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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 713 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-16634

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the paper on pensions that the First Minister referred to in his interview with The Sunday Post on 4 August 2013 will be published, and what its scope will be.

Question reference: S4W-16641

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the reported comment by the First Minister in The Sunday Post on 4 August 2013 regarding EU pension regulations, what its position is on an independent Scotland (a) opting-out of such regulations, (b) breaking up cross-border schemes and (c) any other options in relation to these.

Question reference: S4W-16640

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the reported comment by the First Minister in The Sunday Post on 4 August 2013 that “the way to deal with [European pensions regulations] is to get a derogation so nobody is forced into a more accelerated settlement of the pension deficit and secondly, an option of splitting the schemes between Scotland and the rest of the UK”, whether it can rule out the possibility of breaking up pension schemes..

Question reference: S4W-16636

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the reported comment by the First Minister in The Sunday Post on 4 August 2013 that “the way to deal with [European pensions regulations] is to get a derogation so nobody is forced into a more accelerated settlement of the pension deficit” reflects a change in the Scottish Government's position from that of 2 May 2013 when the First Minister said that “the Scottish Government would not seek an opt-out from European pensions regulations in an independent Scotland because one is not required or necessary” and “we are not seeking an opt-out from the EU regulations" (Official Report, c. 19317).

Question reference: S4W-16632

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on what date Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2012-13 will be published.

Question reference: S4W-16633

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of the methodologies applied in Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2012-13 will differ from previous editions and, if so, which.

The methodologies used to produce Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland are peer reviewed, subject to consultation, and are widely accepted to be the best methods currently available. As with all such estimation methods they are subject to on-going refinements to improve the quality of the publication and to ensure that it continues to meet users’ needs. As with all National Statistics publications, any changes to the methodology will be communicated to users in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The chief statistician has final responsibility for deciding on statistical methods, standards and procedures used to produce national statistics, as set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Question reference: S4O-02316

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what further support it will provide to help the regeneration of small-to-medium sized town centres.

Question reference: S4W-15421

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 13 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many staff employed by its contractors in the Parliament are on zero-hour contracts.

Question reference: S4O-02283

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on delivering the new Haddington hospital.

Question reference: S4O-02150

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many more 16 to 24-year-olds are employed on zero-hour contracts than in 2007.