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-25734

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25243 by John Swinney on 16 April 2015, on what date it plans to publish the responses to The Scottish Independence Bill: A Consultation on an Interim Constitution for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-25723

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken or commissioned, or plans to undertake or commission, a review of the operation of the planning regime to assess whether the reforms introduced by the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 and related legislation and guidance have created a planning service that is (a) fit for purpose, (b) more efficient, (c) more inclusive and (d) sustainable.

Scottish Ministers undertook a review one year after the introduction of the development management regulations which showed that the system was bedding down well but identified some issues. Legislation was subsequently amended to alleviate some of these. We have no plans at present to commission or undertake further general research on the operation of the planning system in Scotland but we will maintain an open dialogue with stakeholders who are involved in the planning process to identify where further improvements could provide the most benefit.

Question reference: S4W-25729

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much was or has been raised in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in (a) April and (b) May 2015 and how many transactions this relates to for each month.

Question reference: S4W-25733

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish detailed action plans to underpin Scotland's Economic Strategy.

Scotland’s Economic Strategy sets out an overarching framework for all Scottish Government policy and our delivery partners. It brings focus on increasing competitiveness and tackling inequality as two mutually supporting goals.

Since its publication, policy frameworks have been launched on Internationalisation and Scotland’s Business Pledge. As outlined in the strategy, Scotland's Trade and Investment Strategy, Scotland's Oil and Gas Strategy, Fair Work Strategy, and Social Justice Strategy, will also be published in due course.

Live updates are available at: http://gov.scot/economicstrategy.

Question reference: S4W-25725

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much it forecasts will be raised by the Landfill Tax in 2015-16, broken down by month.

Question reference: S4W-25736

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25018 by Fergus Ewing on 2 April 2015, when it will complete its analysis and publish a revised oil and gas bulletin.

Question reference: S4F-02821

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 May 2015

To ask the First Minister how much revenue has been raised by the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and the Landfill Tax since April 2015.

Question reference: S4O-04340

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on disabled people in Scotland of the Department for Work and Pensions' proposal to cap the Access to Work scheme.

Question reference: S4W-25271

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has taken account of spending on extra welfare and pensions costs in its proposals to boost UK spending by £165 billion and, if not, how these would be paid for.

The Scottish Government will make it a priority to press the incoming UK Government for an end to the current austerity agenda. Our proposal is to increase spending on public services by 0.5% a year in real terms from 2016-17 to 2019-20. This is estimated to provide at least an additional £140 billion of resources in real terms over the period 2016-17 to 2019-20 compared to the spending plans published in the March 2015 UK Budget. These plans are fiscally sustainable as both the deficit and national debt would be falling as a share of GDP by the end of this Parliament.

Question reference: S4W-25272

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an assessment of the cost of its proposals for (a) freezing the retirement age, (b) scrapping the so-called bedroom tax, (c) fully retaining child benefit and (d) increasing universal credit.