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: S4O-02793

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to small businesses.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution small businesses make to our economy and is committed to maintaining a supportive environment to assist them to grow and thrive.

Small businesses are benefiting from policies which: improve business support; reduce the burden of taxation and regulation; improve access to finance; help recruitment; and support the development of new ideas.

Question reference: S4T-00561

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to mitigate the effects of the so-called bedroom tax.

Question reference: S4W-18985

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are available to (a) it and (b) local authorities to help maintain listed buildings.

The majority of listed buildings in Scotland are in private ownership and their maintenance is therefore the responsibility of the owner, as is the case with any building. However, the Scottish Government, through Historic Scotland, makes grant funding of some £13.6 million available annually, to assist owners with the cost involved in the sympathetic repair of the nation’s most significant listed buildings. This grant funding can also be utilised by local authorities.

Question reference: S4W-18573

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what powers local authorities have to ensure that community councils regulate their (a) business affairs and (b) conduct.

Local authorities have no specific powers to ensure that community councils regulate their business affairs and conduct.

However, the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 sets out the requirement that local authorities introduce community council schemes for their area and review those schemes from time to time. Such schemes outline various arrangements including boundaries, elections, meetings, finance, accounts and procedures for effective communication on matters of mutual interest between the local authority and community councils in their area. This is to ensure a level of consistency in the operational arrangements and business affairs of community councils across Scotland whilst recognising the need for local circumstances to be reflected.

The Model Scheme of Establishment provides that “In carrying out their activities community councils must at all times adhere to the law, the terms of the Council’s Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils and the Community Councillors’ Code of Conduct”. The model Code of Conduct for Community Councillors is based on the Code of Conduct for local authority councillors and relevant public bodies as provided for in The Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Act 2000. As elected representatives of their communities, community councillors have a responsibility to make sure that they are familiar with, and if the model or any other code is adopted in relation to their community council, that their actions comply with the principles set out in that code. These principles include service to the community, integrity, objectivity and respect.

In addition to a Model Scheme of Establishment and Code of Conduct, to help community councils in their work, local authorities also have access to a model constitution, model standing orders and a good practice guidance. All of these documents are available on the Scottish Government website.

In addition, each local authority has a community council liaison officer (CCLO) working directly with community councils in their area. The model scheme provides that community councils must provide copies of their agendas and draft minutes to the CCLO within 14 days from the date of meetings.

Question reference: S4W-18574

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are open to communities that feel that their community council is failing to represent them properly.

If communities feel that their community council is failing to represent them properly, their first point of contact is the community council liaison officer in their local authority area.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage as many people as possible to actively engage with community councils. This involvement can include expressing their views at community council meetings, becoming a member of one or alternatively, ensuring that they cast their vote when community council elections are held.

That is why the Scottish Government, in collaboration with COSLA, has agreed to support the improvement service to undertake a project to help enhance the role of community councils, to include a proposal to run pilot projects to increase the number of contested elections.

Question reference: S4O-02696

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it would support a national "dementia-friendly" accreditation scheme.

Question reference: S4W-18533

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to parents whose children are sent to other parts of the UK for specialist hospital treatment.

Question reference: S4W-18483

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what procedures local authorities follow when ascertaining the capacity of (a) existing schools and (b) new build schools.

The procedures for ascertaining the capacity of both existing and new schools is a responsibility of individual local authorities. This means that each local authority has its own policy at present, however, in response to Recommendation 23 of the Commission on the Delivery of Rural Education which was published in April 2013, the Scottish Government is currently working with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland to develop guidance on a consistent approach which can be applied to capacity modelling in Scotland in future. This will be published in spring/summer 2014.

Question reference: S4O-02619

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill will contain mechanisms to ensure that the uptake of fair and ethically-traded goods and services through public procurement is monitored.

The Scottish Model of Procurement is not just about cost and quality, but about the best balance of cost, quality and sustainability.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill will introduce a sustainable procurement duty, requiring public bodies to consider how they can improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area in which that body primarily exercises its functions and act with a view to securing such improvement. This duty can support public bodies in the uptake of fair and ethical traded products if consistent with their policies and relevant to the particular contract in question.

The Bill also requires public bodies to set out their approach to this duty through their published procurement strategy, which they are required to report against annually. As part of the wider work to embed sustainable procurement into policy strategy and systems, Scottish Government have offered to work with the Scottish Fair Trade Forum to promote fair and ethical trading.

Question reference: S4O-02648

Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote Carers Rights Day.