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: S5W-03566

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how often it meets the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and what the date was of the most recent meeting.

Question reference: S5W-03567

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the possible environmental and safety risks, what assessment it has made of the implications of the transport of enriched uranium from Dounreay to the USA and the upgrade of Wick John O’Groats Airport to handle this, and what discussions it had had with (a) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, (b) The Highland Council and (c) The Moray Council regarding this.

Nuclear materials stored at Dounreay are owned by the UK Government. The transportation of nuclear materials is a reserved matter. Before any move, there is robust consideration of safety and security, involving as appropriate Scottish agencies including Police Scotland and SEPA. The Scottish Government has been kept regularly informed of progress with the programme of movements of nuclear materials from Dounreay. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which is responsible to Scottish and UK Ministers for their activities in Scotland, carry out a thorough programme of stakeholder communication ahead of any moves.

Question reference: S5W-03891

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will carry out an assessment of the environmental impact on the west coast of the recent NATO exercise, Unmanned Warrior.

Question reference: S5W-03736

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what public funds that it has responsibility for have supported development, manufacture or marketing in the arms trade in each of the last 10 years.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has supported a range of activities in businesses that may be targeting defence contracts as part

of their operating strategy. As well as direct financial support, various graduate placements, summer placements and specialist advice services have also been supported by HIE.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) supports companies to address the defence market through the relevant deployment of all of its support mechanisms including financial support through grants and equity investment.

The financial support provided by SE and HIE, to businesses operating in the defence market since 2006-7 is shown in the table below: SE & HIE – Financial Support to the Defence Industry in the last 10 years

Year	SE Defence £	HIE Defence £	Total
2006-07	1,520,964	10,826	1,520,964
2007-08	1,253,030	116,880	1,369,910
2008-09	1,290,064	1,241	1,291,305
2009-10	1,494,426	19,881	1,514,307
2010-11	1,764,547	364,042	2,128,589
2011-12	773,456	69,875	843,331
2012-13	479,535	125,063	604,598
2013-14	3,164,587	593,574	3,758,161
2014-15	3,091,504	782,871	3,874,375
2015-16	276,379	869,119	1,145,498
Total	15,108,4922	2,942,546*	18,051,038

*The total figure for ‘HIE Corrected’ equals £2,942,546 whereas the correct amount should actually be £2,942,547 due to rounding (to the £). The individual totals per financial year have not been affected by this issue.

Question reference: S5W-03735

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much is invested in the manufacture, development or marketing of arms by the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme.

I refer the Member to the answer to his previous Questions, S4W-25996 on 17 June 2015, S4W-27614 on 30 September 2015 and S4W-28556 on 1 December 2015.

The Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009 (the Act) introduced new rules for the governance of the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Act transferred ownership of the existing Scottish Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (the Fund) “and all functions, rights, liabilities and obligations in relation to that Fund” from the SPCB to the Fund Trustees.

The Scheme rules place a specific duty on the Fund Trustees “to manage and apply [the Fund’s] assets” in accordance with the rules. That includes decisions on investment policy, which the Fund Trustees take independently, taking account of advice provided to them by their professional advisers who are appointed by the trustees in accordance with the Act.

The Member may wish to note that in addition to responsibility for investment policy the Fund Trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of scheme members as a whole. Consequently, should their investment decisions have an adverse effect on investment returns and overall valuation of the fund then the Fund Trustees can be held publicly accountable. The last triennial fund valuation as at 31 March 2014 returned a surplus of £8.4 million. Should the Fund Trustees investment decisions be a factor in the fund returning a shortfall then the options for making up the shortfall would include increasing scheme member contributions, reducing member benefits or asking the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for additional funding.

Question reference: S5W-03627

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it makes of IT features lost and not replicated during IT upgrades.

Before an IT upgrade is undertaken, an initial assessment is made of the impact of the proposed changes. Upgrades are then typically tested with a small number of users to help identify, and rectify, any issues prior to a wider deployment. If any important features are lost and not replicated during deployment of IT upgrades, feedback is used to direct efforts of the IT team to try and resolve the issue or where this is not practical, to establish alternative solutions.

Question reference: S5W-03633

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to establish further national parks.

Question reference: S5W-03135

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the the Faroe Islands Government regarding the impact of whaling on cetacean populations in Scottish waters.

Question reference: S5W-03134

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on cetacean populations in Scottish waters of the slaughter of whales in the Faroe Islands.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any assessment of the potential impact of Faroese whaling on cetacean populations in Scottish waters.

The cetacean species targeted by Faroese whaling are part of wider North Atlantic populations. It is therefore not possible to accurately assess potential impacts on the variable portion of these wider North Atlantic populations that might also make use of Scottish waters at any particular time.

Question reference: S5W-03248

Current Status: Withdrawn