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-02943

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress was made at the recent summit in Stornoway on transmission charges and on securing grid connections to the islands.

Securing connection of the island groups to the mainland electricity grid is a top priority for this Government.

The summit that Fergus Ewing chaired on Monday 24 February 2014 brought together the key interests in delivering island grid connections, he developers, the transmission owner, the regulator, the three Councils, the Crown Estate, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Highland and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Government.

The discussion was open and positive, but several significant challenges remain to be addressed before the huge clean energy potential of the Scottish islands can be unlocked.

The summit identified a range of actions to tackle the remaining barriers to progress, many requiring UK Government involvement and Fergus Ewing will be seeking early discussions with UK Ministers to progress those.

Question reference: S4O-02875

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 5 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact of the so-called bedroom tax on people living in rural areas.

Question reference: S4W-19141

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking following Seatricity's announcement that it is relocating from Orkney to Cornwall due to the lack of a grid connection.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Orkney Islands Council on grid access issues in Orkney, which are critical to the development of the marine energy sector.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise are continuing to work with Seatricity on its technology development path, and will maintain contact with the company to support any potential re-entry to the Scottish market once its device has been developed further, and its technology proven.

Question reference: S4O-02818

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress there has been in discussions with the UK Government regarding the common agricultural policy budget allocation announced by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in November 2013.

Question reference: S4W-19036

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the highest recorded number of whole-time equivalent staff employed by NHS Highland was, and how many it employed in September 2013.

The highest recorded number of whole time equivalent (WTE) staff employed by NHS Highland (excluding General Practitioners and General Dental services) is 8,012.9 WTE as at 30 September 2013.

This is the highest number of staff in NHS Highland on record.

The number of staff employed by NHS Highland from 2002 to 2013 can be found at: https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-11-26/Overall_Trend_S2013.xls?35312397.

Question reference: S4W-19037

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the highest recorded number of whole-time equivalent staff employed by NHS Western Isles was, and how many it employed in September 2013.

The number of whole time equivalent staff (WTE) employed by NHS Western Isles (excluding General Practitioners and General Dental services) is 845.6 WTE as at 30 September 2013.

This is the highest number of staff in NHS Western Isles on record.

The number of staff employed by NHS Western Isles from 2002 to 2013 can be found at: https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-11-26/Overall_Trend_S2013.xls?35312397.

Question reference: S4O-02749

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to prevent unnecessary or inappropriate closures of rural schools.

Question reference: S4W-18782

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties receive support from the small business bonus scheme as part of its rates relief package, broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows the number of properties that receive support from the small business bonus scheme, split by local authority area:

Total number of recipients as at:

October

2008

October 2009

September 2010

September 2011

September 2012

September 2013

Aberdeen City	1,800	1,873	1,784	2,010	1,975	2,041
Aberdeenshire	4,016	4,501	4,726	5,040	5,170	5,330
Angus	1,854	1,904	2,067	2,125	2,190	2,212
Argyll and Bute	3,152	3,507	3,589	3,885	4,220	4,362
Clackmannanshire	509	569	637	696	741	787
Dumfries and Galloway	3,224	3,475	3,666	3,979	4,079	4,401
Dundee City	1,494	1,747	1,899	2,047	1,952	2,171
East Ayrshire	1,127	1,341	1,430	1,469	1,534	1,551
East Dunbartonshire	626	833	936	1,014	1,068	1,112
East Lothian	1,244	1,324	1,467	1,529	1,556	1,587
East Renfrewshire	550	613	676	693	737	747
Edinburgh, City of	4,728	5,601	6,275	6,316	6,691	6,163
Eilean Siar	405	561	507	735	821	885
Falkirk	1,365	1,579	1,675	1,719	1,879	1,947
Fife	3,912	4,581	5,004	5,365	5,516	5,800
Glasgow City	4,713	6,083	6,870	7,476	7,962	8,440
Highland	5,642	6,487	7,302	7,808	8,383	8,715
Inverclyde	604	715	793	872	921	983
Midlothian	779	948	1,081	1,124	1,127	1,107
Moray	1,509	1,722	1,772	1,815	1,863	2,018
North Ayrshire	1,847	2,086	2,271	2,425	2,477	2,604
North Lanarkshire	2,340	2,799	3,085	3,352	3,576	3,768
Orkney Islands	835	1,019	1,044	1,036	1,132	1,171
Perth and Kinross	2,893	3,203	3,441	3,798	3,991	4,166
Renfrewshire	1,797	2,091	2,242	2,258	2,503	2,432
Scottish Borders	2,809	2,981	3,281	3,414	3,489	3,580
Shetland Islands	407	551	551	626	671	700
South Ayrshire	1,625	1,848	1,944	2,019	2,063	2,164
South Lanarkshire	2,694	3,224	3,376	3,558	3,597	3,965
Stirling	1,716	1,859	1,909	2,076	2,155	2,224
West Dunbartonshire	655	773	977	1,079	1,111	1,194
West Lothian	1,308	1,541	1,744	1,841	1,937	2,054
Scotland	64,179	73,939	80,021	85,199	89,087	92,381

Question reference: S4O-02725

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the benefits will be of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cultural Relations.

Question reference: S4O-02673

Asked by: Mike MacKenzie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of convictions for firearm offences in 2013.