Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-23089

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue its equality funding stream in 2015-16 and, if so, at what level of funding.

Question reference: S4W-23091

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland has met representatives of football clubs, governing bodies or player trade unions and, if so, whom and when.

The Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland has held a number of meetings and attended events in relation to football, specifically:

Date

Organisation

In attendance

07-12-2012

Football Coordination Unit Scotland (FoCUS)

Superintendent

Stephen McAllister

Inspector Marian Maclean

28-11-2012

Football Match Observation (Heart of Midlothian FC versus Celtic FC)

Facilitated by FoCUS

10-01-2013

Scottish Football Association

Stewart Regan

Scottish Football League

David Longmuir

Scottish Premier League

Neil Doncaster

Ian Blair

19-01-2013

Football Match Observation (Celtic FC versus Heart of Midlothian FC)

Facilitated by FoCUS

27-02-2014

Rangers Football Club

David Martin,

Dominic Sharkey

31-07-2014

Scottish Football Association

Stewart Regan,

Daryl Broadfoot,

Andrew McKinlay

Scottish Professional Football League

Iain Blair

Rod McKenzie

31-07-2014

Football Coordination Unit Scotland (FoCUS)

Inspector Marian Maclean

Sergeant Neil McLeod

I am aware that the advisory group is keen to meet with both Rangers FC and Celtic FC at boardroom level and is actively pursuing although no meetings have taken place to date. The advisory group has not met with the players’ trade unions.

Question reference: S4W-23090

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue its tackling sectarianism funding stream in 2015-16 and, if so, at what level of funding.

Question reference: S4W-23088

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the additional £3 million in 2015-16 to support community-based initiatives to tackle sectarianism and further develop understanding through research it will make available solely for antisectarian initiatives.

The Scottish Government’s Draft Budget 2015-16, published on 9 October 2014, stated that in 2015-16 the budget for promoting equality will be £20.3 million. It also stated we will invest over £3 million to support community based initiatives to tackle sectarianism and further develop our understanding through research, while continuing to support work to tackle racial or ethnic hatred.

The detail and breakdown of the funding for initiatives in 2015-16 will be confirmed in due course.

Question reference: S4O-03734

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on establishing a film studio complex.

Question reference: S4W-23087

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the minimum distance required is between a wind turbine and a (a) community and (b) single property.

There is no minimum distance between individual wind turbines or wind farms and communities or individual properties.

Scottish Planning Policy Table 1, Group 2 provides the policy on community separation.

Table 1: Spatial Frameworks

Group 1 – Areas where wind farms will not be acceptable: National Parks and National Scenic Areas.

Group 2 – Areas of significant protection: Recognising the need for significant protection, in these areas wind farms may be appropriate in some circumstances. Further consideration will be required to demonstrate that any significant effects on the qualities of these areas can be substantially overcome by siting, design or other mitigation.

National and international designations

World Heritage Sites

Natura 2000 and Ramsar sites

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

National Nature Reserves

Sites identified in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes

Sites identified in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields

Other nationally important mapped environmental interests

Areas of wild land as shown on the 2014 Scottish Natural Heritage map of wild land areas

Carbon rich soils, deep peat and priority peatland habitat.

Community separation for consideration of visual impact

An area not exceeding two kilometres around cities, towns and villages identified on the local development plan with an identified settlement envelope or edge. The extent of the area will be determined by the planning authority based on landform and other features which restrict views out from the settlement.

Group 3 – Areas with potential for wind farm development: Beyond groups 1 and 2, wind farms are likely to be acceptable, subject to detailed consideration against identified policy criteria.

Other impacts on communities and individual dwellings including visual impact, residential amenity, noise and shadow flicker can also be considered at the development management stage.

The planning process itself offers the opportunity for comments to be made on planning applications before a decision is made.

Question reference: S4O-03719

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether its preference is for NHS general dental services to be provided by independent contractors rather than salaried dentists employed by the NHS and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S4W-22935

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available in the Scottish Draft Budget 2015-16 for infrastructure that supports active travel.

The Scottish Draft Budget 2015-16 includes funding to build, maintain and promote infrastructure for active travel within the following budget lines:

£25 million in the support for sustainable and active travel budget; and

£8 million ring fenced funding for cycling, walking and safer streets within the local government settlement.

In addition, a proportion of the £20.25 million for the Future Transport Fund will be allocated to active travel infrastructure. Ministers will make an announcement on this in due course.

Question reference: S4O-03678

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on changes to the workload of officers and support staff since the establishment of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-03636

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent under the non-profit distributing model and on how many projects.