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-07359

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the regional priorities of the single police force will be (a) determined and (b) met, and how it will measure the delivery of these.

The Scottish Police Authority and the Police Service will work with local authorities and others to set national and local priorities. Those will be delivered and measured through the strategic police plan for Scotland and the local police plans for each local authority area.

Within this framework, local authorities will be able to develop their own models of scrutiny and engagement, and the vast majority of them, including Highland Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council, are already involved in trialling these arrangements across Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-07357

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive who will appoint the chief constable for the single police force and when this will take place.

The Scottish Government has introduced legislation to the Parliament to establish a single Police Service of Scotland. The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill provides for the appointment of the chief constable by the Scottish Police Authority. Subject to the passage of the legislation, and the completion of the public appointments process, the chief constable is expected to be appointed by the Scottish Police Authority in the autumn.

Question reference: S4W-07361

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the single police force will have hubs in the (a) north and (b) north east.

Question reference: S4W-07354

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when the board for the single police force will be appointed and how it will be (a) constituted and (b) held accountable to communities.

Subject to the successful passage of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill, the intention is for the Scottish Police Authority to be appointed in the autumn. The bill currently provides that the Authority will have between seven and 11 members. The appointments process will be fair and open and regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and members will be appointed on the basis of their skills and expertise.

The Scottish Police Authority will be accountable to Ministers, Parliament and the people of Scotland. The bill contains a number of provisions as to how this accountability will be achieved.

Question reference: S4W-07416

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what current memoranda of understanding Scottish Enterprise has entered into, broken down by the (a) companies that have signed the memoranda, (b) level of investment from all parties and (c) proposed number of jobs that will be created.

Question reference: S4W-07418

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the legal status is of a memorandum of understanding and what the impact is when one party withdraws from its previous expression of intent.

Question reference: S4W-07419

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers to be the benefits of the use of memoranda of understanding.

Question reference: S4W-07417

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of the memoranda of understanding (MOU) that have fallen through in each year since 2007, showing the companies that signed the MOU; the investment involved from all parties; the proposed number of jobs to be created, and how and when it informed the Parliament that they were no longer going ahead.

Question reference: S4O-01005

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations Scottish Water must hold with communities prior to making changes to their water supply.

Question reference: S4W-06463

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 2 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with (a) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, (b) Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, (c) the UK Atomic Energy Authority and (d) the UK Government regarding fulfilling contractual obligations to reprocess nuclear waste at Dounreay.

The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with any external organisation regarding contractual obligations for overseas reprocessing contracts at Dounreay as these are matters for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. However, the Scottish Government did consult a range of key stakeholders, including the Highland Council and SEPA, on proposals regarding Dounreay radioactive waste substitution and worked closely with the UK Government to develop the eventual joint policy statement on this issue.