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-19513

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the 2013-14 Spring Budget Revision will be published in advance of the stage 3 debate on the 2014-15 Budget Bill and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4O-02935

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what main changes will arise from the 2013-14 Spring Budget Revision.

Question reference: S4W-19512

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will publish the 2013-14 Spring Budget Revision; whether this is later than originally planned and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S4O-02885

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its main international strategy priority will be in 2014-15.

Question reference: S4W-18196

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend on advertising the white paper on independence, broken down by the nature of expenditure.

Question reference: S4W-18194

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government in what formats the white paper on independence will be published and how much it plans to spend on each, broken down by the nature of the expenditure.

Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland is a landmark publication, as such we are looking to ensure the public are as well informed as possible about its contents and the opportunities offered by independence. To enable this, the document has been produced in a wide range of formats.

A final figure for the cost of producing and distributing the document itself will not be available until we know the final demand for hard copies. I have already undertaken to update Parliament on that in due course.

As well as the hard copy document, Scotland’s Future has been published online at www.scotland.gov.uk and www.scotreferendum.com. A full-colour e-book edition is also available from e-stores such as Amazon.

A summary of Scotland’s Future has also been produced and has been translated into 13 languages Gaelic, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, French, Spanish, Polish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Russian, as well as British Sign Language. These are now available online at www.scotland.gov.uk and www.scotreferendum.com.

The summary document is also available on request in braille and on audio disk and an easy read version is being produced.

Question reference: S4W-18195

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend on the launch of the white paper on independence and publicity in connection with this, broken down by the nature of expenditure.

Question reference: S4W-18087

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to announce in the spring budget revision an increase in its planned expenditure for the independence referendum.

The total cost is estimated to be around £13.7 million with £800,000 of that being spent this year, and the rest spent in 2014-15. There has been no change to the cost of the referendum.

The financial memorandum which was published alongside the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill showed that the cost of delivering the referendum would be around £13.3 million. Costs incurred under the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 are likely to be around £440,000.

The £800,000 estimated to be spent in 2013-14 will fund preparatory costs for the referendum, including costs incurred under the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 to ensure that 16 and 17 year olds will be able to register to vote in the referendum, early expenditure by the chief counting officer that will not be covered by the Fees and Charges Order, and preparatory work by the Electoral Commission on public awareness. The remaining expenditure will fall in 2014-15, and will cover the cost of running and regulating the referendum.

There are no plans for any further adjustment in the spring budget revision. The adjustment in the autumn budget revision provides all the necessary funding for 2013-14.

The summary of proposed changes on page 68 of the autumn budget revision supporting document adopts the standard wording for a budget transfer of below £1 million. The Budget Analysis on page 68 details the budget lines within the Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy programme and is transparent in detailing the £800,000 deployment to the Referendum on Scottish Independence budget line.

The Scottish budget will benefit from additional loan interest payments from Scottish Water over and above interest receipts set out in the 2013-14 Budget Act. The autumn budget revision provides for £800,000 of this additional income to be transferred to fund referendum costs. Investment funding provided to Scottish Water from the Scottish Government is unaffected. Budget transfers of this nature are an integral part of the budget revision process and support robust financial management to enable the Scottish Government to maximise the available budget.

Question reference: S4W-18090

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the £800,000 expenditure for the independence referendum, as set out in its 2013-14 autumn budget revision, is not shown in the summary of proposed changes at page 68 of the document.

Question reference: S4W-18089

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £800,000 expenditure for the independence referendum, as set out in its 2013-14 autumn budget revision, (a) has been spent and (b) it is contractually committed to spend.