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-10931

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, from which (a) individuals, (b) organisations or (c) bodies it has sought legal advice regarding an independent Scotland’s membership of the United Nations.

Question reference: S4W-10930

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, from which (a) individuals, (b) organisations or (c) bodies it has sought legal advice regarding a non-nuclear, independent Scotland’s membership of NATO.

Question reference: S4W-12018

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-11751 by Kenny MacAskill on 20 December 2012, which states that "the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 sets out clear roles and responsibilities for the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland" for what reason there is an ongoing dispute between the Chief Constable and Scottish Police Authority Chair over their roles and responsibilities.

Question reference: S4W-12057

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that local authorities are meeting their obligation under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to consult on the nature of unpaid work carried out by people subject to community payback orders.

Section 227ZM of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 places a statutory duty on local authorities to provide an annual report to the Scottish Ministers about the operation of Community Payback Orders within their area. Scottish Ministers are then required to publish and lay before the Scottish Parliament a report that collates and summarises the information provided to them by local authorities.

Guidance was issued by the Scottish Government in relation to the content of these annual reports, advising local authorities to include information on activities carried out to consult communities on the nature of unpaid work to be undertaken by those on Community Payback Orders.

A summary of the first set of local authority annual reports, covering the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012, was laid before Parliament on 21 December 2012 and published on the Scottish Government website on the same day. Copies are available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (SPICe) (Bib No. 54621).

Question reference: S4W-11891

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the racist incidents recorded by the police from 2004 to 2012 were against police officers.

Question reference: S4W-12099

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on obtaining legal advice on an independent Scotland’s membership of the EU and when it expects to receive the final advice on the matter.

Question reference: S4W-12184

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many acres of land are occupied by, or earmarked for, wind farm developments, broken down by the Macaulay Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) classification.

Question reference: S4O-01733

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the Scottish Court Service.

Question reference: S4W-10932

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 January 2013

Question reference: S4W-11751

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in the event of an unresolved dispute between the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland and the Chair of the Scottish Police Authority regarding (a) who is responsible for the heads of backroom functions and (b) any other application of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012.