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-08400

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the recommendations made in the Consumer Focus Scotland report, Guaranteed water rights – Consumer awareness of Scottish Water’s minimum service standards.

The Scottish Government welcomes this report by Consumer Focus Scotland on Scottish Water’s Guaranteed Service Standards. There is a clear message in the recommendations that Scottish Water must do much more to get across to all its customers what a good scheme it is. My officials asked Scottish Water to address these recommendations and I am reassured by both Consumer Focus Scotland and Scottish Water that they are jointly engaged in determining how best to implement them.

This reflects this government’s aim that all water industry stakeholders should put the customer interest at the heart of their consideration of how best to achieve the continuing improvements we are seeing in the water services available to people in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-08258

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications there have been for the purchase of properties owned by registered social landlords under the (a) preserved and (b) modernised right to buy scheme in each year since 30 September 2002.

This information is collected by the Scottish Housing Regulator and is available up to 31 March 2011 for financial years only. The information is contained in the following table:

Financial Year	Applications under Preserved Right to Buy	Applications under Modernised Right to Buy	Total
2002-03	1842	14	1856
2003-04	3420	51	3471
2004-05	3352	98	3450
2005-06	2651	137	2788
2006-07	2466	161	2627
2007-08	2176	170	2346
2008-09	1136	176	1312
2009-10	857	214	1071
2010-11	723	185	908

Question reference: S4W-08397

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the recently announced £15 million of accelerated existing funding for affordable housing will be distributed and what proportion will be allocated to (a) affordable socially rented housing and (b) homes for mid-market rent.

Question reference: S4W-08396

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive where information on a (a) national or (b) local authority basis can be accessed regarding the average rent paid for temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S4W-08398

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to allocate the recently announced £20 million of new funding for affordable housing for local authorities and whether each local authority will be able to apply for this.

Question reference: S4W-08395

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive where information on a (a) national or (b) local authority basis can be accessed regarding the average length of time that households registered as homeless are allocated temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S4W-08676

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Human Rights Act 1998 applies to cases of theft of mobile phones and, if so, which sections.

The Human Rights Act provides for a variety of protections, including an individual’s right to privacy. The right to privacy may be infringed if it is necessary for a specific purpose (such as the prevention and detection of crime), and the action is proportionate to what is hoped to be achieved. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 put in place a statutory framework within which specified public bodies can demonstrate compliance with the Human Rights Act.

Question reference: S4W-08675

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the police are permitted to use tracking techniques in an effort to identify perpetrators in cases of theft of mobile phones.

Question reference: S4W-08674

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the police are permitted to use tracking techniques to attempt to recover stolen mobile phones.

Question reference: S4W-08254

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) discussion or (b) consultation it has initiated regarding the (i) criteria for, (ii) governance of and (iii) application process for bids to the Scottish Stations Investment Fund.

Transport Scotland has received 12 enquiries about individual station proposals as a result of the announcement.

The governance, criteria and application process for the Scottish Stations Investment Fund will be discussed and agreed with key stakeholders over the coming months. The outcomes of the Rail 2014 consultation will inform our thinking in this regard.

In the meantime, interested parties are encouraged to discuss their proposals with their local Regional Transport Partnership, to consider whether these fit with local and regional objectives.