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-02458

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 2 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage and nurture innovation in schools.

Education Scotland promotes excellence and supports innovation and transformation in its dealings with schools and authorities on a daily basis. In addition Education Scotland provides a wide range of guidance and tools to support practitioners in schools to innovate as they, for example, implement Curriculum for Excellence. Education Scotland’s commitment to innovation and transformation is set in its Corporate Plan.

Question reference: S4O-02428

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scotland’s airports regarding an aviation strategy for Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-02401

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2013

To ask Scottish Government, in light of its investment in support of grassroots football, what recent discussions it has had with the football authorities regarding clubs being owned on a cooperative basis.

The Scottish Government continues to fund Supporters Direct Scotland, an organisation who works with the football authorities and supporters trusts to develop a community fans based ownership model.

Supporters Direct Scotland are actively supporting fans group including the foundation of Hearts and Dunfermline fans. Pars United secure a sustainable ownership model by providing expert advice and support.

Question reference: S4W-16308

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many small and medium enterprise start-ups there have been in the (a) South Ayrshire, (b) East Ayrshire, (c) Scottish Borders, (d) Dumfries and Galloway, (e) East Lothian and (f) South Lanarkshire local authority area in the last year; what the survival rate was in each area, and how many of these start-ups engaged with Business Gateways during the same period.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, data on the number of new VAT/PAYE registrations is released annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). These figures are used to monitor the number of business start-ups (births) and survival. Please note that these figures do not account for all business activity as only businesses with an annual turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £79,000) or employing via PAYE are required to register.

Table 1 shows the number of registered business births, for the last four years, and the latest 1-year/3-year survival rates. These data are taken from the ONS Business Demography 2011 publication, which contains the most up to date data available.

Table 1: Registered Business Births (2008 to 2011) and Survival Rates

Local Authority Area

Business Births (VAT/PAYE registrations)

Latest Business Survival Rates

2008

2009

2010

2011

1 year survival rate (businesses born in 2010)

3 year survival rate

(businesses born in 2008)

Dumfries and Galloway	375	345	315	385	88.9%	62.7%
East Ayrshire	285	255	255	285	88.2%	59.6%
East Lothian	275	265	250	275	88.0%	63.6%
Scottish Borders	375	305	315	315	88.9%	65.3%
South Ayrshire	320	315	280	340	83.9%	57.8%
South Lanarkshire	875	880	810	905	84.6%	60.6%

Source: Business Demography 2011, Office for National Statistics

Question reference: S4W-16130

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2013
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what it plans to do to reduce consumption of single-use carrier bags.

We propose to require retailers to charge for single use carrier bags from October 2014 to provide an incentive for people to reuse bags and help reduce litter.

We will bring forward draft regulations to the Scottish Parliament later this year in line with the proposals we set out in last year’s Safeguarding Scotland’s Resources consultation. Our intention is that retailers would be required to charge at least 5p for single use carrier bags, regardless of material, with a voluntary agreement that they will donate the proceeds to good causes (including environmental good causes).

We will engage further with retailers over the coming months on that proposed agreement as well as on the details of reporting and exemptions. The implementation date is designed to provide adequate lead-in time for businesses affected to prepare for the change.

Question reference: S4O-02308

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how the curriculum for excellence will generate the skills necessary for the growing renewables industry.

Question reference: S4F-01474

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2013

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the security services regarding the emergency landing at Prestwick Airport on 15 June 2013.

Question reference: S4O-02253

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on a possible strike by the Fire Brigades Union.

Question reference: S4O-02197

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what considerations informed the Scottish Court Service's review of court services.

Question reference: S4O-02122

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what approach it anticipates taking to the Airport Commission's inquiry into airport capacity in the UK.