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-19266

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9066 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the matters of process raised with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) were the same matters that were raised with the chief executive of SEPA by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment on 30 November 2007.

Question reference: S3W-20222

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 12 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recent announcements by rail companies, Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation, what steps it is taking to protect train lines and services.

First ScotRail operates the services specified in its Franchise Agreement with Scottish ministers. First ScotRail is contracted under the terms of this agreement to continue to provide these services.

Network Rail is required under the terms of its license to provide at least the current level of service on the network and to improve that over the coming five year period as specified by Scottish ministers in their High Level Output Specification, and monitored and enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation.

Question reference: S3W-20221

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 12 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the redundancies announced by rail company DB Schenker, previously the English Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd, will have an impact on employment in the rail industry and freight services in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-20234

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18835 by Stewart Stevenson on 8 January 2009, how much funding the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) will receive from the 2008-09 budget and how this compares with the funding that MACS has received in the past.

Question reference: S3W-20233

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18831 by Stewart Stevenson on 8 January 2009, whether it will be re-advertising for new members of the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland in order to make the further appointments expected.

Question reference: S3O-05806

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 5 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture last met representatives of the creative industries.

I regularly meet with a wide range of representatives involved in the 13 creative industries “ for example in the last month I have met representatives involved in design, architecture, film, music, performing arts, TV and radio. I have also met with organisations with an interest in the cultural and creative industries such as the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and unions involved in cultural and creative industries.

Question reference: S3W-18919

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 2 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any meetings between Scottish ministers, accompanied by civil servants other than ministerial private secretaries, and representatives of the Scottish Green Party to discuss policy matters since May 2007, also showing the (a) dates of the meetings, (b) topics discussed and (c) departments represented.

The following table lists any meetings between Scottish ministers and the Scottish Green Party to discuss policy matters since May 2007.

Minister	Date of Meeting	Topic Discussed
First Minister	13-12-07	Higher Education
Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture	04-12-08	Traditional Arts
Minister for Parliamentary Business	18-06-08	Scottish Government''s Draft Legislative Programme
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth	18-12-08 01-10-08 19-03- 08 30-01- 08 29-01- 08 28-01-08 21-01-08 17-01-08 06-11-07 16-10-07 20-09-07	All meetings related to the Budget
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism	18-12-08	Homecoming Party Leader Launch
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing	26-11-08	Investigation of c diff deaths at the Vale of Leven hospital
Minister for Public Health	18-09-08	Cross Party Group on Sexual Health
Minister for Communities and Sport	26-11-08	Violence against Women 16 days of action
Minister for Schools and Skills	25-06-08	Access to Outdoor Education & Education in the Outdoors
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment	06-09-07 11-11-08	Incineration of animal carcasses Launch of Comrie Insulation project
Minister for Environment	26-03-08	Greener Scotland Communication
Cabinet Secretary for Justice	13-06-07 16-10-07	Meeting title unknown Hate Crime Bill
Minister for Community Safety	24-1-08 17-04-08 23-04-08	Drugs Strategy No2ID Drugs Strategy

Question reference: S3W-20118

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the design capacity of the Borders railway project is sufficient to meet the peak-period patronage projections.

Question reference: S3W-20117

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest patronage predictions are for the Borders railway project and on what these predictions are based.

The Borders railway project has a predicted patronage of approximately 1.4 million single journeys, or 700,000 return journeys, in its opening year. This is based on the average of two previous independent studies into the expected demand for a journey time of one hour, adjusted to reflect the current planned 55 minute journey time. This adjustment has been made using the principles of the Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook, a standard rail industry tool.

Question reference: S3W-20119

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to secure the appropriate possessions to allow the connection of the Borders line with the main network and what steps are still needed.