Questions and answers

Question reference: S4O-01864

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government since its credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA1 regarding any impact on the Scottish economy.

Question reference: S4W-13137

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that local authorities achieve consistent outcomes.

Local authorities are autonomous bodies which are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. It is for each local authority to determine appropriate outcomes for its area based on its understanding of local needs and opportunities. Local authorities are accountable to their own residents for their decisions, their actions (including work in partnership with other bodies) and the outcomes they achieve.

Question reference: S4W-13138

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what bonuses were paid to each local authority chief executive for 2011-12 and how these bonuses related to agreed outcomes.

Question reference: S4W-13136

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government who sets the objectives for local authority chief executives.

Question reference: S4O-01800

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to secure a connected network of local URTV stations and in what timescale.

Question reference: S4W-12353

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what investigations it has carried out into creating a subsidiary of Scottish Water to enter the utilities retail market.

The Scottish Government have no carried out no formal investigations into that matter. Scottish Water keep all issues of business growth under review whilst preferring to build on core strengths and existing areas of expertise and they keep Scottish Government appraised of their considerations. Were Scottish Water to create a subsidiary to enter the utilities retail market it would open up an entirely new business area requiring specific skills and expertise and would require them to take out a licence which brings considerable expense and obligation - they do not consider this to be a viable proposition at this time.

Scottish Water are working hard and successfully to increase the level of renewable energy generated from its estate and assets both as part of the core business and through its Horizons subsidiary. Scottish Water are also working diligently to reduce energy consumption across its operations. We believe that there is considerable opportunity for growth in energy production from the estate and assets both to reduce operating costs and for commercial gain by working with strategic partners through commercial arrangements for example landlord rental schemes for on-shore wind on Scottish Water catchments.

Question reference: S4W-12402

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the management of Scotland's airports regarding their preparedness to deal with severe snow conditions.

The Scottish Government meets the management of all of Scotland’s main airports on a regular basis. Discussions cover a wide range of issues including resilience and winter weather preparedness.

During bad weather events, we work closely with the airports to ensure information is shared and disseminated so that the transport network continues to work to best effect and passengers are kept informed.

Question reference: S4O-01759

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with HM Revenue and Customs regarding the tax paid by companies in receipt of Scottish Government grants.

Question reference: S4W-12142

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions for littering have been made by each local authority in each year since 2008.

The available information is given in the following table.

People proceeded against in Scottish courts for litter offences¹ by approximate local authority area², 2008-09 to 2011-12.

Local Authority	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	2
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	1	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	3	1	1	2
Dundee City	0	0	1	1
East Ayrshire	1	2	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	1	4	3	0
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	7	4	4	11
Fife	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	18	7	9	1
Highland	1	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	1	1	2
Midlothian	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	11	3	5	1
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	1	1	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	1
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	1	2	1	0
South Lanarkshire	1	0	1	0
Stirling	1	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	1	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0
Scotland	47	25	27	21

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

Question reference: S4W-12141

Asked by: Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty notices for littering have been issued by each local authority in each year since 2008.

The available information on non-court disposals for littering offences is given in the following table. The information held centrally is only available from the financial year 2008-09.

Information on fixed penalties issued by local authorities is not held centrally.

People given non-court disposals for littering offences¹, by approximate local authority area², 2008-09 to 2011-12

Local Authority/penalty	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Aberdeen City
Fiscal Fine	2	1	33	165
Aberdeenshire
Fiscal Fine	0	1	0	0
Angus
Fiscal Fine	1	2	0	1
Argyll and Bute
Fiscal Fine	5	9	2	1
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway
Fiscal Fine	25	22	9	11
Dundee City
Fiscal Fine	1	7	33	69
East Ayrshire
Fiscal Fine	16	25	14	3
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0
East Lothian
Fiscal Fine	0	0	1	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of
Fiscal Fine	37	88	266	263
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0
Falkirk
Fiscal Fine	69	48	186	174
Old-style FF/FP Code	1	0	0	0
Fife
Fiscal Fine	9	1	24	18
Glasgow City
Fiscal Fine	275	1,071	1,051	501
Old-style FF/FP Code	0	0	0	1
Highland
Fiscal Fine	6	3	5	4
Inverclyde
Fiscal Fine	45	45	31	72
Midlothian	0	0	0	0
Moray
Fiscal Fine	1	0	0	0
North Ayrshire
Fiscal Fine	0	0	0	3
North Lanarkshire
Fiscal Fine	40	37	53	33
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)³	1	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross
Fiscal Fine	28	21	6	0
Renfrewshire
Fiscal Fine	13	25	174	101
Scottish Borders
Fiscal Fine	3	2	0	1
Shetland Islands
Fiscal Fine	1	0	0	0
South Ayrshire
Fiscal Fine	22	22	14	3
South Lanarkshire
Fiscal Fine	69	46	4	0
Stirling
Fiscal Fine	6	2	13	14
West Dunbartonshire
Fiscal Fine	29	28	20	7
West Lothian
Fiscal Fine	39	54	86	64
Not Known
Fiscal Fine	7	11	8	1
Fiscal Fixed Penalty Notice	1	1	0	0
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)³	14	1	2	0
Police Formal Adult Warning	39	76	84	84
Police Restorative Justice	3	3	3	2
Police Warnings⁴	0	0	0	4
Verbal Warning	0	0	0	1
Warning Letter (Police/Children's Reporter)	9	0	2	0
Scotland
Police Formal Adult Warning	39	76	84	84
Police Restorative Justice	3	3	3	2
Other Police Warnings⁴	0	0	0	4
Verbal Warning	0	0	0	1
Warning Letter (Police/Children's Reporter)	9	0	2	0
Fiscal Fine	749	1,571	2,033	1,509
Fiscal Fixed Penalty Notice	1	1	0	0
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)³	16	1	2	1

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court. As there is no court recorded for police fixed penalties these cannot be broken down to local authorities.

3. Number of pre-Summary Justice Reform procurator fixed penalty codes. It is known that this category contains both fiscal fines and fixed penalties, however it is not possible to separate the numbers of each.

4. Mainly verbal warnings, but also includes prostitute and community warnings.

Chamber and committees