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: S5W-07207

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Fathers4Justice campaign, Forgotten Fathers.

Any suicide is a tragedy and we express sincere condolences to the families of any person who has died by suicide. Nearly three-quarters of suicides in Scotland are by men. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) OECD reports that death rates from suicide are much higher for men than for women across the EU.

The Scottish population suicide rate fell by 18% between the periods 2001-2005 and 2011-2015. In the last 20 years rates of suicide have fallen for males of all ages in Scotland.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013-16 (published 2013) focuses on key areas which the Scottish Government believes will continue the downward trend in suicides. Further commitments on suicide prevention will be developed in a new Suicide Prevention Strategy or Action Plan to be published in late 2017 or early 2018.

On family law, the Scottish Government intends to review the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to ensure the interests of children and their need to form and maintain relationships with key adults in their lives – parents, step-parents, grandparents and other family members – are at the heart of any new statutory measures. The Scottish Government also intends to publish a Family Justice Modernisation Strategy on improving how family cases are dealt with in the courts and on how the voice of the child is best heard.

Question reference: S5W-07182

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to bring forward secondary legislation under the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 2016.

Question reference: S5W-06997

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings have been held in each of the last three years at which it, the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Development International, Skills Development Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise all attended, and whether it will publish the (a) agenda and (b) minutes of each.

As the Scottish Government meets regularly with all the agencies to discuss a range of topics, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

However the responses to S5W-06996 on 28 February 2017 and S5W-03751 on 10 November 2016 offer some of the information requested.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-07526

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) each local authority regarding introducing (i) free town centre parking and (ii) access to bus or taxi lanes for electric vehicles, and whether it will publish any (A) correspondence and (B) minutes or notes of these meetings.

An e-cosse event was held on the topic of ‘Electric Vehicle – Local Incentives’ on 17 December 2015. All speaker presentations from the event can be found at http://urbanforesight.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/11th-E-cosse-Forum-Presentations-Merged.compressed.pdf

Transport Scotland officials were also invited to present on the topic of local electric vehicle incentives at the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) Business Meeting on 19 August 2016.

Following discussions between Transport Scotland officials and COSLA, a paper was tabled and agreed at the COSLA Development, Economy & Sustainability Executive Group meeting on 9 December 2016.

The outputs of these discussions are reflected in the ‘National Framework of Local Incentives for Electric Vehicles’, developed by Urban Foresight on behalf of Transport Scotland and SCOTS and published on 4 November 2016 http://urbanforesight.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/REP-1409-TS-A-National-Framework-for-Local-Incentives.pdf.

Question reference: S5W-07457

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use scrappage schemes to encourage drivers to switch to electric cars.

Question reference: S5W-07458

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on increasing on-street parking charges for diesel cars.

The Scottish Government has set a vision of freeing Scotland’s towns, cities and communities from the damaging emissions from petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2050. While local authorities with decriminalised parking enforcement powers are responsible for determining the parking charges for on-street parking in their areas, the Scottish Government supports initiatives that makes the uptake of Ultra –Low Emission Vehicles more attractive. Our National Framework of Local Incentives for Electric Vehicles’ paper was published on 4 November 2016 and sets out ways in which local authorities can promote the uptake of electric vehicles locally.

Question reference: S5W-07454

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to decarbonise publicly (a) owned and (b) managed transport fleets.

Our Switched On Fleets initiative commenced in 2014 and offered free, evidence-based analysis of public sector fleets, identifying new opportunities for the cost effective deployment of electric vehicles.

Through Switched On Fleets, we’ve provided over £3.7 million to local authorities and their partners to support the purchase or lease of electric vehicles. This will result in around 350 new electric vehicles entering the Scottish public sector fleet by spring 2017.

Building on Switched On Fleets, and as set out in the draft Climate Change Plan, published on 19 January 2017, we propose to work with Scotland Excel, COSLA and other partners to determine whether a new procurement policy could be developed, which introduces a presumption that all new vehicles purchased by public sector organisations in Scotland are ultra-low emission. We will publish our findings by the end of 2017.

Question reference: S5W-07717

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-07383

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 3 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of premises in (a) Orkney, (b) Shetland, (c) the rest of the Highlands and Islands and (d) the rest of Scotland can access superfast broadband, also broken down by the percentage that can access this because of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

As of 30 September 2016, superfast coverage – through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme and commercial deployment – is as follows:

Orkney – 48.8%

Shetland – 51.6%

Highlands & Islands – 65.2%

Rest of Scotland – 88.5%

These figures assume that commercial rollout is completed on time, and in line with plans submitted to the Scottish Government.

As of 30 September 2016, the percentage capable of receiving superfast broadband, directly as a result of the DSSB programme, is as follows:

Orkney – 48.8%

Shetland – 51.6%

Highlands & Islands – 44.3%

Rest of Scotland – 16.8%

Therefore, were it not for the investment made by the Scottish Government and partners in the DSSB programme, there would be no superfast broadband coverage at all on either Orkney or Shetland.

Question reference: S5W-07496

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed undertaking trials of connected and autonomous vehicles with (a) Scottish Enterprise, (b) the UK Government and (c) other bodies, and whether it will publish any (i) correspondence and (ii) minutes of meetings regarding this.

The Scottish Government recognises that the legislative and regulatory frameworks on autonomous vehicles are largely reserved to the UK Government but supports and encourages research, testing and development of autonomous vehicles in Scotland, subject to ensuring the safety of road users.

To that end, Transport Scotland liaise on a regular basis with Scottish Enterprise, the Department for Transport and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in this area. In addition, Transport Scotland is also liaising with other roads authorities across Europe on the introduction of driverless vehicles, in order to ensure that road authorities and operators are in a position to make informed decisions on facilitating automated driving as and when the technology develops.