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-06100

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the opencast coal mine at Grievehill will not have a long-term adverse impact on the Muirkirk and North Lowther Uplands Special Protection Area.

Question reference: S4O-00850

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make changes to the planning system.

Question reference: S4W-06139

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the results of the review of the Public Transport Users' Committee for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-06138

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering altering the functions of the Public Transport Users' Committee for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-06137

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what options it is considering for the future delivery of the functions of the Public Transport Users' Committee for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-06062

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): on 16 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider installing a clock in the Garden Lobby.

Question reference: S4W-05642

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed the likely impact on the Year of Creative Scotland if all free events that were previously exempt from the requirement to hold a public entertainment licence are, in future, required to hold one and are charged the full fee.

The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 gives local authorities the power to licence free to enter public entertainment. This is entirely discretionary and it is for local authorities to decide what types of entertainment they wish to licence. It is also for local authorities to determine the cost of any public entertainment licence fee and limit any provision to the large-scale events which the act now allows to be licensed. For the Year of Creative Scotland and beyond, we would encourage local authorities to interpret the new legislation to the benefit of artists and their creative communities. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has written to licensing authorities to assist their implementation of the changes and stressing the importance of support for artistic and creative communities.

Question reference: S4W-05836

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much renewable electricity generation in megawatts is currently in local and community ownership and what plans there are to achieve the target for local and community ownership of electricity in the 2020 Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has commissioned work to produce a database on community and locally owned renewable energy projects in Scotland which will show how much renewable generation by technology is currently operational in Scotland. The report will be available shortly and will be published on the Scottish Government website.

To help achieve our target for 500 MW of community and locally owned renewables by 2020, we will continue to provide the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) loan scheme which provides finance at the high risk pre-planning stage, and which has a budget of 23.5 million over the next three years. The CARES support will also include advice to communities on technical and financial issues and governance structures.

Question reference: S4W-05834

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what barriers there are to the establishment by local authorities of energy companies to (a) develop publicly owned renewables, (b) bulk-buy electricity from the wholesale market and (c) become retail suppliers of electricity to domestic properties.

Many public bodies already own and operate renewable energy technologies manufactured, installed and supplied by third parties and which generate power that can either be exported to the national grid or used on site. The Scottish Futures Trust is working with COSLA to build on the public sector’s experience to date of taking forward renewables projects and to explore a range of potential commercial structures and funding sources for future projects.

Issues for consideration are likely to include the need for specialist knowledge of the energy market and trading requirements, the need to obtain a supply licence from the energy regulator and to comply with the associated regulatory requirements and conditions.

The Scottish Government is committed to promoting exemplary community benefits from renewables developments on the public estate and would encourage local authorities to consider this when developing any future renewables schemes.

Question reference: S4W-05837

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning enforcement officers there are, broken down by local authority.