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: S3W-28752

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed whether more small and medium-sized enterprises are winning public sector contracts as a consequence of changes in policy.

Question reference: S3W-28748

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are given a level playing field in tendering for public sector work.

The Scottish Government''s Economic Recovery Programme states that we will do all we can to help Scottish businesses and we are committed to ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have fair and equal access to public sector contracts in Scotland. To achieve this, we have introduced the Public Contracts Scotland portal, providing businesses with easy access to contract opportunities. Earlier this year, I asked all public bodies to adopt six simple steps to improve access by small and medium-enterprises to contract opportunities. They are:

Adopt the Supplier Charter;

Use the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal;

Review contract award procedures;

Use outcome based tender specifications;

Include in terms and conditions a requirement that contractors pay any sub-contractors within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice, and

Monitor spend with SMEs.

I also announced, on 28 October 2009, that following discussion with Scottish Chambers of Commerce, the Scottish Government intends to introduce, in 2010, a national database for pre-qualification information, to reduce the burden of tendering for public contracts.

Question reference: S3W-28751

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2009
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed whether more small and medium-sized enterprises are now on approved lists of public sector contractors as a consequence of changes in policy.

Question reference: S3W-28510

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 2 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what its performance was in answering ministerial correspondence in the second quarter of 2009.

Question reference: S3W-27600

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 22 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what its performance was in answering ministerial correspondence in the first quarter of 2009.

Question reference: S3W-26590

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to encourage the growth of family history centres.

The ScotlandsPeople partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) and the Court of the Lord Lyon has made the key central government records more easily accessible “ at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh and on the internet at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. The same records are being made available to local authorities which set up family history centres bringing together the range of local sources of interest to genealogists. We see ancestral tourism as an important way to promote economic growth and we welcome the establishment of local centres which help spread that benefit throughout Scotland, as well as improving access for residents who want to research their ancestry locally.

Question reference: S3W-26589

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any joint family history centres and whether it will detail where they are located, broken down by local authority.

All local authorities offer assisted family history searches, provided by the registrar of births, deaths and marriages. A joint family history centre brings together that service with access to the other local authority sources of most interest to family historians “ notably those held in the local archives and library. Very few authorities integrate all these sources but we are aware of the following local centres, involving the local registers of births etc and more than one of the other sources:

Dundee City Council: Dundee

East Ayrshire Council: Kilmarnock

Glasgow City Council: Glasgow

Highland Council: Inverness (from October 2009)

Scottish Borders Council: Hawick.

Other centres are planned by a further eight local authorities.

Question reference: S3W-26588

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage local history and oral history groups as well as local authorities to engage with their counterparts in communities with the same place names abroad to build on the success of Homecoming 2009.

Homecoming Scotland 2009 has served as a great stimulus in encouraging individual local authorities and communities to engage with their counterparts in communities around the world that share the same place name.

A number of local authorities have proactively developed links with their towns in the context of their Homecoming activity this year and, while it is for local authorities to determine what cultural activities they pursue in order to raise their profile at home and overseas, we would of course welcome and encourage any activity undertaken by local authorities, local history and oral history beyond the Homecoming Year which prompts learning and the sharing of learning and which develops and promotes an understanding of Scotland, its communities and their place in the world.

A notable example of communities with the same place name engaging together is the This Is Who Are project being delivered by International Cultural Connections as part of the Homecoming Scotland programme. Through a series of community photography projects that pairs Canadian towns and cities with the places they were named after in Scotland, the connections between Scotland and its diaspora in Canada have been explored. In addition to the photography generated by each community, interviews have been conducted with participants exploring their Scottish heritage and knowledge of contemporary Scotland. The exhibition is touring venues in Scotland and Canada and will continue to do so beyond the close of the Homecoming Year.

Question reference: S3O-07618

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 3 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it will give to further develop the biotechnology industries in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S3W-25342

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what calculations backed up the assurances of the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment on 10 June 2009 (Official Report c. 18164) that the announced levels of Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2010 funding were secure despite possible fluctuations in the value of the pound against the euro.

A total exchange rate gain of ‚¬33 million euro has been estimated as a result of the £/‚¬ exchange rate depreciation from the rate as originally assumed for the SRDP. ‚¬14 million of those gains have been realised through drawing fewer euros for the LFASS scheme years of 2007 and 2008 and ‚¬19 million are estimated to be available from the remaining programming period until 2013.

The estimated net cost of the LFASS changes are ‚¬25 million euro from 2009-13 (that is having taken account of underspends and the proposed effects of rebaselining). Actual cost will depend on the level of uptake. There are therefore currently estimated to be more than sufficient gains from exchange rate movements to cover additional costs.