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-17122

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-10368 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2012, under what circumstances a harbour authority wishing to carry out dredging operations (a) requires and (b) does not require powers to dredge under the Harbours Act 1964 in addition to licences issued under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, and whether it will issue guidance on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-17120

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09952 by Keith Brown on 24 October 2012 and the findings in the report of the public inquiry into the proposed Rosyth international container terminal, whether it will receive advice from Scottish Natural Heritage on the implications of confirming the harbour revision order.

Question reference: S4W-17117

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it needs in advance of confirming the harbour revision order for the proposed Rosyth international container terminal in order to determine that there will be no adverse impact on the Firth of Forth Special Protection Area and how it will obtain this information.

Question reference: S4W-17176

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on the Scottish economy, whether it will participate in the second round of talks on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in Brussels in October 2013.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) taking place on 7 – 11 October 2013, is negotiated by EU Commission through the EU Trade Policy. The EU Commission has sole power to negotiate on behalf of all Member States through close co-operation with the Foreign Affairs (Trade) Council and European Parliament.

Scottish Government is maintaining close contact with the negotiations and ensuring that our views are fed into the UK Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which leads the UK input into the council. The European Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht will be briefing an audience of business leaders about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at Gleneagles on
23 September prior to the second round of talks. The First Minister will meet the Commissioner to discuss the TTIP and will take part in the briefing, emphasising the importance to Scotland of this deal.

EU Commission provide various reports on their website detailing the current position with the trade negotiations between EU and US which can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ttip/.

Question reference: S4W-17087

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the A801 River Avon Gorge crossing is to be part-funded through Falkirk Council's £67 million tax incremental financing scheme.

Falkirk and West Lothian Councils are responsible for the delivery of the A801 Avon Gorge upgrade.

The Scottish Government has approved a Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) business case from Falkirk Council. The business case envisages a £6.67 million contribution from the TIF towards the A801 Avon Gorge upgrade, with further contributions assumed from West Lothian Council and the Scottish Government.

The business case notes that in due course a review will be required to confirm that the upgrade is viable to commence. Any potential allocation of funding to this project by the Scottish Government will be determined by its fit with other Ministerial priorities and the availability of resources in future spending reviews.

Question reference: S4O-02426

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4W-16912

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) took account of advice from its Ports and Harbours Division and (b) sought independent advice on the container market in Scotland and the need for new container capacity prior to the preparation of the National Planning Framework 2.

Question reference: S4W-16921

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that new container capacity on the Forth remains a national priority in light of the findings of two recent independent studies into the Scottish container market commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and the Freight Transport Association.

Question reference: S4W-16913

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the projections used to determine that new container capacity on the Forth was required by 2013 as a national priority.

Question reference: S4W-16915

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 10 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a harbour revision order to consent development of a container terminal at Rosyth before (a) an environmental impact assessment into the project has been completed and (b) the appropriate assessment is undertaken.

The harbour revision order to authorise the Rosyth International Container Terminal is already before Parliament and an environmental impact assessment has been carried out by the applicant and an appropriate assessment of the landward elements has been carried out by Scottish Ministers. Further assessment of marine elements will be carried out by Marine Scotland when considering an application for a marine licence, without which the project may not proceed.