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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 301 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-04747

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 January 2012

Data on income from licensing fees and the costs of administering the licensing system is in the public domain and is contained within the Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics. It can be found on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/PubScottishLGFStats/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on.

The most recently available data is for the financial year 2009-10 and was published in February 2011.

The data covers all forms of licensing activity. Specific data for alcohol licensing is not available.

Question reference: S4W-04746

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 January 2012

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/PubScottishLGFStats/Q/EditMode/on/ForceUpdate/on.

The most recently available data is for the financial year 2009-10 and was published in February 2011.

The data covers all forms of licensing activity. Specific data for alcohol licensing is not available.

Question reference: S4W-04179

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the proposed principles and minimum standards for advocacy in its discussion paper, Improving Advocacy for Children and Young People: Principles and minimum standards, do not include the existing right of children with a mental disorder to independent advocacy.

Question reference: S4W-04178

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the right of children with a mental disorder to independent advocacy.

Section 259(5) of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 identifies that every person with a mental disorder (as defined under section 328) has a right to access independent advocacy services. This includes children.

Such services must be provided by persons other than a local authority or a health board responsible for providing services in the area where the patient is to receive care or treatment, or a member of those bodies or any other person involved in their care treatment or in providing services to them. The act also states the need for independent advocacy organisations to have policies in place to identify and manage/minimise the risk of any conflict of interest.

Question reference: S4W-04133

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what organisations were invited to tender for the NHS Health Scotland's Parent Information Project and what criteria were used for this.

Six agencies were invited to tender: Ipsos MORI, Griesbach & Associates, Dudleston Harkins Social Research, EKOS-GEN, Scottish Centre for Social Research and Children in Scotland.

The criteria used to decide which agencies would be invited to tender were:

experience and skills in the research team;

previous relevant research undertaken, in order to determine your agency's understanding of the issues, and

the absence of a conflict of interest.

Question reference: S4W-04132

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive who carried out the tendering process for NHS Health Scotland's Parent Information Project and what the cost of this was.

Question reference: S4O-00436

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment has had with North Lanarkshire Council officials regarding building a new railway station at Plains.

Question reference: S4O-00376

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 17 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service can continue to deliver current or improved service standards with reducing staff numbers.

Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is well placed to deliver a modern prosecution service for Scotland. There were 513 lawyers in COPFS in mid-2011 compared with 446 in mid-2007, an increase of 67 lawyers. This is against the background of a reducing case load. The priority is to retain our experienced and permanent staff, which in conjunction with an ongoing programme of efficiencies including improved use of IT systems will ensure that COPFS obtains the best use of its staff and continues to deliver a high quality and effective prosecution service.

Question reference: S4W-03326

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives are in place to reduce (a) female, (b) male and (c) youth unemployment in the Falkirk Council area.

Falkirk's local employability partnership brings to together a range of agencies with a view to helping residents of the area to overcome their barriers to work. Contacts and details of the partnership's work can be obtained through Falkirk's page on the employability in Scotland website:

http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/PageAccess.aspx?PageId=1850.

The rise in the unemployment rate in the Falkirk area over the past year is quite evenly split between males and females. This is different to Scotland as a whole, where a greater proportion of the rise is accounted for by females.

Addressing youth unemployment across Scotland, including Falkirk, is a priority for the Scottish Government. To help enable all young people in the Falkirk area stay and succeed in learning, we are:

continuing to provide funding of £46,596 this year for a 16+ Learning Choices Co-ordinator post. This will support the embedding of systems and processes needed to ensure that every young person gets an offer of appropriate and relevant learning and support well in advance of them leaving learning at any point between the age of 16 and 18.

providing up to £152,277 this year to develop and deliver Activity Agreements for those young people who have disengaged from learning and are furthest from the labour market; and

ensuring national training programme provision, delivered by Skills Development Scotland, is aligned with opportunities in the local labour market. This will help to drive up job related outcomes from our employability programmes.

Question reference: S4W-03329

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason youth unemployment in the Falkirk Council area increased from 1,175 in November 2010 to 1,395 in April 2011.