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-17415

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many informal kinship care placements under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 have been applied for in each of the last three years and how many permanence orders were granted.

Information on the numbers of children living in informal kinship care placements under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 is not centrally held.

The number of permanence orders granted in each of the last three years is:

Number of permanence orders and permanence orders with authority to

adopt issued each year from 2008-2009 and 2011-2012

Year	2008- 2009	2009- 2010	2010- 2011	2011- 2012*
Number of Permanence Orders	1	110	105	233
Number of Permanence Orders With Authority to Adopt	1	32	67	109
Total Permanence Orders	2	142	172	342

Note:

*This refers to the number of permanence orders granted between the

1 August 2011 and 31 July 2012.

Question reference: S4W-17414

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has researched or will research whether there is a link between kinship care and the likelihood of developing (a) foetal alcohol and methadone syndromes, (b) separation anxiety and (c) attachment disorder.

The Scottish Government has not researched whether there is a link between kinship care and the likelihood of developing foetal alcohol and methadone syndromes as these both develop during pregnancy as a direct result of a mother drinking alcohol excessively or using methadone.

The Scottish Government has also not researched separation anxiety and/or attachment disorder. However, we do recognise that some children within the care system may experience this at some point and that it is related to a child’s early life experiences and the impact of poor attachment from birth.

Question reference: S4W-17413

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what research on kinship care arrangements it has funded in each of the last three years and whether it plans to fund future research on this.

As part of the on-going funding to CHILDREN 1^st National Kinship Care service and Citizens Advice Scotland we continually seek the views of individual kinship carers, kinship carer groups and key stakeholders in respect of arrangements, resources and learning needs.

In addition over the next two years, through strategic funding partnerships, the Scottish Government also funds the Mentor Foundation UK to undertake work to look at breaking the inter-generational cycle of children being looked after and having poorer outcomes.

Question reference: S4W-17416

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what duties local authorities have in relation to informal kinship care placements and what guidance it provides to them on what support should be provided to the carers.

Local authorities are not currently obliged to provide specific support to those in informal kinship care arrangements, except under their general duties set out in section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

In 2007 and 2008 the Scottish Government published the documents Getting It Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care and Moving Forward in Kinship and Foster Care to identify good practice in kinship and foster care across Scotland.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/205513/0054689.pdf.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/262356/0078450.pdf.

Question reference: S4W-17412

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with its review of kinship care allowances and when it will be published.

Question reference: S4O-02393

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the effectiveness of the Douglas Street treatment suite in Hamilton and whether NHS Lanarkshire plans to introduce similar services elsewhere.

Question reference: S4O-02330

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that pyrolysis energy from waste plants has a role to play in achieving its zero waste target and what its position is on the comment of Pete Wishart MP that they should not be given planning permission as they are a “pollutant belching monstrosity”.

Question reference: S4W-15636

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the amount that will be available for projects under the Landfill Communities Fund following the devolution of additional taxation powers and how this compares with the current level of funding.

In 2010-11, the most recent year for which full figures are available, the maximum amount that landfill operators were able to pay into the landfill tax credit scheme that supports the current UK Landfill Tax Communities fund was set at 5.5% of their total tax liability. In that year, around £5 million was contributed to projects in Scotland [out of a total distributed UK-wide of £71 million]. Over the past five years, the fund has distributed between £4 million and £5 million annually to projects in Scotland.

The Landfill Tax (Scotland) Bill includes provision to establish a landfill tax credit scheme for Scotland. This will replace the current UK schemes as it applies to Scotland.

As set out in our consultation (Protecting Our Resources: a Consultation on a Scottish Landfill Tax), the Scottish Government intends to raise the tax credit threshold to increase the maximum amount that landfill operators in Scotland will be able to pay into the fund by 10 per cent over the UK system, for the first three years of its operation. As with the current UK scheme, the total amount available through the scheme will be proportionate to receipts from landfill tax in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-15044

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to require care home dutyholders to display fire risk assessment certificates in premises for which they are responsible.

Question reference: S4W-15043

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will require fire risk assessors to provide care home dutyholders with a fire risk assessment compliance certificate and to report the issuing of the certificate to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.