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-25183

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for the proposed review of the trade and importation of exotic animals for the pet trade in Scotland.

As noted in the Scottish Government news release on 16 February 2015, the review of the importation and trade of exotic animals for the pet trade is part of a wider review of pet welfare, which is a substantial and on-going piece of work.

Stakeholder meetings to discuss the issue of exotic pets are being planned and we expect them to take place over the next few months. These will feed into the wider work being conducted on a range of pet welfare issues.

Once initial considerations of pet welfare are complete, we will discuss how best to proceed with stakeholders. Any new or revised legislation would, of course, be preceded by full public consultation.

Question reference: S4W-25096

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many times its officials have met Community Windpower Ltd.

Question reference: S4W-25034

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on local authorities not allowing former teachers who have taken voluntary severance to provide supply teaching.

The Scottish Government has been consistent in our commitment to maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers as a central part of our priority to raise attainment. We continue to provide significant additional funding specifically to support that commitment.

Recruitment practice in relation to teachers is a matter for local authorities themselves who are best placed to identify the most appropriate, suitably qualified individuals to provide education services in their areas.

Question reference: S4W-24914

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 27 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities it expects will meet the 2015 Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

The independent Scottish Housing Regulator is responsible for monitoring landlords’ progress towards meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. The returns made by landlords to the Scottish Housing Regulator earlier in 2015 indicated that one local authority anticipated that some of their housing stock would not meet the standard by April 2015. However, after further engagement with that local authority the regulator has advised that the local authority now expects to achieve the standard.

Question reference: S4W-24932

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 27 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of rent loss is attributed to void council properties, broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows rents lost on void (un-let) council properties, total amount and as a percentage of gross rental income, by local authority area.

Years ending 31 March

Local Authority¹

Near actuals	Estimates
2013-14	2014-15

Total rent lost on voids

(£million)

As a percentage of gross rent income

Total rent lost on voids

(£million)

As a percentage of gross rent income

Aberdeen City	1.317	1.7	1.000	1.3
Aberdeenshire	0.402	1.0	0.574	1.4
Angus	0.592	2.6	0.620	2.7
Argyll and Bute	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Clackmannanshire	0.353	2.2	0.365	2.2
Dumfries and Galloway	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Dundee City	1.067	2.4	0.702	1.5
East Ayrshire	0.792	2.0	1.155	2.8
East Dunbartonshire	0.095	0.8	0.050	0.4
East Lothian	0.547	2.5	0.409	1.8
East Renfrewshire	0.211	2.3	0.230	2.4
Edinburgh, City of	0.644	0.7	0.704	0.8
Eilean Siar	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Falkirk	0.638	1.4	0.425	0.9
Fife	1.554	1.7	1.059	1.1
Glasgow City	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Highland	0.721	1.6	0.660	1.4
Inverclyde	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Midlothian	0.502	2.4	0.267	1.2
Moray	0.102	0.7	0.094	0.6
North Ayrshire	0.157	0.4	0.188	0.4
North Lanarkshire	1.054	1.0	1.334	1.3
Orkney Islands	0.102	3.3	0.105	3.3
Perth and Kinross	0.688	3.0	0.654	2.7
Renfrewshire	1.211	2.7	1.163	2.6
Scottish Borders	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Shetland Islands	0.122	2.0	0.208	3.2
South Ayrshire	0.470	1.8	0.536	1.9
South Lanarkshire	0.978	1.3	1.052	1.3
Stirling	0.102	0.6	0.078	0.4
West Dunbartonshire	1.669	4.8	1.854	5.0
West Lothian	0.100	0.2	0.315	0.7
Scotland	16.190	1.6	15.801	1.5

Source: Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services, based on statistical returns for the Housing Revenue Account by local authorities.

Notes:

1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector and no information is available (n.a.) for them.

Question reference: S4W-24969

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will clarify future funding arrangements for Scotland Excel.

The Scottish Government are not involved in funding arrangements for Scotland Excel. This is a matter for Scotland Excel.

Scotland Excel is governed by a Joint Committee comprising at least one elected member from each of Scotland’s local authorities. The committee meets twice a year and is responsible for the strategic direction of the organisation and for approving the annual budget and business plan.

The lead authority for Scotland Excel is Renfrewshire Council.

Question reference: S4W-25033

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the participation rate is of each local authority in national contracts through Scotland Excel.

Question reference: S4W-24784

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23789 by Keith Brown on 14 January 2015, when each contract (a) was taken out and (b) will expire, and how much each is worth.

Details of the contracts are as follows:

Contract	Contract Start Date	Contract End Date	Contract Value
eProcurement Service Management	05-11-2011	04-11-2015	£19,500,000
Payroll Implementation Project	03-10-2011	02-10-2018	£1,376,579
System Integration Re-Let	01-11-2012	31-10-2015	£7,334,108
Scottish Tribunals Service – Smaller Tribunals Case Management Support	30-07-2013	30-07-2015	£62,280
Support and Maintenance of Childcare Information Services Website	01-06-2013	31-05-2015	£85,806
Landlord Registration System	07-12-2011	06-12-2014	£210,000
ScotXed Software Development Services	16-03-2014	15-03-2016	£1,250,000
The Provision of Support and System Development for the Scottish Tribunal Services Case Management System	01-09-2014	30-07-2015	£6,050
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics	01-08-2014	30-11-2014	£48,630
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics	22-10-2014	08-02-2015	£110,260

Question reference: S4W-24795

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 20 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what powers are available to local authorities to implement necessary repairs to housing blocks where the local authority is not the majority landlord.

Local authorities have powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to issue work notices requiring any home owners to carry out work to repair substandard homes. If an owner fails to comply with a work notice the local authority can carry out work and recover their costs from the owner. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 will introduce some changes to help local authorities recover costs more effectively. The Scottish Government will shortly publish guidance for local authorities on the use of these new powers. The 2014 Act will also allow local authorities to raise breaches of the statutory repairing standard for private rented homes directly with the private rented housing panel on behalf of vulnerable tenants.

Question reference: S4W-24739

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council regarding the next round of the Attainment Scotland Fund.

There have been no direct discussions with Falkirk Council regarding the allocation of the Attainment Scotland Fund.

The Attainment Scotland Fund is initially targeted at schools in local authorities with the biggest concentration of primary age children from households in deprived areas. Analysis of statistics around primary school pupils whose homes are located in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1 and 2 (the bottom 20%) indicate that the highest concentrations are in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire and Clackmannanshire. These will therefore be the first areas to benefit from this programme. The Scottish Government recognises that there is a need across Scotland. During the coming year, we will continue to work with other local authority areas which are geographically diverse and socially mixed but where there are pockets of severe deprivation, to dig deeper into addressing the local need.

The Scottish Attainment Fund supplements our existing national support for raising attainment which has been enhanced by a new commitment to ensuring an attainment advisor will be available in every local authority. Schools in Falkirk have also benefited from the Access to Education Fund, which was established to help reduce to barriers experienced by pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.