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: S3W-15814

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of delayed trains reported in each year from 1990 to 2005, broken down by (a) electric and (b) diesel-powered type.

Question reference: S3W-15813

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of reported breakdowns of trains in each year from 1990 to 2005, broken down by (a) electric and (b) diesel-powered type.

Question reference: S3W-15858

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the average output of CO2 emissions is per mile travelled per person travelling by (a) train, (b) bus and (c) private vehicle.

The UK Government''s Department for Transport''s Carbon Pathways Analysis: Informing Development of a Carbon Reduction Strategy for the Transport Sector, published in July 2008, provides information on CO₂ emissions per passenger kilometre, by mode across the UK. These figures, found on pages 83 to 84 of the document, can be used to derive average emissions per passenger mile.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/analysis.pdf.

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Question reference: S3W-15857

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of CO2 it estimates are emitted annually by (a) electric trains, (b) diesel trains, (c) public motor vehicles, (d) private motor vehicles and (e) commercial motor vehicles.

Emissions estimates are not produced for the specific categories requested.

However, carbon emissions from all sources, including road and rail transport, are published annually in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The most recent publication covers emissions between 1990 and 2006, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46558).

Question reference: S3W-16043

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much land was newly designated as set-aside in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The Rural Payments and Inspection Directorate do not hold details on set-aside land in the format asked for. However, to be as helpful as possible they have provided details of the land claimed as set-aside in Scotland under the Integrated Administration and Control System in the last five years (2003 to 2007 inclusive) to support subsidy claims.

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Area Claimed as Set-Aside (Hectares)	93,590	71,706	62,021	60,657	57,922

Question reference: S3W-16045

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation was paid in respect of set-aside land in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The following table details the subsidy paid on set-aside land in Scotland in the last five years for which figures are available (2003 to 2007 inclusive).

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Set-Aside Paid in £ million*	22.407	15.945	11.244	10.564	10.333

Note: *Payment figures before modulation.

Question reference: S3W-16044

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of arable land was designated as set-aside in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The following table shows the area and proportion of arable land designated as set-aside in Scotland in each year from 2003 to 2007.

Year	Set Aside (Ha)	Arable land (Ha)	Proportion Set Aside
2003	90,684	959,739	9.4%
2004	75,117	960,849	7.8%
2005	69,492	938,051	7.4%
2006	67,549	921,828	7.3%
2007	67,933	922,194	7.4%

Source: June Agricultural Census.

Notes:

1. Arable land includes tilled area and grass under five years old

2. Set-aside figures from the June agricultural census are higher than set-aside areas claimed under the Single Farm Payments Scheme from 2005.

3. Provisional results from the 2008 June agricultural census are scheduled for release on 24September 2008.

Question reference: S3W-15585

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 11 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with Her Majesty’s Government to discuss improvements to the support available to kinship carers.

There is regular discussion between officials of the Scottish Government and of the UK Government on improvements to the UK benefits and welfare system for all families with children. Specific support for kinship carers is raised as part of these discussions, whenever appropriate.

These matters are also raised regularly at relevant meetings between Scottish and UK Ministers. The most recent meeting was with the UK Government''s Minister for Children, Ms Beverley Hughes, on 15 July 2008.

Question reference: S3W-15953

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 10 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified teachers of Gaelic there have been in each year since 1995.

Question reference: S3W-15954

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 10 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified teachers of Gaelic are employed in each local authority area.