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-16678

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the First Minister's comment in his letter to the Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council dated 6 August 2013 that his visit to Bramble Brae Primary School was "impromptu" is consistent with reports that the SNP press office issued a calling notice to the local media in advance of the visit.

The description of the visit to Bramble Brae School as “impromptu” was first made by the Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council in a letter to the First Minister of 20 June 2013. This followed an 18 June report by the Headmaster of the school to Aberdeen City Council about the visit. This report – released under the Freedom of Information Act on 21 August 2013 – confirms the fact that the First Minister was unaccompanied by press or political colleagues and that the visit was indeed impromptu and in response to an invitation. An engagement immediately prior to the visit took place outwith the school premises, and was a political engagement for which a calling notice had been issued to the media.

Question reference: S4W-16676

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the issues raised by the Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council with the Permanent Secretary on 1 July 2013 were answered in a letter from the First Minister dated 6 August 2013.

The Permanent Secretary responded to the Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council on 6 August. The First Minister had also received letters from the Chief Executive on the issues raised by the Council and also responded on 6 August. The First Minister replied on the points raised in the letters to him and the Permanent Secretary’s reply referred to that letter, explaining the First Minister’s reply set out the facts and background on these issues. The Permanent Secretary’s letter dealt with the business of government during by-elections.

Question reference: S4O-02357

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote food recycling.

Question reference: S4W-16687

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) ScotRail, (b) Network Rail, (c) Police Scotland and (d) British Transport Police regarding theft and vandalism on railway lines.

Responsibility for the safety and security of the rail infrastructure and passenger services in Scotland lies with Network Rail and relevant train operating companies respectively, with appropriate input from the British Transport Police. As the primary funders of Scotland’s railways the Scottish Government receives regular updates from the rail industry and the Office for Rail Regulation on performance targets in Scotland, including the impact of any delays caused by theft and vandalism and action being taken to mitigate future disruption. Recent discussions were held directly with Network Rail and First ScotRail regarding disruption to the network in the Keith, Huntly and Insch area.

Question reference: S4W-16690

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of (a) theft and (b) vandalism on railway lines have been recorded in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-16689

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect rail services from theft and vandalism and has taken since 2007.

This information is not held centrally. Responsibility for the safety and security of the rail infrastructure and passenger services in Scotland lies with Network Rail and relevant train operating companies respectively, with appropriate input from the British Transport Police. As the primary funders of Scotland’s railways the Scottish Government receives regular updates from the rail industry and the Office for Rail Regulation on performance targets in Scotland, including the impact of any delays caused by theft and vandalism and action being taken to mitigate future disruption.

Question reference: S4W-16399

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the expenditure has been for the (a) Energy Assistance Package, (b) Home Insulation Scheme and (c) Universal Home Insulation Scheme in each of the last four years.

The following table show Scottish Government expenditure on the (a) Energy Assistance Package (EAP), (b) Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) and (c) Universal Home Insulation Scheme (UHIS) for each of the last four years (figures in £ million). The expenditure figures exclude expenditure leveraged from customer contributions and the Carbon Emission Reduction Target. The expenditure figures in the table will differ from those in the Scottish Government accounts as the latter include provision for accruals which are sums which are not spent in year. The expenditure figures for 2012-13 are provisional and the figure for UHIS is projected to 31 March 2014 when the 2012-13 scheme will be complete.

The figures are taken from the Home Energy Programmes Detailed Report 2009-13 which can be found on the Energy Saving Trust website at:

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Take-action/Home-Energy-Scotland/Home-Energy-Efficiency-Programmes-for-Scotland/Programme-statistics

Year	EAP	HIS	UHIS
2009-10	32.0	12.3	n/a
2010-11	37.1	10.4	9.6
2011-12	35.4	n/a	14.6
2012-13	37.2	n/a	23.2

Question reference: S4W-16694

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many accidents there have been on rural roads in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the number of injury road traffic accidents that occurred on rural roads and were reported to the police since 2008.

Accidents in rural areas, 2008-12

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Roads in rural areas with single carriageways and speed limit greater than 40 mph	3,913	3,915	3,300	3,067	2,914
Other rural roads (includes dual carriageways and roads with a speed limit of 40 mph or less)	1,006	911	851	721	845
All rural roads	4,919	4,826	4,151	3,788	3,759

The information shown in the table has been split to show the differences in the type of rural roads that there are.

Note that the figures for 2012 are provisional. Final figures for 2012 will be published in Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2012 in October 2013.

Question reference: S4W-16491

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) NHS boards and (b) quangos met the target of 10 working days for the payment of invoices in 2011-12.

In 2011-12, the percentage of invoices paid by NHS boards within 10 working days was:

	Number of invoices	Number paid within 10 days	% paid within 10 days
NHS Boards	1,991,440	1,487,298	74.7%

In 2011-12, the percentage of invoices paid by Scottish Government Agencies within 10 working days was:

	Total number of invoices	Number paid within 10 days	% paid within 10 days
Scottish Government Agencies*	151,171	139,632	92.4%

* For the purposes of this question, we have assumed that the request for “Quango” information relates to Scottish Government Agencies.

Question reference: S4W-16441

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-02218 by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 September 2011, what further funding it provided to NHS Grampian to purchase new ambulances and the up-to-date mobile equipment that these require, in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) provides services on a national basis to territorial boards for NHSScotland. Capital funding is therefore given by the Scottish Government to SAS to fund the provision of ambulances as part of a replacement programme and to meet equipment needs including medical and IT equipment.

The capital funding provided to SAS for the last two financial years to fund the investment in property, vehicles and equipment was:

2011-12 – £13.8 million

2012-13 – £17.2 million