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: S5W-06323

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what role it anticipates electric vehicles will play in its emissions reduction targets.

Question reference: S5W-06320

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the research commissioned by the Institute of the Motor Industry, published in November 2016, which highlighted that Scotland has a lack of qualified repairers of electric vehicles.

As set out in the Switched on Scotland Plug-in Vehicle Roadmap Review, published on 7 November 2016, we recognise that there is a requirement to develop specific skills and knowledge to support widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), including ensuring mechanics understand how repairing and servicing an EV is different to a fossil-fuelled vehicle.

Certain Scottish colleges and training centres are incorporating EVs into their wider automotive training programmes. For example, Ayrshire College offers a one year course in Access to Motor Vehicle-Hybrid Vehicle Technology and GTG offer an Institute of Motor Industry L3 Award in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Operation and Maintenance.

Question reference: S5W-06316

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make to future drink driving awareness campaigns, in light of the increase in the number of drivers found to be over the limit during Police Scotland's four-week enforcement activity.

The results of the 2016-17 Police Scotland Festive enforcement campaign indicate that there is still a minority of drivers who persist in driving after consuming alcohol. We will carefully consider the results of the enforcement campaign to help ensure that future awareness campaigns are effectively targeted as they can be at those who are continuing to drive while under the influence of alcohol.

Question reference: S5W-05088

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) high and (b) sheriff court criminal prosecutions there have been in each of the last 10 years, broken down by type of crime, and how many led to a conviction.

Question reference: S5W-05090

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 25 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many sheriff court civil actions have been brought in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) sheriffdom and (b) court, and how many were (i) successful, (ii) dismissed or absolvitor granted and (iii) abandoned.

Question reference: S5W-06048

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will monitor the effectiveness of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 in terms of community involvement in public sector decision-making.

The Scottish Government will keep under review the different Parts of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to look at the impact on improving outcomes for people and communities across a number of aspects including participation in decision making.

In terms of community planning, sections 8 and 12 of the 2015 Act require each community planning partnership to prepare and publish progress reports on their local outcome improvement plan and locality plans for their communities each year. These annual reports must set out the extent of their participation with community bodies and how effective that participation has been in enabling community bodies to contribute to community planning.

Question reference: S5W-06049

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide to communities in the Lothian parliamentary region so that they can participate in the additional local decision-making opportunities expected as a result of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

In 2017-18 we will continue to invest £20m in the Empowering Communities Fund, to ensure that communities are well equipped and supported to deliver long-term solutions that tackle poverty and inequality on their own terms and are able to participate in and make decisions on the priorities that matter most to them.

The draft budget has also allocated £10m to the Scottish Land Fund, in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to continue this level of funding for the land fund, until 2020. The fund supports rural and urban communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets. A number of groups have been in contact with the Big Lottery with the aim of applying to the fund, and groups such as Action Porty have been successful in receiving funding to take forward their acquisition of Bellfield Church as a community hub.

Question reference: S5F-00820

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports of NHS boards spending over £1,500 on a single agency nurse shift.

Question reference: S5W-06051

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that £65 million will be required over the next 10 years to keep Historic Environment Scotland's properties in a satisfactory condition, whether it plans to make further funding available to the agency in addition to the £6.6 million recently announced and, if so, how much.

Our built heritage infrastructure is a key asset which contributes strongly to the Scottish economy and must be maintained. For the first time ever, we now have a thorough assessment of the condition of Scottish Ministers’ estate of properties in care. The report and further work on prioritisation will provide a basis for investment decisions over the next decade and determine how we will manage over 300 of Scotland’s most cherished places and associated collections for future generations.

Decisions on the future funding for conservation and maintenance of the Properties in Care will be taken in the broad context of the Scottish Government’s spending priorities as part of the process for future Spending Reviews. Historic Environment Scotland (HES) will receive approximately £45 million in Scottish Government Grant-in-Aid in the 2017-18 draft budget, and will generate a further £45 million commercial income.

Question reference: S5W-06052

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what resources each of its enterprise agencies are allocating to develop trade relations with Canada ahead of the ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Scotland's trade and investment work in Canada is led by Scottish Development International (SDI). SDI currently have a team of 8 based in Canada across offices in Toronto and Calgary. In addition to the trade and investment staff working for SDI in Canada, many of SDI's staff based in Scotland spend a proportion of their time supporting the development of trade and investment opportunities in this important market. Scottish Government staff work closely with SDI on trade and investment matters. This includes implementing the First Minister's four point plan, elements of the Programme for Government and the Scottish Government's Trade and Investment Strategy.