24 March 2023.

Answer · Gillian Martin: The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing is administered by Crown Estate Scotland who are responsible for completing the process of due diligence in line with relevant guidance. Crown Estate Scotland advises that all INTOG applicants were requ…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a requirement for Scottish firms to be included within the supply chain before developers that have been offered exclusivity agreements, as part of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process announced on 24 March 2023, are granted a full seabed lease…

Answer · Gillian Martin: Crown Estate Scotland are responsible for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process. INTOG developers will be required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS) before they enter an Option Agreement, as set out in the Crown …

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the first private finance investment pilot, focused on the Borders Forest Trust "Wild Heart" project in southern Scotland and expected to begin in spring 2023, will conclude, and how much funding it will provide to fund this pilot.

Answer · Lorna Slater: There is not a fixed completion date for the Borders Forest Trust pilot project. The project will continue for as long as financing is available from the investment partners and land managers choose to receive it.  

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to analyse the accuracy of the statistic regarding a £20 billion finance gap for nature in Scotland, as used in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045: Tackling the Nature Emergency in Scotland.

Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16433 on 17 April 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-committee…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it was able to determine that £2 billion in funding could be leveraged from the private finance investment pilot that was announced on 1 March 2023 on the NatureScot website.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The £2 billion figure reflects the current appetite from the investment partners to finance projects in Scotland. It is not a fixed figure and additional capital may be available if a sufficient pipeline of investment projects can be created and a successful …

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any lessons have been learned from the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process, which was announced on 24 March 2023 and has since concluded, and whether these will be published.

Answer · Gillian Martin: Crown Estate Scotland are responsible for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process. The INTOG leasing process is still ongoing.The first agreement stage in the leasing process, the offer of exclusivity agreements for offshore wind devel…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what commercial benefits it anticipates that financial partners, including Hampden & Co and Lombard Odier Investment Managers, will receive as part of the private finance investment pilot to mobilise £2 billion in landscape scale restoration of native woodland.

Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15873 on 24 March 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-committee…

24 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on what the average contract for difference (CfD) price is for an operating (a) offshore and (b) onshore wind farm in Scotland.

Answer · Gillian Martin: The Contracts for Difference scheme is a UK Government mechanism. Information about all Contracts for Difference strike prices is available in the public domain here: Contracts for Difference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

17 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further clarification regarding the £25,000 working capital loan that has been made available to Ferguson Marine, including what the loan (a) is expected to be used for, (b) interest rate is and (c) repayment date is; what assurances it has received regarding the …

Answer · Neil Gray: The working capital loan made available to Ferguson Marine is expected to be used to ensure that Ferguson Marine has the necessary cashflow to make payments in relation to salaries and VAT as required while they await repayment from BAE Systems for services r…

15 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13337 by Patrick Harvie on 10 January 2023, whether it will provide an update on whether it has published the data, in light of it already being used for policy formulation and implementation, and of it committing to publishing it "early this year".

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The data is due to be published shortly.

15 Mar 2023 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that there is sufficient police presence throughout the north east.

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its announcement in June 2022 that £30 million would be spent “this financial year” to “accelerate the shift to zero emission transport”, how much of this funding it has spent to date, broken down by what it has been spent on; which geographical areas it has been spent in, a…

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Of the £30 million support that was announced in June 2022, £28 million was allocated to the Low Carbon Transport Loan and the remaining £2 million was allocated to the Plugged-In Communities Schemes. Both have been fully allocated and are pending final claim…

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many journeys have been taken on ferries in Scotland by (a) ministers, broken down by minister, and (b) civil servants, in each year since 2018, broken down by route.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: a) Details of Ministerial travel and gifts are proactively published on a monthly basis and can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ . b) The breakdown by route and calendar…

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many planning application appeals it has received in each of the last five years on the grounds of non-determination, where a local authority has been unable to reach a decision within six months, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) type of application.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The number of planning appeals received, in each of the last five years, on the grounds of *non-determination and where a local authority has been unable to reach a decision within six months, is held in the following table : Case Reference Planning Authori…

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, how many of the (a) 46 diesel vehicles and (b) 16 petrol cars in the fleet that it and its agencies run were purchased in each year from 2018 to 2023 to date.  

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: A list of all diesel and petrol vehicle purchases since 2018 is provided in the following table. The 2 most recent purchases, a Mercedes Sprinter and Vito Minibus Combo are used for specific business related purposes. The Mercedes is used by Marine Scotland …

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cyber-attacks have been recorded on (a) its and (b) its agencies’ computer and data systems since January 2021, and, in each case, what the suspected source was, and to what extent the attack (i) gained information and (ii) damaged systems.

Answer · Keith Brown: 1. The National Cyber Security Centre advises Government departments to withhold specific information that may provide insight into the likelihood of success of specific cyber techniques and the Scottish Government follows this advice. ? 2. The Scottish Gove…

13 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list any cases in which sewage leaks have been recorded in NHS hospitals in each year since 1 January 2022, broken down by (a) hospital and (b) part of the building in which the leak occurred.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: This is a matter for NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.  

12 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed Legal Services Regulation Reform Bill, what progress it has made towards (a) establishing a panel to review the future of the legal profession and (b) engaging with stakeholders representing the (i) consumer and (ii) legal perspective, as committed to in its res…

Answer · Siobhian Brown: A working group to consider the future of the of the legal profession in Scotland has been convened and will be jointly chaired by the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, the Law Society of Scotland, and the Faculty of Advocates. The purpose of the gro…

8 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of all formal meetings between the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work and companies in the offshore energy sector in the North East Scotland region, from 1 October 2022 to 1 March 2023.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: I have engaged with a wide breadth of stakeholders in the offshore energy sector during this period, in the North East of Scotland and across Scotland. Regarding formal meetings with companies in the North East Scotland region I had the following formal meeti…

7 Mar 2023 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to dual the A90 between Ellon and Peterhead.

6 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an assessment of the impact that the Deposit Return Scheme will have on (a) consumer purchasing behaviours and (b) inflation, and, if so, what assessment it has made.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Analysis in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, published in December 2021, shows that on-the-go drinks purchases are largely driven by consumer convenience, and that switching to large containers in this segment of the market is unlikely. There a…

6 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the information set out at paragraphs 2.161 and 2.162 on page 59 of its document, A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland: Full Business Case Stage 1, how it calculated the value of the "Commercial value of advertising space at RVMs" at £26 million; whether it will publish its wo…

Answer · Lorna Slater: The commercial value of advertising space was calculated by assigning a standard advertising rate attributable to similar footfall areas per RVM. The calculations are commercially sensitive and are not published. “Allocated to society”, in this case, means th…

6 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the information set out at paragraph 2.162 on page 59 of its document, A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland: Full Business Case Stage 1, how it calculated the value of the "Improved amenity resulting from the reduction in litter" at £994 million; whether it will publish its …

Answer · Lorna Slater: Zero Waste Scotland published a report on the Indirect Costs of Litter in Scotland and costs are based on that research and attributable to the proportion, by volume, of DRS materials in the litter stream. This modelling is commercially sensitive and is not…

2 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether, under the terms of the Scottish Ministerial Code, a minister who knowingly misleads a member of the public in their capacity as a minister should resign from the Scottish Government.

Answer · George Adam: The Scottish Ministerial Code provides clear guidance to Ministers on how they should act and arrange their affairs in order to uphold the highest standards of propriety and is intended to speak for itself. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding ho…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will disclose any guidance provided to NHS boards on how to (a) attract and (b) retain (i) medical and (ii) non-medical staff.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Guidance is provided by the Scottish Government to Health Boards which is publicly available on the following website SHOW - SGHSC - Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates including guidance on matters in relation to attraction and retentio…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS staff local to their area in primary care, and what guidance it provides to NHS boards on (i) attracting and (ii) retaining (A) medical and (B) non-medical staff from local candidate pools.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Responsibility for service delivery, including recruitment and retention of medical and non-medical staff in primary care, sits locally with Health Boards and health and social care partnerships and their GP practices. The Scottish Government recognises tha…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken in the last five years on the impact of noise pollution on health.

Answer · Maree Todd: Through Scotland’s implementation of the European Commission Environmental Noise Directive (Directive 2002/49/EC), Scottish Government ministers have a responsibility to produce noise maps of Scotland every five years. The fourth round of noise mapping is cur…

1 Mar 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide any analysis that it has undertaken in the last five years of the effectiveness of the (a) recruitment and (b) retention policies of NHS boards.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a historic high, staffing levels have grown by over 2,900 whole time equivalent, permanent staff, representing ten years of consecutive growth. NHS Boards are responsible for ensuring they have local policies in place to…