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: S5W-03989

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking (a) in conjunction with and (b) separate from the work of Police Scotland to limit anti-social behaviour, theft, misuse of fireworks and unwelcome visitors at the homes of vulnerable and older people during Halloween, Bonfire Night and as the evenings become darker.

The Scottish Government continues to work with a range of partners and with communities to support and promote community safety.

The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with anti-social behaviours, including Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), which can be used to prevent persons from engaging in antisocial behaviours which cause alarm or distress to their neighbours or the general public. The Act also provides senior police officers with powers to disperse groups of two or more people whose behaviour is causing alarm or distress to members of the public within their locality.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is working with local partners to highlight the dangers of fireworks and bonfires. This includes working in partnership with schools and community groups on a range of initiatives to help reduce fire related antisocial behaviour and help protect vulnerable people from harm and distress. One such initiative has seen Firefighters and Community Safety Advocates visiting schools across Scotland to present a National Bonfire presentation which aims to positively engage with and educate children in the 11 – 13 age group. This work is being supported by a television and radio campaign.

Police Scotland is currently running a number of campaigns about keeping safe during the Halloween and Bonfire Night period. This includes social media campaigns to promote personal and home safety advice across Scotland. The #DarkerNights and #ClocksGoBack social media campaigns are being promoted by Local Policing Divisions to provide advice and reassurance on home and personal safety. The campaign also provides advice to keep people safe from thieves and others who would exploit vulnerable groups.

Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, which is core funded by the Scottish Government, also plays an important role in offering reassurance to local communities. By sharing alerts on potential criminal activities and offering advice on keeping safe they encourage communities to look out for one another. In advance of, and during, the Halloween and Bonfire night period, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland is issuing a series of alerts to communities highlighting the dangers of misusing fireworks, lighting bonfires and advising people how to stay safe.

Question reference: S5W-04037

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 20 October 2016, Minister welcomes ScotRail Improvement Plan, for what reason it has not published the full improvement plan.

Question reference: S5F-00424

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2016

To ask the First Minister, further to ScotRail being fined £483,000 for failing to meet performance standards, when services will improve.

Question reference: S5W-03651

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the concept of unlimited expansion of aviation travel.

We will continue to support Scotland's airports' ambitions to grow the number of direct routes because of the economic benefits that arise from more passengers travelling through the terminals, better business connectivity and more inbound tourism. We want all Scotland's airports to thrive and we will continue to support their ambitions and growth where it makes sense to do so. That includes working to secure more direct flights minimising the need for connections, while recognising that frequent links to World hubs are also essential. All Scotland's airports take steps to minimise the overall environmental impact of their business and we intend to continue to make progress on the already substantial achievements of the Scottish Government and its partners in meeting our climate change targets.

Question reference: S5W-03650

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set a target for increasing the number of (a) international and (b) domestic aviation (i) passengers, (ii) flights and (iii) destinations and, if so, what this is.

Question reference: S5W-03653

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its definition is of a (a) short- and (b) long-haul flight.

Question reference: S5W-03644

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, prior to it signing a memorandum of understanding with Heathrow Airport on 10 October 2016, what information it had regarding the potential impact of a third runway at the airport on the environment and emissions, broken down by the potential impact (a) worldwide, (b) in the UK (c) in the south east of England and (d) in Scotland, and where this information came from.

Question reference: S5W-03324

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that large landowners do not exploit the current system of CAP payments to accrue excessive farming subsidies, and how it proposes to address this issue after 2020, when the current system ends.

The Scottish Government has ensured that farmers who are actively farming receive the support they need to produce food and provide other public benefits. At the same time, we have taken a number of steps under the recent CAP reforms to address the issue of landowners exploiting the system to accrue excessive farming subsidies. It is worth recalling that the minimum activity clause in the current CAP regulations came about because of Scottish Government action, hence why it is called the “Scottish clause”.

For example, the minimum activity clause requires farmers to demonstrate activity on poor quality land where they either have to keep some livestock or carry out an environmental audit. In addition, with the introduction of payment regions linked to land quality, payment entitlements can only be claimed in the region they were allocated so that farmers cannot claim high value entitlements on poor quality land. A windfall tax prevents farmers from trying to cash in by consolidating their high value entitlements on a smaller area of land and, in 2018, we will apply a cap on basic payments at 600,000.

There was more the Scottish Government would have liked to do, for example we intended to limit eligibility to payment entitlements to the area of land held in 2013 or 2015 whichever was the lowest. This was to address concerns about landowners terminating leases and taking land back in hand to maximise their own allocation of payment entitlements. However, this was disallowed by the European Commission who argued it was incompatible with our proposal to widen access to New Entrants - another key priority.

The Scottish Government pushed for and is using flexibilities in the Regulations to ensure our CAP package is targeted to reward genuinely active farmers and, through a suite of measures, helps address Scotland’s slipper farming issue.

This Government is working hard to protect all of Scotland’s interests which is why we continue to explore all options to maintain our relationship with the EU, membership of the single market and freedom of movement. The recently published Vision for Agriculture provides the core themes and aspirations we have for our farming sector.

Question reference: S5W-03647

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the potential new capacity at Heathrow Airport that would result from a third runway would (a) benefit and (b) be to the detriment of each Scottish airport and its nearby communities and environment, broken down by airport.

Question reference: S5W-03325

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports of excessive farming subsidies being accrued by large landowners, what it is doing to ensure that good and efficient use is made of agricultural land, and how it will monitor good land use after 2020 when the current CAP subsidy system ends.