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: S4W-13152

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what programmes it supports to encourage increased bus usage.

The Scottish Government promotes increased bus patronage in various ways. We contributed to an accessible bus network through the £50 million annual Bus Services Operators Grant and the general revenue grant to local authorities, both of which are designed to safeguard essential services and develop new routes. We encourage attractive, quality services, as through Statutory Quality Partnerships and funding for new, low carbon vehicles under the Scottish Green Bus Fund. In addition, we spent £187 million on the National Concessionary Travel scheme, which incentivises bus use by those entitled to free travel under the scheme.

Question reference: S4W-13157

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages economic growth through its transport policies.

The key role of transport is as a facilitator of economic activity in other sectors, carrying people and freight around the country and beyond. Investing in Scotland's transport infrastructure enhances productivity, encourages more efficient labour markets and promotes competition, underpinning current and future economic growth.

To this end the Scottish Government has invested through its transport policies over £8.3 billion in transport since 2007, the largest transport investment programme Scotland has ever seen, as we strive to improve journey times, reduce emissions and improve quality, accessibility and affordability across our strategic transport networks. And in difficult economic times, current investment in transport is directly supporting over 12,000 jobs.

Question reference: S4W-13154

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have used public transport in the last five years, broken down by transport mode.

Question reference: S4W-13155

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to support public transport in the last five years, broken down by transport mode.

Question reference: S4W-11976

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how onshore gas extraction fits into its energy strategy.

<>Scotland’s energy needs are set out in our Draft Energy Generation Policy Statement – which sets out the pathway to a low carbon generation mix in Scotland, supported by a diverse portfolio of energy sources to reflect the breadth of Scotland’s energy resources and ensure security of our energy supply. As part of that, the Scottish Government is open to onshore gas extraction, which, along with all other energy production in Scotland is subjected to a rigorous regulatory regime to ensure it is sourced and produced with due regard to the environment .Onshore gas is a valuable national resource which can play a part in Scotland’s energy mix. The Scottish Government therefore works closely with the UK Government on the licencing of onshore gas extraction in Scotland and with Scottish Environmental Protection Agency on the regulation of unconventional gas in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-11916

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss joint working on plant health strategies.

The Minister for Environment and Climate Change participated in two recent COBR meetings on Chalara and he also wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about plant health on 5 November 2012.

Scottish Government officials have also been liaising with UK officials over the development of the GB Interim Chalara Control Plan and on other plant health issues through participation in the UK plant health governance groups.

Question reference: S4O-01764

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local planning decisions should be made by local councillors.

Question reference: S4T-00198

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the workforce of Montgomery Litho Ltd following its liquidation.

Question reference: S4O-01686

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent advice the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has given to local authorities regarding charging for instrumental music tuition.

Question reference: S4W-11785

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 20 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the promotion of (a) Gaelic, (b) the Scots language and (c) other indigenous languages in each year from 2007-08, broken down by category of expenditure.

Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the promotion of (a) Gaelic, (b) the Scots language and (c) other indigenous languages in each year from 2007-08, broken down by category of expenditure.

(S4W-11785)

Alasdair Allan: In the following table we have listed the amounts spent by the Scottish Government on Gaelic and Scots broken down by categories of expenditure.

Gaelic and Scots Spend since 2007

Body / Area of Expenditure	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
MG ALBA	£11.9m	£12.4m	£12.4m	£12.4m	£11.8m	£11.8m
Bòrd na Gidhlig	£4.459m	£5.459m	£5.459m	£5.459m	£5.150m	£5.150m
Gaelic Education	£6.141m	£6.641m	£8.941m	£8.150m	£7.565m	£7.930m
GaelicSpend	£22.5m	£24.5m	£26.8m	£26.009m	£24.635m	£25.0m
Scottish Language Dictionaries	£0	£0	£200k	£200k	£200k	£200k
Scots Language Centre	£0	£0	£70k	£70k	£70k	£70k
Scots Development Fund	£0	£0	£30k	£30k	£0	£0
Scots Spend	£0	£0	£300k	£300k	£270k	£270k

* The Scottish Government also supports various services using British Sign Language but figures are not held centrally.

** The Scottish Government also spends significant funds on the English language. This information also is not held centrally.