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-03662

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 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) publish and (b) place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) the evidence that it has to support the claim made on 10 October 2016 by the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work on Good Morning Scotland that attracting more long-haul flights to and from Scotland would reduce the number of short-haul connections.

Scotland needs a stronger offering of direct routes to international destinations as well as good connectivity to world hubs like Heathrow and Amsterdam. We recognise that there will always be a number of destinations around the world that will only be accessible via a hub connection due to limited demand from Scotland. However, there are also other international routes where the potential passenger numbers could sustain a direct connection to Scotland and this could serve to reduce the need for hub connectivity for these destinations.

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-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-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-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-03658

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, further to its news release of 10 October 2016, Support for Heathrow expansion, what guarantees it has been given that Glasgow Prestwick Airport could be a logistics hub to support the building of a third runway; for what reason the airport has been chosen as a possible candidate to compete for this, and what information it has regarding what other locations or companies (a) are being considered and (b) have been rejected for this work, broken down by reason.

Heathrow Airport Ltd has agreed that a supply chain hub will be located in Scotland. Heathrow will work with the Scottish Government to identify the optimal location for the hub, considering Glasgow Prestwick Airport in the first instance. We do not hold information on the reason for Heathrow identifying Glasgow Prestwick Airport as a candidate, not do we hold information on any other site that may have been considered by Heathrow.

Question reference: S5W-03661

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, further to its news release of 10 October 2016, Support for Heathrow expansion, what (a) environmental, and (b) other organisations it consulted prior to deciding whether to support a third runway, and on what dates, broken down by which (i) ministers and (ii) officials attended.