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-29708

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the responses that Zero Waste Scotland received to its call for additional evidence for a deposit return scheme for beverage containers in Scotland, what assessment it has made of the impact of a deposit return scheme on the Household Recycling Charter.

Question reference: S4W-29701

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29439 by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2016, whether it will publish the response from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food Rural Affairs regarding implementing a deposit return system for beverage containers.

Question reference: S4W-29700

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29439 by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2016, on what date the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about implementing a deposit return system for beverage containers and whether it will publish the letter.

Question reference: S4W-29703

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29439 by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2016, whether the UK Government is supportive of the implementation of a deposit return system for beverage containers.

Question reference: S4W-29699

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29452 by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2016, whether the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive are supportive of the implementation of a deposit return system for beverage containers.

Question reference: S4W-29873

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many extra staff it has recruited to the local area offices in (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland to deal with the backlog of applications under the Basic Payment Scheme and other common agricultural policy measures.

Question reference: S4T-01334

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that 67% of colleges had committed all of or more than their bursary budget by December 2015.

Question reference: S4W-29918

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the revised national anti-bullying strategy.

The Scottish Government launched ‘A National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’ in 2010. The national approach forms part of our wider attempts to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people. It fits in with our ongoing work to ensure children and young people feel safe and secure and are able to build up strong and positive relationships with their peers and with adults, as well as our work to promote positive behaviour.

Following many legislative and policy developments since the publication of the national approach, a working group was established in January 2015 to refresh the guidance. The purpose of the refreshed national approach is to communicate and promote a common vision and aims to make sure that work across all sectors and communities is consistently and coherently contributing to a holistic approach to anti-bullying in Scotland.

Following extensive consultation with children and young people, parents and carers and practitioners, the revised national approach will be published in spring 2016.

Question reference: S4W-29826

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29473 by Angela Constance on 5 February 2016, what the estimated requirements are for 2016-17, and how these differ from 2015-16.

Question reference: S4W-29823

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29470 by Angela Constance on 5 February 2016, what the resource accounting and budgeting charge is for a repayment threshold of £21,000, also expressed as a percentage of initial loan outlay.

The resource and accounting budget (RAB charge), estimated each year, forecasts repayments of student loans for all existing borrowers, as well as future borrowers. The model draws on demographics to calculate a repayment profile and a write off element, which combined provide the RAB charge. The repayment profile calculates the time and rate of repayment, whereas the write off estimates the amount that will never be recovered. The current RAB charge represents a percentage of every £1 lent.

The current estimated RAB charge for Scotland is 29%, meaning that for every £1 lent through the student loan scheme, the Scottish Government can expect to recoup 71 pence. The Scottish Government modelled the impact of increasing the student loan repayment threshold to £21,000 based on 2014-15 data, which produced an estimated RAB charge of 33%.