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-04705

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it gives to the needs of local communities when considering changes to the local court network.

Question reference: S4F-00351

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4F-00329

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4W-04041

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of its posts require the jobholder to have British citizenship.

Under the Civil Service Nationality Rules, certain posts where the nature of the work requires special allegiance to the Crown can be deemed to be reserved for UK nationals. There are no posts within the Scottish Government which are reserved for UK Nationals.

The Civil Service Nationality Rules govern eligibility for employment in the UK Civil Service on the grounds of nationality and must be followed in our recruitment and appointment procedures. There are no posts within the Scottish Government which are reserved for UK Nationals, and this has been the case since Devolution in 1999.

What this means is that normally only those people who are nationals of the UK, European Economic Area (EEA), Commonwealth Countries and Dependant Territories can work within the UK Civil Service, including the Scottish Government. Certain family members of EEA nationals who themselves don’t meet the nationality rules may be eligible to join the civil service if the EEA national has triggered his or her freedom of movement rights under EC law.

Question reference: S4F-00317

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4F-00293

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4F-00270

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4F-00255

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4F-00236

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2011

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4W-03182

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions (a) it or (b) Transport Scotland has had with the rail industry in 2011 regarding preparedness for severe winter weather.

Transport Scotland has met throughout the year with both Network Rail and ScotRail to discuss resilience issues. These meetings have resulted in securing over £2 million of ScotRail’s investment.

The investment will bring about improvements to passenger communication, winter modifications of trains, better train maintenance facilities and station and plant equipment.

These improvements alongside Network Rail’s significant maintenance and track improvement works being undertaken should go a long way to help reduce the potential impact of severe winter weather.