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-03214

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are enough supply teachers available for rural schools.

Question reference: S4W-20883

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much Scotland spends annually on international development, expressed as a proportion of the UK's spend.

Question reference: S4W-20880

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if Scotland became independent, what measures it would introduce to tackle tax avoidance, and how much additional revenue these would raise.

The Scottish Government plans to introduce a simple and transparent tax system after independence designed to minimise the opportunities for tax avoidance that have been exposed in the UK system, which mean that too many individual and corporate taxpayers do not pay their fair share of taxes. As set out on page 121 of Scotland’s Future – Your Guide to an Independent Scotland, over the course of the first independent parliament, the Scottish Government and Revenue Scotland will work together to simplify the tax system to reduce compliance costs, streamline reliefs and help to reduce tax avoidance, with a target revenue gain of £250 million a year by the end of the first term.

The Scottish Government is determined to act decisively on avoidance of devolved taxes. The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Bill which is currently before Parliament contains powers which will enable Revenue Scotland to take robust action to counteract tax avoidance, including the introduction of a general anti-avoidance rule for the devolved taxes. The Scottish Government will seek to replicate this approach in developing a Scottish tax system following independence.

Question reference: S4W-20882

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if Scotland became independent, at what rate it would set married couple's tax allowance; how many couples would benefit, and what the average annual benefit would be.

Question reference: S4W-20878

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if Scotland became independent, what tax reliefs it would need to abolish to raise the "target revenue gain of £250 million a year by the end of the first term" set out on page xiii of Scotland's Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20881

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it calculated the "target revenue gain of £250 million a year by the end of the first term" set out on page xiii of Scotland's Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20884

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if Scotland became independent, how much it would cost to (a) set up and (b) operate annually its proposed (i) national regulatory authority for energy, (ii) fair work commission, (iii) financial regulator, (iv) independent fiscal commission, (v) energy fund, (vi) motor services agency, (vii) pensions regulator, (viii) regulator for postal services, (ix) security and intelligence agency, (x) defence headquarters, (xi) asylum agency and (xii) borders and migration service.

The transition to independence provides a significant opportunity to improve and invest in public service delivery in Scotland.

Scottish taxpayers already contribute to UK expenditure on reserved functions. The elected government of an independent Scotland will have control over all public expenditure in Scotland and will be able to take spending decisions which reflect the priorities, needs and wishes of the Scottish people.

The size of the one-off investment in systems and processes as a result of the transition to independence will be a small proportion of an independent Scotland’s total budget. Further information is available on page 345 of Scotland’s Future – Your Guide to an Independent Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20879

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, if Scotland became independent, other than the shares for rights scheme and married couple’s tax allowance, what tax reliefs it would streamline.

Question reference: S4O-03174

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans are in place to allow the MV Loch Seaforth to berth should any problems arise with the newly fitted link-spans at the ports of Stornoway and UIlapool.

Question reference: S4W-20363

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be interim funding to support improvements in the quality of life of people with dementia while the Life Changes Trust funding programme is developed.

Funding to improve dementia services to help improve the quality of life for people with dementia and for the delivery of local dementia strategies continues to be drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHSScotland and local authorities by the Scottish Government.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides national funding to support delivery of the 2013-16 National Dementia Strategy and to help services meet the Standards of Care for Dementia and provide high-quality, safe and effective care, treatment and support. This includes funding to NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Social Services Council and Alzheimer Scotland to deliver the Promoting Excellence dementia skills and competencies framework to ensure all health and social services staff have the right skills and knowledge to support people with dementia. This includes supporting staff to deliver the Scottish Government’s national commitment to provide a minimum of a year’s worth of dedicated post-diagnostic support, coordinated by a named and trained link worker.

NHS expenditure only on mental health (including dementia) in 2012-13 was £899 million. For dementia, this NHS spend will not include costs associated with treating people with dementia in hospital. Overall spend on dementia in health and social care is difficult to calculate given the diverse way dementia spend is made through social work and other budgets such as older people’s care, housing adaptations, telecare, palliative care, primary care and pharmacy. In addition, Change Fund money has been used across Scotland to improve and modernise community-based dementia services and resources to support better care, information and quality of life for people with dementia.