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-14734

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2013
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what legislative consent motions it will lodge in connection with the UK Government's legislative programme as announced in the Queen’s Speech on 8 May 2013.

In accordance with the Sewel Convention, the UK Parliament does not legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.

This is an important part of devolution, as it acknowledges the special constitutional position of the Scottish Parliament and the democratic mandate conferred on this Parliament by the people of Scotland. In the view of the Scottish Government, the Sewel Convention will remain an essential part of the constitution of the UK for as long as the UK Parliament retains its current powers and functions in relation to Scotland.

In the normal course of business, legislation on devolved matters should be scrutinised and determined in the Scottish Parliament. There may however be situations in which it is helpful and appropriate for legislation dealing with devolved matters to be taken forward at Westminster.

The Scottish Government is committed to assessing opportunities of this kind on their merits and to working closely and constructively with the UK Government, on a case by case basis, to deliver legislation which best meets Scotland’s needs. The Scottish Government is equally committed to working with the UK Government to pursue opportunities to extend devolved competence.

The formal consent of the Scottish Parliament is required in relation to all proposals for Westminster primary legislation on devolved matters, including alterations to devolved competence, in accordance with Chapter 9B of Standing Orders.

Within the legislative programme announced today by the UK Government, we have identified potential opportunities to legislate for the benefit of Scotland on matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or which alter legislative or executive competence.

The UK bills which we currently expect to give rise to Legislative Consent Motions in the Scottish Parliament cover:

Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill – a Bill which will include a wide range of reforms to policing and the introduction of a number of antisocial behaviour measures, reforms to alcohol and licensing, dangerous dogs, firearms, and extradition law amongst other provisions. The Bill mostly relates to England, but some provisions do extend to Scotland in reserved areas such as the firearms offence changes. The parts of the Bill that extend to Scotland in devolved areas relate to the Police Negotiating Board, dangerous dogs and witness protection.

Care Bill – The provisions of this Bill aim to address adult care in England. It does not generally extend to Scotland but will require legislative consent for provisions relating to cross-border placements and the establishment of the Health Research Authority.

Water Bill – A Bill generally legislating for England and Wales and which will contain provisions for establishing water market competition (similar to that established in Scotland by the 2008 Act), Ofwat and sewerage. A technical LCM will be required for provisions on sewerage licencing and the River Esk.

The Scottish Government will, in due course, lodge memoranda and motions for these bills, once they have been introduced in the UK Parliament. It will then be for the Scottish Parliament to determine whether to give or withhold consent.

It is possible that further opportunities to legislate for Scotland by means of Legislative Consent Motion may occur in connection with other UK bills, including Private Member’s bills. Any additional proposals of this kind, together with any relevant amendments to the Government bills listed above, will be drawn to the attention of the Parliament as they arise, in line with the requirements of Standing Orders.

Question reference: S4O-01996

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines are in place to ensure that schools are properly maintained, including with regard to their heating and ventilation.

Question reference: S4O-01781

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons have been learned from Glasgow's Equally Well testing programme.

Question reference: S4F-01144

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the recent report in The Scotsman that Scotland is receiving less than its population share of defence spending.

Question reference: S4O-01585

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when plans to collate and share best practice in relation to the local scrutiny of police and fire services will be available.

Question reference: S4O-01454

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the take-up of apprenticeships in journalism.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

ORAL ANSWER

8 November 2012

Index Heading: Learning and Justice

Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the take-up of apprenticeships in journalism.

(S4O-01454)

Angela Constance: The Modern Apprenticeship (MA) programme in Scotland is led by demand from employers.

I understand that the current Modern Apprenticeship Framework in Creative and Digital Media covers apprenticeships in Journalism. It is the role of Sector Skills Councils, in this case Creative Skillset, to promote this framework to employers.

Question reference: S4W-10032

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 October 2012
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 4 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been changes to the number of its special advisers and their responsibilities since July 2012 and what the costs are of employing the special adviser team.

The estimated costs of employing special advisers for the current financial year is £933,522 – a real terms decrease of £54,846 from the 12-month cost of the 2006-07 special adviser team which, when up-rated to 2012-13 prices, cost £987,368.

Two senior special advisers, Kevin Pringle and Colin Pyle, have recently left the Scottish Government on 31 August 2012 and 28 September 2012 respectively. Colin McAllister was appointed on 3 October 2012 as Deputy Head of Policy. On 8 October, Alexander Anderson joins as Deputy Head of Communications and Political Spokesperson, Delancy Johansson joins as a Policy Special Adviser.

The cost of employing special advisers in financial years since 2006-07 is as follows:

SPAD Numbers and Costs Since 2006-07

Year	Number	Salary	Salary Uprated to 2012-13 Prices***	ERNIC**	Pension**	Total Cost	Total Cost Uprated to 2012-13 Prices***
2006-07	12	£684,520	£791,072	£90,874	£105,422	£854,376	£987,368
2007-08	9	£358,281	£403,982	£39,093	£98,434	£480,251	£541,510
2008-09	11	£466,783	£512,340	£44,888	£120,830	£617,766	£678,058
2009-10	10	£535,331	£578,873	£54,103	£125,720	£701,627	£758,695
2010-11	11	£542,068	£569,973	£51,364	£108,550	£694,153	£729,887
2011-12	12	£528,869	£543,148	£64,930	£128,671	£717,380	£736,749
2012-13*	12	£704,288	-	£70,094	£158,140	£932,522	-

Notes:

Total Costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions.

*Estimate based on current team of 13 special advisers being in post for the remainder of 2012-13

**The level of the employer ERNIC and pension contributions is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

***All total costs figures have been converted into real terms (2012-13 prices) to adjust for inflation using HM Treasury deflators, published in June 2012. These were the latest available deflators at the time of calculation on 12 September 2012. It should be noted that the 2012-13 deflator is based on OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecast data from the UK Government March 2012 Budget Report.

In total, there are 13 special advisers. They are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish ministers. Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Role	Appointed
Geoff Aberdein	Chief of Staff Responsible for the First Minister's strategic programme in Government First Minister’s senior intermediary with key internal & external stakeholders Coordination of the Special Adviser team Policy support on Commonwealth Games & Sport portfolio	26 May 2011
Stuart Nicolson	Head of Communications Senior Political Spokesperson	26 May 2011
Liz Lloyd	Deputy Head of Communications & Political Spokesperson Lead on online and new media	30 January 2012
Alexander Anderson	Deputy Head of Communications & Political Spokesperson	8 October 2012
Malcolm Fleming	Support to the First Minister’s Private Office Contributing to FM’s keynote speeches and new media Policy advice on International Development portfolio	25 July 2011
John MacInnes	Lead on political research Support for First Minister’s Questions Support to the Communications Special Advisers	3 June 2011
Noel Dolan	Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister Support on Government Strategy & Constitution Policy advice on Infrastructure & Investment portfolio	26 May 2011
Alex Bell	Head of Policy Development including Constitution Policy advice on Culture & External Affairs portfolio	26 May 2011
Colin McAllister	Deputy Head of Policy Development Education & Lifelong Learning portfolio overview Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio overview	3 October 2012
Stephen Gethins	Policy advice on Energy, Rural Affairs and the Environment portfolios Support on EU relations	26 May 2011
David Hutchison	Policy advice on the Health & Wellbeing portfolio Lead on FOI legislation	8 June 2011
John McFarlane	Policy advice on Justice portfolio Policy advice on Parliamentary Business portfolio, including engaging with Parliamentary Liaison Officers	26 May 2011
Delancy Johansson	Policy advice on Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio (other than Energy) Policy advice on Education & Lifelong Learning portfolio Policy advice on the Council of Economic Advisers	8 October 2012

The current Special Adviser Pay Bands and Ranges and the number of Special Advisers within each Pay Band are:

Pay Band	Current Pay Range	Number of Special Advisers
1	£39,445 – £52,904	7
2	£51,041 - £67,709	2
3	£65,017 - £83,963	4
3 (premium)	£83,549 - £100,942	0
4	£86,965 - £104,462	0

Question reference: S4O-01294

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that court attendance by police officers does not affect frontline policing in their area.

Question reference: S4O-01234

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the programme of school building and refurbishment using the Scottish Futures Trust.

Question reference: S4O-01198

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on items held by the national collections of art in Edinburgh being displayed at other venues across the country.