Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-01029

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the Good Food Nation Bill and whether it will include addressing the health implications of multi-buys.

Question reference: S5O-00977

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had on tackling the volume of plastics in seas around Scotland.

The Scottish Government has been involved in discussions with the international commission OSPAR, of which the UK is a contracting partner. The OSPAR objective is to substantially reduce marine litter in the North East Atlantic over the period of 2010-2020. To fulfil the OSPAR action plan, we have published and adopted Scotland’s Marine Litter Strategy which has a clear purpose: to develop current and future measures to ensure that the amount of litter entering the marine and coastal environment is minimised to bring ecological, economic and social benefits.

The Marine Litter Strategy Steering Group, led by Marine Scotland, includes representatives of key organisations leading in marine litter reduction. This Group meets quarterly to discuss and coordinate work on over 40 action points identified in the Strategy, including promoting public awareness and litter removal projects such as beach cleans and KIMO’s Fishing for Litter initiative.

Following a consultation period, the Scottish Government is in discussions with the UK Government and devolved administrations about the implementation of a ban on plastic microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products.

Question reference: S5W-08952

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-00367 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 November 2016, when the University of the Highlands and Islands will provide an equitable funding settlement to Moray College.

Question reference: S5O-00916

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the introduction of a deposit and return scheme for drinks containers.

In deciding whether such a scheme is right for Scotland, I think it is important to keep an open mind until we have considered the potential costs and benefits in partnership with all of those who would be involved.

Zero Waste Scotland - on behalf of the Scottish Government - is currently running a series of stakeholder workshops. These will help us to better understand the implications, opportunities and challenges associated with deposit return, and how these relate to our wider ambition to improve producer responsibility.

This work will identify facts, figures and potential risks in relation to key issues. Amongst those issues are the possible impact on small stores, how people behave differently where a deposit return is in place and how it might affect the local waste collection systems we already have.

I anticipate that these workshops will conclude by early summer and I will consider the next steps following that.

Question reference: S5W-08336

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to grow Scotland’s food and drink exports.

The Scotland Food & Drink partnership has developed an export plan which was launched in March 2014 to help the industry achieve export growth and build Scotland’s international reputation as a “Land of Food and Drink” by targeting specific market opportunities across the globe. The partnership has identified 15 priority markets for Scotland, including ‘top prospect’ markets where we have dedicated Food & Drink specialists to open doors with customers, provide market insights and make connections with Scottish suppliers and The Scottish Government is committed to contributing to funding of the £4.5m plan until March 2019.

The latest HMRC statistics show that overseas food and drink exports were worth a record £5.5bn in 2016 and the new industry led strategy, "Ambition 2030", sets out a clear structure for doubling the turnover value of the sector over the next 13 years with a key focus on growing our markets both at home and abroad.

Question reference: S5W-07905

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the support provided for the provision of rural bus services.

The Scottish Government will provides bus subsidy of £53.5m/year in 2017-18. This subsidy is called the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) and is paid directly to operators and whose aim is to support the overall bus network and help passengers with the cost of fares. In 2012 the basis for paying BSOG was changed to payments based on the distance run by bus vehicles. This particularly benefitted rural areas where the bus services are longer. In addition to this, local authorities are funded through the block grant to subsidise bus services that they deem socially necessary. In 2015-16 the spend on this was £59m.

Question reference: S5W-07903

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been given in subsidies to commercially-run local bus services by each local authority in each of the last three years.

Local authorities are funded through the block grant to support bus services that they deem socially necessary. Local Government spend on bus support over the last three years was: £59m in 2013-14, £57m in 2014-15 and £59m in 2015-16. Further detail is contained in the Scottish Transport Statistics:

Table 2.9

http://www.transport.gov.scot/report/SCT01171871341-05.htm

Table 10.3

http://www.transport.gov.scot/report/SCT01171871341-13.htm

Question reference: S5W-07904

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide additional powers to local authorities regarding the (a) regulation and (b) provision of rural bus services.

The Transport Bill, which we want to introduce during the current Parliament, will aim to strengthen the range of options available to local authorities to improve bus services in their areas, such as through better partnership working with bus operators, setting up their own bus operations or introducing local franchises, in which operators would compete for the right to operate services under contract. These options will be sufficiently flexible to be customised to meet the needs of both rural and urban areas. We will consult on these measures.

Question reference: S5O-00769

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what treatment and support is available to chronic pain patients in the NHS Grampian area.

Question reference: S5W-07366

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made or commissioned regarding the availability of raw materials for anaerobic digestion and other renewable technologies, and the impact that these additional demands will have on feed stocks for the livestock sector.

Bioenergy can bring a range of benefits as a renewable energy. In our draft Energy Strategy we commit to the development of a whole-system Bioenergy action plan, through this we will work collectively across Scottish Government to focus on the best use of our resources to decarbonise our system at least cost to everyone.

We are working with the Scottish Tenant Farmers’ Association to commission research into the use of distillery by-products use for renewable energy, and we expect a final report in the summer. Through the action plan we will assess if further research into the feedstock for biotechnologies is required in order to ensure the development of bioenergy is sustainable.

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