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 323 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-14107

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were (a) arrested for breach of the peace between 29 March and 1 April 2013 and (b) convicted of breach of the peace on 2 and 3 April 2013 and how many of these convictions were announced via news releases from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not hold information on numbers of accused persons arrested for any charge. The information requested in part (a) of the question is therefore not available from COPFS.

In relation to part (b) of the question information held on the COPFS database shows that a total of 13 people were convicted of a charge of breach of the peace on
2 and 3 April 2013. There were no news releases issued from COPFS in relation to any of these convictions.

Question reference: S4W-13600

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13035 by Alex Neil on 7 March 2013, for what reason this information is not held centrally; what impact not holding the information in this manner has on how it assesses whether the NHS is meeting its equalities obligations, and whether it will provide the information requested and confirm what specific equality duties are recorded in each NHS board's workforce plan.

Under the Equality Act 2010, all NHS boards are legally required to hold and publish the information requested in S4W-13035. It is the responsibility of the individual NHS boards to publish the outcomes individually in a manner that is readily accessible to the public and it is their responsibility to monitor and identify measurable outputs and align reporting structures with existing board governance and performance systems.

Question reference: S4T-00293

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on recent reports expressing concern at the police handling of unauthorised protests.

Question reference: S4O-01937

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how NHS boards apply the Liverpool Care Pathway.

Question reference: S4W-13034

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether all NHS board workforce plans (a) comply with the Equality Act 2010 and (b) contain specific equality duties.

The information requested, regarding whether all NHS board workforce plans (a) comply with the Equality Act 2010 and (b) contains specific equality duties, is not centrally held.

However, revised workforce planning guidance relating to this matter was issued in 2011 and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/8405/5

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to comply with the Equality Act 2010.

Question reference: S4W-13035

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what specific equality duties are recorded in each NHS board workforce plan.

Question reference: S4O-01901

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the effectiveness of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

Question reference: S4W-11911

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will legislate to replace the council tax with a local income tax.

Question reference: S4W-11912

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the council tax prior to introducing a local income tax.

Ministers consider the council tax to be unfair and have committed to freezing the tax for the duration of this Parliament to support hard pressed households. The Scottish Government will consult with others to produce a fairer local tax based on ability to pay later in this Parliament. In the meantime, we are taking forward a number of changes to council tax. The recent Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc.) (Scotland) Bill 2012 allows variations of council tax levels to encourage better use of long term empty properties. Regulations to implement these changes are currently being considered by Parliament.

The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 will also introduce new reductions offering support to those currently entitled to Council Tax Benefit from 1 April this year.

Finally, ministers will also bring forward proposals to further exempt some students from council tax as set out in our Manifesto.

Question reference: S4O-01714

Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what reductions it expects in unemployment levels during 2013.