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-01292

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent 10-day enforcement period on the A9 Inverness-Perth road where 687 motorists were charged with speeding offences, whether it plans to repeat the exercise.

Question reference: S4W-09175

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many public sector pension schemes there are in Scotland and what information it has on the financial health of these schemes.

There are five main public sector pension schemes in Scotland for which Scottish Ministers have a responsibility. These cover the NHS, teachers, police, fire and local government. There are an additional three schemes where the responsibility is reserved. These cover the civil service, the armed forces and the judiciary. In addition, a small number of public bodies operate their own schemes.

Each scheme is valued by the scheme actuaries on a regular basis to establish its financial health. This is used to determine the future contribution rates which are necessary to meet the scheme liabilities. The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that the public sector pension schemes within its responsibility remain affordable, sustainable and fair into the future. The forthcoming UK Public Service Pensions Bill places a requirement for all UK public service pension schemes to be reformed by April 2015, and discussions about these reforms are underway with Scottish stakeholders.

Question reference: S4F-00816

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 September 2012

To ask the First Minister what representations the Scottish Government has made to BBC Scotland following the announcement that there will be job losses at BBC Highlands and Islands and a reduction to its Gaelic news service.

Question reference: S4O-01219

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the benefits are of the naloxone programme.

Question reference: S4W-09022

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it assists with the establishment of new GP practices.

Question reference: S4W-09023

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have been established since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-07980

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been reported to the Procurator Fiscal for making false accusations of criminal behaviour against prison officers since 2003.

Question reference: S4W-07979

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been convicted for assaulting prison officers since 2003, broken down by prison.

Question reference: S4W-07937

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sites of special scientific interest in the Highlands and Islands have been denotified in the last 10 years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is provided in the following table.

SSSI	Denotified Area (ha)	Date Denotified or Subsumed	Local Authority Area	Notes
Ardchyline Wood	0.4	07-11-2002	Argyll and Bute	Part denotification
Laxford Moors	445	19-11-2009	Highland	Full denotification
Loch Laxford	1,163.00	19-11-2009	Highland	Full denotification
Rum	107.06	26-03-2010	Highland	Part denotification
Lynn of Lorn Small Islands	97.6	24-06-2010	Argyll and Bute	Full denotification
Black Rock Gorge	12.7	10-09-2010	Highland	Full denotification
Achanarras Quarry	1.2	29-10-2010	Highland	Part denotification
Allt Tigh Cumhaig	1.42	29-10-2010	Highland	Full denotification
Rudha Cuil-cheanna	14.9	18-11-2010	Highland	Full denotification
Mallaig Coast	50.1	11-02-2011	Highland	Full denotification
Knockan Cliff	0.4	03-02-2012	Highland	Part denotification
Loch of Winless	0.2	03-02-2012	Highland	Part denotification
Burn of Latheronwheel	45	03-02-2012	Highland	Full denotification
Hill of Leodebest	10.6	03-02-2012	Highland	Full denotification
Callert	11.7	22-03-2012	Highland	Full denotification
Airdghunail	40.8	29-03-2012	Highland	Full denotification
Glasdrum	448.4	16-05-2003	Argyll and Bute	Subsumed into Glen Creran Woods SSSI
Glasdrum	448.4	16-05-2003	Argyll and Bute	Subsumed into Glen Creran Woods SSSI
Oronsay	329	22-01-2007	Argyll and Bute	Subsumed into Oronsay and South Colonsay SSSI
Oronsay	329	22-01-2007	Argyll and Bute	Subsumed into Oronsay and South Colonsay SSSI
Onich Dry Gorge	26.65	18-04-2008	Highland	Subsumed into Onich to North Ballachulish Woods and Shore SSSI
Onich Shore	11.8	18-04-2008	Highland	Subsumed into Onich to North Ballachulish Woods and Shore SSSI
Onich Dry Gorge	26.65	18-04-2008	Highland	Subsumed into Onich to North Ballachulish Woods and Shore SSSI
Onich Shore	11.8	18-04-2008	Highland	Subsumed into Onich to North Ballachulish Woods and Shore SSSI

Question reference: S4W-08204

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2012
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its formal response to the Commission on Women Offenders.

The Scottish Government will publish our response to the Commission on Women Offenders’ report on 25 June. A copy has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 54067).

The response focuses on the 37 clear sighted recommendations contained within the Commission on Women Offenders’ report. We agree with the aims and principles of all of the recommendations, accept 33 of them immediately, and will consider the remaining four in more detail.