Wednesday 15 August 2018 SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT Economy Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the higher than expected workload required by the Beef Efficiency Scheme and the additional challenges faced by participating farmers from the exceptional weather in 2017 and 2018, whether it has considered paying participating farmers for years four and five of the scheme. (S5W-17625) Fergus Ewing: The exceptional weather of course did not only affect the participants in the Beef Efficiency Scheme, but we have where required dealt with any issues BES participants had in carrying out their commitments as a result of the exceptional weather. The commitments for participants have not changed over the period of the scheme and we will not be introducing payments for years 4 and 5 of the scheme. John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Scottish Green Party): To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with UK Government regarding Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Areas (SPA) and sites of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designations in north west Sutherland. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17747) Mairi Gougeon: A holding answer was provided. Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to roll-out the Scottish Scenic Routes initiative to other areas of the Highlands and Islands following previous pilot schemes, and for each of the pilot areas, what (a) route they covered, (b) their budget was and (c) the outcome of the pilot was. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17758) Mairi Gougeon: A holding answer was provided. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government what the gross value added (GVA) is of the wood panel industry. (S5W-17832) Fergus Ewing: No official statistics are available for the GVA of the wood panel industry. The Wood Panel Industries Federation estimate a UK wide GVA of approximately £850 million per annum. In 2015 Forestry Commission Scotland published a report on the Economic Contribution of the Forestry Sector in Scotland: https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/economic-contribution- forestry-2015.pdf which estimated that the production of wood panels, board and pulp and paper contributed £74.3 million to GVA in Scotland in 2012-13. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how many people are employed (a) directly and (b) indirectly by the wood panel industry. (S5W-17833) Fergus Ewing: No official statistics are available for the number of people employed either directly or indirectly by the wood panel industry. The Wood Panel Industries Federation estimates a UK wide direct employment of just over 2,300 people and indirect employment of approximately 5,200 jobs. In 2015 Forestry Commission Scotland published a report on the Economic Contribution of the Forestry Sector in Scotland: https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/economic-contribution- forestry-2015.pdf which estimated that the production of wood panels, board and pulp and paper employed directly 1,126 full time equivalents (FTE) and 631 FTEs indirectly in 2012-13. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the limited supply and increasing demand for wood, what action it is taking to support the wood panel industry. (S5W-17834) Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is working with Forest Research and all parts of the forestry sector to provide accurate forecasts of timber availability at the Great Britain level and for different regions of Scotland which allows the wood panel industry to plan investment. On the basis of this information, Norbord has expanded their plant at Dalcross; investing £95 million and receiving £12 million of public funding from Highland and Island Enterprise. In addition, the Scottish Government has recognised the imperative to increase Scotland’s long-term timber production potential in order to address climate change concerns as well as to provide raw materials for industry, including wood panels. As a result, new planting targets embedded in the Climate Change Plan are to increase woodland creation to 15,000 ha p.a. by 2025, and forestry grant budgets have been increased by £6 million in 2018-19 accordingly. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government what the level of tree planting has been in each of the last 10 years. (S5W-17835) Fergus Ewing: The area of new tree planting in Scotland (including known natural colonisation) is published annually as an official statistic by the Forestry Commission: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/5144/WAPR2018.xls . Data for each of the last ten years has been reproduced below. The most recent year that final planting data is available for is the period between April 2016 and March 2017. Provisional results for the period April 2017 to March 2018 have been released and so these have also been included in the following table. Area of new planting in Scotland since 2008 Area of new planting Year (thousands of hectares) 20084.2 20093.4 20102.7 20116.0 20129.0 20137.0 20148.3 20157.6 20164.6 20174.8 20187.1 Education, Communities and Justice Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any funding scheme in Scotland for the securing of places of worship similar to the scheme recently announced by the UK Government. (S5W-17685) Aileen Campbell: We are clear that any form of hate crime or prejudice is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We are taking a range of steps to tackle hate crime as set out in our ambitious Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan, and have established a multi- agency Action Group to drive this work forward. While there is no specific security funding scheme for places of worship, we are fully committed to working with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites, and would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland. We are working to build inclusive, resilient and safe communities in Scotland where everyone feels connected, has a sense of belonging and feels valued. Health and Social Care Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party): To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out its policy guidelines on the recording of waiting times for patients whose operations are rescheduled. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17739) Jeane Freeman: A holding answer was provided. Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether women from disadvantaged areas access breast screening services at the same level as women from more affluent areas and if so, what the difference is. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17746) Joe FitzPatrick: A holding answer was provided. Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what the contribution has been of Highland games and shows to the economy in each of the last five years. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17752) Joe FitzPatrick: A holding answer was provided. Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party): To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged 65 and over have received the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination, and what the uptake has been in relation to all those eligible to receive it, in each of the years that it has been available. Holding answer issued: 15 August 2018 (S5W-17762) Joe FitzPatrick: A holding answer was provided..