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-32053

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail all costs associated with its sponsorship of the Scottish Cup for the (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10 football seasons.

The Scottish Government does not sponsor the Scottish Cup.

In 2008, Mr Willie Haughey of City Refrigeration Holdings, arranged with the Scottish Football Association (SFA), to sponsor the Scottish Cup for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 football seasons. Mr Haughey donated the activation rights for these two years to the Scottish Government.

In 2008-09, the Scottish Cup was used as a platform to promote Homecoming and health initiatives to Scots. In 2009-10, the Cup has been branded the Active Nation Scottish Cup as part of the Active Nation campaign, which encourages people of all ages and abilities to be more active.

The Cup was taken on tour in partnership with the Scottish FA, where 6,000 school pupils took part in coaching sessions and over 20,000 healthy eating advice booklets were distributed.

The media evaluation following the Homecoming Scottish Cup 2008-09 delivered brand exposure for Homecoming worth £3.26 million across television, radio, online and press. Television alone delivered nine hours of brand exposure for Homecoming.

Activation costs associated with the Homecoming Scottish Cup in 2008-09 were £517,287 including VAT.

Active Nation Scottish Cup costs will be made available following the conclusion of the Cup campaign in May 2010. To date, expenditure is £330,364 including VAT. Please note that expenditure is not yet reconciled beyond 31 March 2009 and figures may be subject to change. Expenditure in both 2008-09 and 2009-10 includes some mandatory site branding required by contract by the Scottish FA.

Question reference: S3W-31931

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the revenue raised from the sale of land previously used as ram and bull stud farms at Knocknagael and Beechwood was used exclusively in the crofting sector and to support the bull hire scheme and whether the revenue raised from any subsequent such sales will be used exclusively to support the bull hire scheme or the creation of community-managed stud farms.

The receipt for the sale of Beechwood Farm to Highlands and Islands Enterprise was £3.15 million, as notified to Parliament in the answer to question S3W-17877 on 27 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

It is intended to sell off surplus land from the remaining farms. The stud facilities will be upgraded and some sale proceeds will be used to defray costs involved in setting up the new Register of Crofts proposed by the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S3W-31033

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when the current chief executive or equivalent of each (a) non-departmental public body, (b) Executive agency and (c) other public body was appointed.

Information on the start date of public body chief executives is not held centrally.

In the case of non-departmental public bodies, the effective start date is a contractual matter for agreement between the employing public body and the chief executive.

Information on the start dates of chief executives of Scottish Government executive agencies and non-ministerial departments is set out in the following tables:

Scottish Government Agencies	Chief Executive	Start Date
Accountant in Bankruptcy	Rosemary Winter-Scott	1 October 2009
Disclosure Scotland	David Patel	30 March 2009
Historic Scotland	Ruth Parsons (Acting)	1 October 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education	Graham Donaldson	1 November 2002
National Archives of Scotland	George P Mackenzie	1 January 2001
Scottish Court Service	Eleanor Emberson	5 July 2004
Scottish Housing Regulator	Michael Cameron (Acting)	19 October 2009
Scottish Prison Service	Willie Pretswell (Acting)	30 November 2009
Scottish Public Pensions Agency	Neville Mackay	2 August 2004
Social Work Inspection Agency	Alexis Jay	4 April 2004
Student Awards Agency for Scotland	Tracey Slaven	1 October 2009
Transport Scotland	David Middleton	9 February 2009

Non-Ministerial Departments	Chief Executive	Start Date
General Register Office for Scotland	Duncan MacNiven	4 August 2003
Registers of Scotland	Sheenagh Adams	1 July 2009
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator	Jane Ryder	1 February 2007

Question reference: S3W-31567

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how often the Minister for Environment has consulted Crofters Commission commissioners regarding the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill since her appointment.

Question reference: S3W-31568

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the Bull Hire Scheme does not contravene state aid rules and, if so, whether it will retain the scheme.

Question reference: S3W-31569

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the two Crofters Commission-owned farms near Inverness formerly used in connection with the Bull Hire Scheme that remain unsold.

Question reference: S3W-31109

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to promote groundskeeping through continued professional development, apprenticeships and careers services for young people.

Groundskeeping is one of a number of specialised subjects covered within the framework of the Amenity Horticulture Modern Apprenticeship. There are currently 150 apprentices in training, 24 of whom began this year.

Training provision for groundskeeping in Scotland is informed by Lantra, Sector Skills Council, responsible for promoting skills and careers within environmental and land based industries.

Question reference: S3W-31110

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the financial and environmental implications of local authorities installing artificial instead of grass playing surfaces.

Question reference: S3W-30847

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 28 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in (i) 1997, (ii) 2007 and (iii) the last year for which figures are available.

During the financial year 1997-98 one million people (20% of the population) were in relative poverty (before housing costs) and 1,060,000 people (21% of the population) in Scotland were in absolute poverty (before housing costs).

The financial year 2007-08 is the last year for which figures are currently available. During this year 860,000 people (17% of the population) were in relative poverty (before housing costs) and 560,000 people (11% of the population) were in absolute poverty (before housing costs).

Question reference: S3W-30707

Asked by: Jamie McGrigor, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort regarding the impact of the closure of (a) access roads on 9-10 January 2009 and (b) the funicular railway on 10 January 2010.

In view of the extreme weather affecting the whole of Scotland on the weekend referred to, it was not necessary for the Scottish Government to contact the Cairngorm ski resort as any decisions regarding access to the resort were the responsibility of the operators of the ski centre, Transport Scotland and the local roads authority, having also taken advice on safety issues from Northern Constabulary.