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 560 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5O-00130

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the recycling of household waste.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require separate collection of dry recyclable materials and food waste. As well as introducing these regulations, we are taking a range of actions to support and encourage recycling.

For example, between 2011 and 2015, funding of around £25million was made available to councils to support start-up costs of introducing food waste collections. Three quarters of all households in Scotland now have access to a food waste collection service, up from 300,000 in 2010.

In December 2015 we launched the Household Recycling Charter, to achieve more consistent local collections, improving quantity and quality of recycling. We believe this will make it easier for people to recycle the right things, and we've put in place support to help Councils with that work.

In February 2016 published ‘Making Things Last’, our circular economy strategy for Scotland. It sets out our ambitions and priorities to keep products and materials in high value use for as long as possible. This includes measures promoting remanufacture, repair and recycling.

Question reference: S5O-00084

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the forestry and timber processing industry regarding new charging levels being phased in over the next five years for Pollution Prevention and Control permits.

Question reference: S5O-00037

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the results of information gathered by local authorities on schoolchildren show about their career path aspirations, other than attending college or university.

Question reference: S4O-05600

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to reduce waiting times in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

Question reference: S4O-05487

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the University of the West of Scotland to reduce the drop-out rate, particularly among first year students.

Question reference: S4O-04925

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Ayrshire and Arran to discuss primary care out-of-hours services.

Question reference: S4O-04746

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential costs of tax avoidance if it was to increase income tax rates.

Tax avoidance is not welcome in Scotland and this is demonstrated in our robust approach to tackling potential avoidance of the fully devolved taxes. The Scottish Government wants to encourage a culture of responsible taxpaying where people and companies pay their tax as Parliament intended.

The Scottish rate of income tax, however, is not a fully devolved tax. It remains part of the UK income tax system and as such HMRC is responsible for administering the Scottish rate of income tax, including ensuring that all tax revenues are collected in full.

Question reference: S4O-04684

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take to ensure the longevity and success of STEM courses and encourage female participation in them.

Colleges have long acknowledged the importance of responding to the need for STEM courses. We have already seen increases in the number of science, maths and engineering full-time-equivalent female students in our colleges since 2006-07. Our Developing Young Workforce strategy aims to prioritise STEM while also addressing gender imbalance in college courses, while colleges have been asked to review STEM provision in this academic year to inform regional STEM implementation plans.

University provision has also been strengthened by the Scottish Funding Council allocating an extra 1,200 places over the four year period to 2015-16 specifically for STEM subjects. And we have seen an increase in the number of entrants to first degree courses in STEM subjects at our universities since 2006-07.

Question reference: S4W-27066

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what investment in support of the dairy farming industry is planned by (a) it and (b) its agencies.

The Scottish Government has provided farmer-owned dairy co-operative First Milk with a grant of up to £416,000 towards the upgrading of the regionally important Campbeltown Creamery. The creamery provides the sole market for the Kintyre peninsula’s remaining 36 milk producers and itself supports almost 30 full-time jobs. In addition, resources have been made available to temporarily support First Milk’s haulage costs associated with transporting raw milk from the Isle of Bute for processing. More broadly the Scottish Government is also supporting the work of the Dairy Growth Board as it implements the recommendations set out in the Dairy Action Plan, launched in March 2015 and aimed at boosting the sector’s resilience. A range of other dairy-related activities are underway involving Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Development International. These include efforts to improve the marketing of Scottish dairy produce internationally, potential inward investments and support for First Milk’s recovery programme.

Question reference: S4W-27065

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 16 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action to support dairy farmers is being taken by (a) it and (b) its agencies.

The Scottish Government recognises the difficulties faced by dairy farmers during the current period of global market volatility, which impacts on the domestic dairy sector. All parts of the dairy supply-chain, including processors, retailers and the food service sector must play their part to ensure there continues to be a market for high-quality, locally-sourced dairy products and we have encouraged them to do so. The Dairy Action Plan which was launched in March 2015 aims to improve the resilience of the sector and provide the right platform to ensure the entire industry can thrive in the context of volatile market prices. Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Development International are working with the Scottish Government and individual dairy enterprises on a range of project-specific actions.