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: S4O-03644

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of the recently announced Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on domestic and non-domestic property sales in the Scottish Borders.

Question reference: S4O-03600

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the repairs to the A68 south of Jedburgh.

Transport Scotland is committed to fully re-opening the A68 as soon as possible. Significant ground and environmental investigations have been undertaken to ensure the long term solution is robust. Transport Scotland is working with the operating company to complete the design and undertake the remedial measures as soon as practicable. The patience of the local community is appreciated while a permanent solution is designed and implemented.

Question reference: S4W-22221

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and his officials have had with Scottish Borders Council regarding a motion passed by the council on 29 May 2014 instructing the leader of the council to write to the Scottish Government to express concern at the conflict between the sustainability of the government's energy targets and their impact on Scottish Borders landscapes.

Question reference: S4W-22400

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 5 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22201 by Keith Brown on 7 August 2014, how much (a) the Galashiels transport interchange, (b) the resurfacing of the B6458, (c) other essential work and (d) work not in the remit of Network Rail will add to the final cost.

Question reference: S4O-03509

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on implementation of the new common agricultural policy.

Since announcing in June 2014 the main details of how we will implement the new common agricultural policy (CAP) in Scotland, the Government has been working closely with the UK Government and our stakeholders to agree the finer implementing details.

Whilst we still await clarification from Europe on some of the technical details, I have written this week to all farmers setting out as much information as we can, and have posted the information on the Scottish Government’s CAP website.

Question reference: S4W-22201

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated final cost is of the Borders Railway project.

Question reference: S4O-03321

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Commonwealth Games organising committee about the use of the special reserve fund.

Question reference: S4O-03285

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to high streets in the Scottish Borders to promote local employment and economic growth.

We published the Town Centre Action Plan on 7 November 2013. The plan recognises that Scotland’s town centres can be a central component of successful local economies. It sets out the appropriate conditions for recovery and offers a range of actions which might be tailored to meet both local circumstances and the needs of local communities.

Local authorities remain responsible for local economic development. The action plan is not an end in itself and successful delivery will require positive engagement from the wider public, private and third sectors.

Question reference: S4O-03206

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address the attainment gap between children from the poorest and wealthiest homes.

Question reference: S4O-03164

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the NHS is doing to deal with the health impacts of a reported increase in use of new psychoactive substances.

Tackling the damaging impact of new psychoactive substances (NPS) is a priority for this government which is why we had our first Scottish Parliament debate on this issue in February 2014, during which the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs summarised the work that has been done to date and announced this government’s plans to work with partners in Scotland and the UK to combat their supply and use.

In terms of the NHS, this government has continued to support record funding for NHS boards to deliver frontline drugs services, including those aimed at supporting those affected by new psychoactive substances, £30.4 million in 2014-15, an increase of 20% since 2006. We have made clear that tackling NPS is a priority for delivering services with this funding.

We are also updating our data collection tools so that they provide more information about the prevalence, use and impact of NPS in Scotland (for example, updating school and population drug surveys and new systems for recording treatment data). Our new national integrated drug and alcohol system (DAISy), once developed, will also record data on NPS.