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-28334

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many people are employed by organisations that have signed the Scottish Business Pledge.

Question reference: S4W-28335

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 18 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is provided to NHS boards on providing appropriate training to enable doctors and midwives to support parents affected by miscarriage or stillbirth.

We fully expect health professionals to provide tailored care and support to people who have sadly experienced miscarriage or stillbirth and there are a number of measures in place to help boards provide appropriate training to enable doctors and midwives to support parents at this vulnerable time. All medical professionals receive formal training to enable them to support parents affected by miscarriage or stillbirth. In addition there are a number of resources for continued professional development in this area including:

1. Specialist training by the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (Sands);

2. The bereavement hub on the NHS Education Scotland website, which provides health professionals across Scotland with a range of e-learning resources on bereavement care, including a new e-learning resource on bereavement in maternity care.

3. Following the success of the joint Scottish Government and Sands Scottish Stillbirth Seminar held in June 2013, a further event took place over two days in June 2015, which comprised a bereavement care day followed by a stillbirth day. Around 400 delegates heard about the latest research, evidence and audit from experts on stillbirth reduction, and about best practice when supporting bereaved parents.

Question reference: S4W-28352

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 10 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on plans for publishing the 2016-17 draft budget.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed his intention to publish the UK Spending Review on 25 November 2015.

Given that around 80% of the Scottish budget continues to be directly determined by decisions taken in Westminster and the application of the Barnett formula, the Scottish budget cannot be announced until the UK Spending Review is published.

In response to the later than usual UK Spending Review publication date, I have today (10 November 2015) written to the Finance Committee to seek their agreement that the Scottish Government publish the draft budget on 16 December 2015.

This approach will give the Scottish Government and our partners as much time as possible to develop budget proposals and to have an approved Scottish budget in place for the start of the financial year while still allowing the longest possible opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny.

Question reference: S4O-04705

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for carers allowance when it is devolved.

Question reference: S4W-27930

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to implement the Renewable Heat Action Plan in order to deliver its target to meet 11% of heat demand from renewable sources by 2020.

I am pleased to announce that I laid a report in Parliament today (9 October 2015) which provides an update on actions the Scottish Government is taking to help us towards our renewable heat target. Copies of the report are available on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/Recent

In addition the Energy Saving Trust published their report on Renewable Heat in Scotland for 2014 today. The report shows that there has been a step change in renewable heat output in 2014. During the calendar year 2014 renewable heat capacity increased by 42% and heat generated from renewable sources by 36% compared with 2013. In 2014 an estimated 3.7-3.8% of Scotland’s non-electrical heat demand was supplied by heat from renewable sources, indicating that Scotland continues to make progress towards meeting the renewable heat target by 2020. A copy of the Energy Saving Trust report is available at the following link: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-heat-report-2014.

Question reference: S4W-26528

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have registered as self-employed in each year since 2008, broken down by local authority area.

The statistics available are provided in the following table. The statistics are sourced from the Annual Population Survey.

Female Self-Employment Level by Local Authority Area, aged 16+, Scotland, 2008 to 2014

Local Authority Area (Residence Based)	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Aberdeen City	2,700	1,700	2,500	2,500	3,500	2,400	2,700
Aberdeenshire	5,400	5,500	6,200	6,200	4,800	3,900	6,100
Angus	2,300	2,400	2,500	2,500	2,200	2,300	2,700
Argyll and Bute	1,900	2,000	1,900	2,000	2,100	2,400	2,700
Clackmannanshire	700	700	700	600	1,100	800	1,000
Dumfries and Galloway	3,400	2,400	2,500	2,700	3,600	3,900	3,800
Dundee City	1,800	1,800	1,400	1,400	1,900	1,200	1,100
East Ayrshire	2,100	1,600	1,700	1,500	1,500	1,700	2,000
East Dunbartonshire	1,600	2,400	1,700	1,900	2,000	2,700	2,300
East Lothian	2,000	1,800	2,000	2,400	2,300	2,800	3,100
East Renfrewshire	1,400	1,400	1,100	1,800	1,500	2,000	2,200
Edinburgh, City of	8,600	9,700	11,000	9,200	10,700	11,200	10,600
Eilean Siar	600	*	800	500	700	700	600
Falkirk	1,400	1,900	2,100	1,600	1,800	2,600	2,700
Fife	4,700	5,300	4,500	5,000	4,800	5,100	9,000
Glasgow City	7,200	8,600	4,500	5,600	9,200	7,200	8,700
Highland	5,300	4,900	5,700	5,900	6,500	7,100	6,500
Inverclyde	500	800	1,000	1,000	1,100	800	800
Midlothian	1,200	1,600	1,300	1,100	1,400	1,700	2,200
Moray	2,500	2,300	2,200	1,700	2,100	2,200	2,100
North Ayrshire	1,100	1,300	1,800	2,000	2,000	2,500	2,400
North Lanarkshire	5,100	3,200	3,200	3,100	4,000	5,000	3,900
Orkney Islands	*	*	600	*	*	*	*
Perth and Kinross	2,800	3,300	2,700	3,400	3,300	3,800	3,900
Renfrewshire	900	1,600	2,500	1,900	1,900	2,200	1,900
Scottish Borders	2,900	2,900	3,100	3,800	3,200	3,500	3,400
Shetland Islands	*	*	700	*	*	*	*
South Ayrshire	1,800	1,900	2,000	2,200	2,300	2,400	2,300
South Lanarkshire	4,100	3,700	4,100	4,500	5,500	3,800	4,700
Stirling	1,000	1,300	2,000	2,100	2,100	2,200	1,800
West Dunbartonshire	800	900	1,000	800	700	800	1,100
West Lothian	1,700	2,600	3,000	2,000	3,100	2,100	2,200
Scotland	80,800	82,700	84,000	84,200	94,100	94,200	101,600

Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December, Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Self-employment levels are rounded to the nearest hundred.

2. *estimate has been suppressed as it is below reliability threshold.

Question reference: S4F-02982

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2015

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to increase business innovation.

Question reference: S4O-04641

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

Question reference: S4W-27246

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any requirements on charities that no longer fulfil the purposes for which they were founded to dispose of assets.

Question reference: S4W-27243

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what requirements exist for registered charities to fulfil the purposes for which they were founded.

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Act is the statutory framework for charities operating in Scotland. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) are the independent regulator and registrar for over 23,500 Scottish charities. It is therefore for OSCR to ensure charities comply with the terms of the legislation. The Act sets out a general duty of care that charity trustees must follow which includes a requirement that the charity trustee acts in the interests of the charity and seeks to ensure that the charity acts consistently with its purposes. The Act also requires charities to prepare and submit annual accounts to OSCR which must contain a trustee annual report detailing their activities for that year.

In order to establish if a charity is fulfilling or continues to fulfil its purposes OSCR has the power to obtain information from charities and it is an offence to provide false or misleading information. OSCR also has wide ranging powers to make inquiries either generally or for particular purposes into charities.

If it appears to OSCR, as a result of inquiries, that a charity no longer meets the charity test OSCR must either direct the charity to take steps they consider necessary to meet the test or remove the charity from the register. If the charity fails to comply with the direction OSCR must remove it from the register. OSCR have wide ranging powers following inquiries which are detailed in the Act.