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-04114

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT regarding the removal of phone boxes in rural areas, and what assessment it has made of the safety implications for people in areas with poor mobile phone coverage.

The removal of public phone boxes is a reserved issue for which the Scottish Government has no direct role or influence, and which is governed by Ofcom's regulations on BT.

BT has indicated to the Scottish Government that it is currently consulting on the removal of 1525 boxes in Scotland but has confirmed that it won’t proceed with the proposed removal if no mobile signal can be detected near the box.

Question reference: S5W-04115

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how many phone boxes have been removed in rural areas where there is poor mobile phone coverage.

Question reference: S5W-03681

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03141 by Fergus Ewing on 5 October 2016, whether it will publish all of its correspondence with the UK Government regarding the proposed broadband universal service obligation.

Question reference: S5W-03985

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the reported 43.3% real-terms reduction in capital spending in the Scottish Police Authority budget has had on the infrastructure maintenance funding of the Police Scotland estate.

Question reference: S5W-03986

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the funding allocated to the Scottish Police Authority includes adequate infrastructure investment and maintenance for the infrastructure and maintenance needs of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-03439

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the remaining £4.9 million of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme budget will be spent, in light of £9.1million having been allocated on 30 September 2016, and how the money can be applied for.

The balance of funding has been reallocated within existing funding programmes in 2016-17 for both the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) and the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Schemes (ABS). As part of a call to use unallocated ABS funds, including the balance of SEEP funding, 21 councils received additional ABS funding (see funding breakdown below). Further Information on LCITP can be found here http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Action/lowcarbon/LCITP

Reallocation of unused SEEP and HEEPS: ABS funding

Council	Additional Funding £k	Purpose
Aberdeenshire	500,000	EWI and CWI extraction
Angus	500,000	EWI
Clackmannanshire	417,000	EWI and IWI
Dumfries & Galloway	500,000	EWI
Dundee	429,000	EWI
East Ayrshire	500,000	EWI
Falkirk	37,000	EWI
Glasgow	500,000	EWI and IWI
Highland	500,000	EWI
Inverclyde	500,000	EWI and Low Cost Measures
Midlothian	50,000	EWI
Moray	205,000	EWI, IWI
North Ayrshire	500,000	EWI
North Lanarkshire	500,000	EWI, Radiator Panels
Renfrewshire	762,000	EWI
Shetland	318,000	EWI
South Ayrshire	500,000	EWI
South Lanarkshire	740,000	EWI
Stirling	474,000	EWI
West Lothian	500,000	EWI
Western Isles	499,000	IWI, RnR
TOTALS	9,431,000 (1)

EWI (External Wall Insulation), IWI (Internal wall Insulation) RnR (Room in roof Insulation),

CWI (Cavity wall Insulation)

1) Total allocated funding exceeds the £4.9m remaining from SEEP as it includes additional unallocated HEEPS: Area Based Schemes funding

Question reference: S5W-03999

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent Joint Civil Society's criticism of the continued legality of the "justifiable assault" defence in its recent report on human rights to the UN.

The Scottish Government is opposed to the physical punishment of children. The Scottish Government does not, however, wish to see parents unnecessarily or unreasonably criminalised and we have no plans to bring forward legislation to repeal existing legal defences for parents in relation to physical punishment. There are already restrictions in this area. Section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 makes it illegal to punish a child by way of a blow to the head, shaking or the use of an implement. In addition, section 51 of the 2003 Act lays down a range of factors for the courts to consider when determining whether other forms of physical punishment are lawful. As indicated in paragraphs 214 and 215 of the Policy Memorandum for the then Bill (http://www.parliament.scot/S1_Bills/Criminal%20Justice%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b50s1pm.pdf ), these factors were laid down by the European Court of Human Rights.

Question reference: S5W-03984

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported comment by the General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation that Police Scotland has "a genuine crisis coming" concerning the state of the force's estate and facilities, and what action it is taking to improve this infrastructure.

Question reference: S5W-03477

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its recently-launched initiative to encourage primary schoolchildren to read is called the First Minister’s Reading Challenge; what other names were considered, broken down by reason for rejection, and, when selecting the name, whether it considered any similar initiatives that are named after heads of government, and, if so, (a) which and (b) what lessons it learned from these.

The current First Minister's personal love of reading and her commitment to improving literacy levels for children and young people across Scotland have been key factors in driving the development and launch of this initiative. While not the only factor that may affect success of initiatives like this, the Office of the First Minister can also bring a significance and profile that a reading challenge might otherwise not achieve - the success in the uptake of the Challenge in the short time since the launch is an indicator of this. The initiative was named the First Minister's Reading Challenge without consideration or rejection of alternatives.

Question reference: S5W-03479

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what input the First Minister had in (a) selecting the books chosen for and (b) setting the criteria of each of the seven elements of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge, and which of the books in the challenge the First Minister (i) has read and (ii) recommended personally for inclusion.

Following discussions with the First Minister, an Advisory Group was set up to help develop the detail of the First Minister's Reading Challenge. The group includes representation from education, libraries, authors, booksellers, parents and community reading groups.

The Advisory Group agreed a process by which the Scottish Book Trust would compile a non-mandatory book list, which would be used as inspiration for those taking part in the Challenge. This list was compiled following consultation with children, teachers, librarians, community groups and the First Minister, who suggested a favourite book from childhood, Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. The resulting '100 places to start your reading journey' was agreed by the Advisory Group and by the First Minister.

The Advisory Group also recommended an expanded range of ways to take part in the First Minister's Reading Challenge, with detail including specific criteria then developed by the Scottish Book Trust, in addition to those originally announced on World Book Day. This gives schools and pupils flexible options that mean they can take part in the way that is best for them. This was agreed with the First Minister and resulted in the seven elements recently launched by the First Minister.